Adrian's Custom Painting breach of contract Charlotte, North Carolina

We contracted Adrian B. West to paint the exterior of our house and garage (including trim, pressure-washing, replacing wood rot, and resealing all windows). We gave him a $1,000 deposit check up front for materials, which he cashed immediately. A few days later he showed up and Pressure washed the house. After that, no further work was ever done.

He would tell me he was going to show up on a particular day to get started, and then he just wouldn't show up. Other times he would tell me that he was actually on his way over to my house to get started, and then he just wouldn't show up. Again and again and again.

We finally gave up and asked him to just return our deposit so we could hire someone else. It's been 6 months and he hasn't returned a dime. We have had several unpleasant exchanges on this issue, and at one point he even told us to leave him alone!

I have since heard of another instance of him failing to fulfill a work obligation, and from a bit of web research also found that he even did this to a Church!

The most angering part is that he has continued to advertise his services (including a Hauling & Delivery Service) incessantly on Craigslist (http://charlotte.craigslist.org/sks/3554809476.html, http://charlotte.craigslist.org/lbs/3597800956.html) and many other Classified sites. He even launched a couple of Facebook pages recently (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrians-Custom-Painting/145691952247438, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adrians-Hauling-Delivery-Service/378785868879737).

Lastly, through no one's fault but my own, we cannot pursue any legal action at this point because we do not have a current physical address. Lesson learned.