Raul Perez Landscaping And Hauling

Ran into this guy at the saw shop. Said he was a tree man, and could cut my tree down for $100-$150. So I hired him. When I scheduled him the first time, he canceled, claiming a death in the family in L.A. So I decided to have my own workers start on cutting down the tree. By the time I had rescheduled, we had cut down about 1/2 of the tree. So when he finally arrived, he cut down the rest of the tree. My guys were working that day, so I had them move & haul the wood away from the site. Unfortunately, I had a very important meeting, and had to leave the premises, so I told him to talk to my wife when he finished in order to get payed. When I returned, he was gone, and I was shocked that he had collected $500 from my wife (needless to say I had not thought to tell her of our agreed upon price). So he overcharged me $300-$350. When I called him up to ask for my money back, he claimed that "it was a tougher job than I thought it would be" (only 1/2 of a tree ? & I supplied the workers to do the hauling?). I believe that I was ripped off.