Chris Kaestner was referred to me by the designer I was working with. He had a thorough, detailed quote that compared favourably with others I received, and had excellent references. The designer had worked successfully with him in the past, and thought his work was of good quality.
Chris Kaestner and I signed a preliminary agreement on May 22, 2014, and I provided a deposit of $5,300, or 10% of the estimated renovation cost. Chris committed to getting me the completed contract within 2 business days, and projected a start date of June 16, 2014.
Beginning the week of June 9, I attempted to contact Chris by email, phone and text to determine the final start date. I heard from Chris only once during this period, when he let me know the start date had been delayed about 2 weeks because his father had been ill, and that he would get back to me shortly.
After continuing to try to contact during the first two weeks of July with no response and no final contract yet in place, I sent Chris a registered letter on July 17 advising him that I would not be proceeding with Kaestner Contracting Services, and advising him that I needed my house key and full deposit returned by July 25, 2014. I heard from Chris immediately, and met with him that same day. At that meeting, he committed to returning my deposit and key by Friday, July 25.
On July 24, I emailed Chris to set up a meeting time for the following day, but did not hear back from him until the afternoon of the 25th. At that time, he asked for a two week extension, and committed to returning my house key that evening, half of my deposit on August 1, and the final half of my deposit on August 8th.
Chris did not return my key on July 25. On July 30, I emailed Chris to set up a time to meet on August 1, and did not hear anything from him.
On August 5, 2014, I sent Chris a second registered letter advising him that I would proceed with legal action if I did not receive my deposit by August 8th. On August 8th, I received an email from Chris timestamped 7:02 pm, asking me to not proceed with any action against him, siting the illness of his father, and stating that he intends to honour his commitments.
Chris has yet to honour any of the commitments he made to me since May 22, 2014. I will update this post if and when he does.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $53,000.00