Contractor Fired, Now Attempting to Overcharge - Need Advice
I hired a tile guy to tile a bathroom (floor and shower walls) and to handle a few small jobs on the side. Things were going well until a couple weeks ago, when I'd given him $140 to buy supplies, and not only did he not buy the supplies, but this is where his worked slowed to a stop. That weekend, I got a drunken phone call from the tile guy (who'd clearly fallen off the wagon), cursing me out because, in my absence, one of my lesser-skilled laborers had put a miter saw on top of the stove and to make cuts, getting sawdust on and inside the stove (stupid, I know). After an intense phone yelling, the tile guy hung up and refused to answer my calls.
He also left a message on the trash bin, threatening to dump it's 300lbs of trash all over my yard if I didn't empty it by Monday afternoon. This is a trip, because the trash bin was mine. I'm guessing he thought it was his...
After taking his behavior into account - his lack of work in the last week or so, and his threats and bullying, I fired him last week. Well, I got his bill yesterday and it is extremely high, with a false accounting of his hours worked (on the side jobs I'd had him do) that is laughably inflated (3 hours to inspect a kitchen faucet for leaks! This is an amazing claim, as I was standing there the whole 5 minutes he inspected the faucet!) He also charged 4 hours to reattach the handle on the stove - this literally took him 20 minutes. What the heck?!
To top it off, he's also attempting to charge me for a job he'd abandoned last year - as well as attempting to double charge me for a job I paid him for 10 months ago! The job he abandoned: I hired him to do a drop ceiling and a tile landing last winter and he left the job half way through, never finishing the ceiling and never starting the landing. He mysteriously left one day and wouldn't return my calls for months. This was 10 months ago. I realize my first mistake was hiring him again, but I was in a hurry and he was the only tile guy I knew at the time. I profoundly regret hiring him again.
How do I handle this situation? What are my options? There was no contract between us for this work. Do I have to pay full price for the abandoned job - which I had to pay someone else to finish, and which cost me money due to messing up my time table to have a renter in the finished unit? I don't want to pay the full asking amount on this recent job because I know his charges are dishonest and severely inflated. I learned too late that he's not an honest dude - I looked up his criminal rap sheet this morning and it's as long as your arm. He's also lost a slew of civil cases! (Another lesson learned - vet your workers!).
I'm a fair guy and I gladly pay for services rendered, but I won't be taken advantage of. Any advice is greatly appreciated!