**CONSUMER BEWARE - DO NOT HIRE THIS GUY!! UNLICENSED CON ARTIST!!!!**
I usually only take my time to write positive reviews of people doing good work but in this case I'm doing quite the opposite because the service and communication were so agregious I had to share so hopefully I can save a few people from making the mistake I did by hiring this guy.
I found Joe's number on the Next Door app referred by someone who lived in my neighborhood so I texted him and arranged for him to come give me an estimate. He arrived early for the appointment, was very nice, and he smiled the whole time. I told him I had a contractor that didn't finish the final work I needed in my bathroom. He assured me that he'd been doing plumbing as well as several other contractor type things for years! All I needed was for him to install the faucet for my tub and figure out why a pipe in front of my house was leaking into my front yard whenever we washed clothes. He said that he could do both and quoted me $215 and I agreed.
When he arrived on a Wednesday afternoon he brought a second man who he didn't introduce and explained he'd be snaking the pipe so it wouldn't leak then attach my tub fixture. I work from home now because of the Covid-19 quarantine so I left them to do their thing while I worked. They were in the house maybe a half hour when he said he was finished. So I go to the washroom and he shows me the water running in the washroom sink and says you see it's going full blast and no leak outside. I said yeah it happens when I run the washer should I start the washer? He said no he did a thorough job and it'll be fine. He then shows me the tub spout and in my hurry to get back to work before my computer went to sleep I didn't think to try to turn it on. So he asks for his payment in cash and I pay him not thinking anything of it because we had been discussing other projects to finish my bathroom so I knew he be back in a few days.
After I'm off of work I go to try to turn the water on and the tub spout ROCKETS OFF I message Joe and he tells me he'll fix it when he returns. Then I notice the pipe in front still leaks and I message him about that because at this point I paid for absolutely NOTHING! After a cordial back and forth text convo and Joe failing to show up for our next scheduled appointment. Joe just stops responding completely but I can tell he's read the messages. So I ask him multiple times to please either do the work he promised or return my money so I can hire someone who would and it's radio silence. I even sent him request for my money through Venmo and Cash App - IGNORED!
At this point I'm feeling completely foolish and hella PLAYED! I told him how the last contractor burned me and instead of being a decent human being - he decided to screw me over as well. In a last ditch effort I Google the company name on the business cards he left and it pulled up his single review Yelp presence. I noticed that the card pictured had the number 714-719-4370 which is different from Joe's number 714-657-0496 so I call it thinking it must be the office number but nobody answered so I left a message regarding Joe. A little later the number calls back, the caller ID says Gabriel Ledesma. The man on the other end explains that he is Joe Ledesma Sr! So respectfully I lay the situation out for pops and he sweetly apologizes and says he'd come fix it himself if he weren't retired due to illness. He was confident however that he raised a good son that would do the right thing - but me and big Joe are terrible judges of character because we were both dead wing about the trash human known as Joe Ledsma Jr!
Which leads me here, my last resort exposing Joe on every review site I know! I am aware that I'll probably never see that money again, but I'll chalk it up as yet another epically expensive lesson to do my homework and not to rush into business with the first kind face that promises the moon or at least a properly installed faucet
