D Gardner Appraisals

My mortgage company hired this appraisal service for the refinancing of my home loan from a 30-year to a 15-year. I was told that, since my loan was FHA, I needed to have an appraisal service that has been approved by the FHA to do these appraisals. Now...understand that when refinancing, the lower the appraisal, the more money that you need to pay for escrow, etc... I had just had an appraisal of our property done 6 months prior to this appraisal (for a home equity line) and the appraisal came in at 186,500. This Mr. Gardner came in all pompous, saying that "there was no way" this house would appraise for that much BEFORE HE EVEN BEGAN!!! So, he "did his thing" and, when finished, the appraisal came back at 143,000...one thousand more than I bought the house for last year! Also, I put 35,000 of extensive patio work, pavers, driveways, landscaping, etc... 9 months ago...this was not even considered as any asset. I am at a loss for words! What I hate is that our hands are tied! These guys can come in and "assign" any amount of money to your home and say "well, that's what I'D pay for it!" This is so wrong I cannot stand it! What are we to do??? I had to basically "eat" that appraisal, pay much more money for my refinancing, and did not get most of my escrow monies back; all due to this guy's poor appraisal. I know what homes around me are selling for and what they are worth; it is my hobby and I am pretty darn good at it. This guy did me wrong and I knew he was going to do me wrong before he even started, due to his "laughing" at my previous appraisal amount. What can we, as consumers, do to stop this? Are we helpless?? This guy did me wrong, and I PAID HIM TO DO ME WRONG!!! Please help!