Back in November, my husband and I hired Keith Collins to do some tree work on our property. He had done a job for us the year before - done it well at a reasonable price. The second job we hired him for was no different. So, we hired him for another. It just so happens that on this third job he came out the day before Thanksgiving. Up until this point we had taken to paying him at the end of each job. He asked for a complete payment this particular day so that he could pay the helper that he had brought with him. That paired with the fact that he had verbally committed to come back over that weekend and finish the job while we had planned to go out of town and visit family, led to the decision for us to pay him for the complete job while only about a third of it was done. We hadn't told anyone about this or taking any sort of legal action, because he had built such a rapport with us from the previous jobs, seemed like a nice enough guy and we wanted to give him a chance to fulfill his word. Life happens. We get that. We kept in touch with him and he said he would come back. You see where this is going. It has now been five months and he has dodged our phone calls and contacts after several previous promises to return. At this point we know it is unlikely that he will keep his word, but I would like to keep the next person from making the same costly mistake we have.