Robin Brinn

I am a professional and I take my career very seriously. I've been in this business almost 18 years and have never run into a so called "handy-man" of such caliber. I'm helping a church member who is out of town bring their property up to par to get ready to list it for sale. This Jim Phillips went to the house and gave me a quote to repair damage to a kitchen ceiling from an upstairs leaky bathroom. The quote was for $200-$300 for the complete repair of the kitchen ceiling and the bathroom leak. I asked him to do the job for the owners and he wanted to spend the night to do the repairs. The house was vacant and I didn't see any harm with that. After the second night of Mr. Phillips spending the night I went to the house and the repair he was hired to do was not complete. Mr. Phillips wanted me to walk around the house so he could point out more work that needed to be done which I was mostly already aware of. He assured me he was almost finished with the repair and after I left he sent me a text begging me to let him give me a quote for painting the whole interior. I told him that was fine and I asked him for the qoute the following day and he said it wasn't ready. When I went to the house Mr. Phillips had removed a downstairs toilet and I asked what was that he replied the toilet needed new inserts which he already had so he was doing it. He also said he would put a door knob on the side door since it was already there. The ceiling repair was still not complete! The next day I went to the house and the kitchen light was down! I asked him what in the world was the light fixture taken down for. He replied that it didn't work and he was trying to figure it out! I asked him to please finish the kitchen ceiling and he told me he would. As I was leaving I notice his car was full of junk. When I asked him about it he told me he had gone through the peoples garbage and removed several items.The following day I went to the house and 6 speakers from the den ceiling, the smoke detector, door bell and all the switch plate covers were completely removed! The ceiling was still not complete! At this point I told Mr. Phillips to leave,NOT to to ANYTHING else and to give me a bill that the owner had been asking for! I asked him for the bill the next day and he told me he was still working on it. After two days I received a bill for $1670.00!!! I was appalled to receive a bill for work performed that was never authorized! I certainly was not going to let this unscrupulous person take advantage of an out of town home owner! After I reviewed the bill I called Mr,. Phillips and he agreed to $600 to be paid in full. This man caused more work than he actually did! In conclusion after almost 18 years in the business I must be pretty blessed to have only run into one kook who is so dishonest and seems totally unstable. I had also noticed one of the owners personal items was removed from the wall which is not at the house so my only conclusion would be Mr. Phillips must have take that as well! I WARN ALL PEOPLE not to deal with James Phillips, Jim Phillips or "Alet me do your homework" EVER! I've sold million dollar homes, $60k homes, homes of all sizes and have helped people of all origins and walks of life. Honesty and intergrity is what I stand by and that's exactly why I've been extremenly sucdessful for 18 years and my clients come back to me over and over again for their Real Estate needs.