Go WestHome Services Poor Home repairs, promised a refund which I NEVER received Silver Creek, Georgia

This company was hired around 11/2009 to do some repair services around my home.  Pressure washed house, repaired loose porch railing, caulk gaps in railing, paint railing as well as repair a 6 ft. privacy gate that was coming down. He also repaired a plank on my deck that he was paid extra for. Mr West, himself and his son did this work. His payment DID NOT include any supplies he needed such as paint and caulk.  That was bought and paid for by me

. I was in not hurry to have this work done, but Mr. West wanted to go ahead and do it. The pressure washing was great, but the rest of the job was done poorly.  It had just rained prior to the caulking and painting, not to mention if was extremely cold.  Not even a month later the railing was loose again, the caulk had started separating, the paint had peeled off and his work was so sloppy there was paint all over the brick steps that I had to get off.Mr. West tried to blame me for him working in such cold weather, Again, he was the one who wanted to go ahead and do the job. Mr. West told me he was going to replace the screws in the gate with larger ones which he did  not do.  I found this out within two weeks when the gate started to fall again.  They were the original screws he had just put back in. I called Mr. West and he stated he would be back on an upcoming Saturday.  He never showed up or called. I emailed him about this and his stated he totally forgot and I could have called HIM.  At this point I was very outraged that he attempted to blame me and not take responsibility.  He offered to come back, but the repairs had already been fixed by myself. 

 I could not wait for him to come back because I have a pool in my back yard and it was a liability NOT to have this gate properly operational.  At first he offered a refund of $400 and then the next day decided he would give me $100.  This was aproximately a month ago. He promised me I would have a check within a week.  The check has never arrived.  I have emailed Mr. West at least three times within the last 3 weeks and have gotten no response. I have know Mr. West for over 30 yrs. and thought he was very reliable.  The main reason I hired him was because he told me what a diffcult fiancial bind he was in and I was trying to help especially since it was around the holidays. I was planning to wait until the weather got warmer brcause from what I understand it is not good to paint right after a rain much less when the temperature is in the 30's.

 Mr. West tried to guilt me into telling him to keep the refund because HE volunteered to do a few extra things for free- i.e. cleaned out my gutters and hauled off an old TV stand to the dump.  I never asked him to do these things.  He said he was going to the dump anyway and it was NO PROBLEM.  I have done everything to rectify this, but my emails go unreturned. I have given up calling because he ignores my calls.  I do not want anyone else to be taken like I was. Mr. West uses his friendship to get jobs and then does very poor work.