Real Estate Community Forum

I found a contractor, Joe McCauley, through CraigsList. He seemed legit. Here is his website: http://www.allphaselectric.com/
His phone number:704-576-3333. Anyway, we drew up a plan of doing some work in my basement, and commenced this February. He worked well, so I decided to give him additional work. Well, long story short, he took the additional money, over $2500, and never showed up again. Doesn't answer any calls or respond to email. It's been almost 2 weeks now.
What are my options, apart from sucking it up, and being smarter next time? How can I prevent Joe McCauley from doing the same, to somebody else?

Hi,
Sorry to hear about your story. I think its not a common problem. May be the contractor is out of his job because of some other reason. May be he is not in the condition to handle the things. Any accident may also have occurred. So, I would suggest you to go to their office and know the fact. Home renovation work is still not finished and I know that you must wanted it to be completed as soon as possible. Go and search for him with other sources instead of email and telephone.