I had a contractor whom I was thinking of hiring to do half bath in basement and I gave $400 deposit and then I pulled back. And now he is coming with all excuses of not giving my money back and not giving any right reason of breaking contract.


I call on his cell but he doesn't respond. But he responds only in email. I have his contract and his info with address (not recent). How do I go behind him? He asked me to prove that no one else did the work. And I provided that and he is not responding to my e-mails or voicemails.


He does listen to voicemails (I have confirmation). I have his full details including e-mail address.

Any tips please? He is in Vernon,Connecticut.

What did the contract state as far as cancelation? Many times deposites are non-refundible beyond a certain time because those moneys are used to purchace materials that can't be returned.

There should be a clause in the contract that specifies this.

I have the confirmation that no material was bought since he gave checks and then backed out by stopping payment. He asked me for evidence that no one else did the job and I have provided that info. After that no response and he is saying that I have spent so much time for this and giving some other vague reasons.

You know by stopping payment you violated a banking law... and he can come after you for bounce fees and penalties if he tried to deposit it and it bounces. Just an FYI for future reference. Its called passing a bad check.

Question... and this really is important... how much time elapsed between signing the contract and you trying to back out... and how soon was this before the work was scheduled to start?

Just trying to get a feel here because there are customers that try to back out the morning work is supposed to start and materials are being offloaded and a crew is there ready to start and expect their deposit back or stop payments on checks for work that's already complete on one end... and then there are the shady contractors on the other that take the money and disappear.

I know a few contractors personally, and I'm related to one... all of them in my area so I've heard a lot of storys and what they go through. None up your way however.

Because there IS a point a deposit is non-refundable. That's the point of a deposit.

Yes, you have said everything except what did your contract say about the deposit, most deposits are not refundalbe, if you decided not to do the job, he would often, if not normally get to keep the deposit given, since you changed your mind