@Michael Blum and @Reed Rickenbach Thank you for the advice. I should note that he as been somewhat curt from the very beginning, which may serve to explain why he does not have a ton of other business right now. I think the scarcity mindset is is certainly playing a role here, as I am having a very difficult time expanding my contact list.
I should say, another thing that makes me want to stick with him is the value he places upon his Angies list and Google reviews. He offered to discount my next payment because I left him a good review, and asks me to "look at his reviews" each time I express doubt. He does appear to sincerely care about the online reputation of his business, but has little patience for the networking side of things.
My only thought after he get really pushy here recently was that he could be under water, and with no hope of saving the business, was trying to get as much cash out of me as he could before he moved on. Then again, if he were trying to scam me here at the end, why put so much thought into the consideration of the next project, and why resist changes to the contract which do not affect the deposit amount.
I guess I will go ahead and pay it and let you all know the result.
I was wondering -- if I used credit, or a third party like PayPal, could I not file a fraud report and reverse the payment? The one instance I did experience fraud, my payment was reversed within a couple of weeks.
