Angel Cruz and Elaine Krasausky

Within a few days I discovered a huge difference of perception. All along I’d said I presumed they’d do something that could stand on its own. It turned out, however, that some sort of top layer was essential for cosmetic reasons. After receiving a very hostile email from Elaine, Angel told me for me to deal with him exclusively, although she’d continue working alongside him. On August 9, Angel told me to come down and pay him the $400 remaining balance, as they were finished. He was demanding it (no other word can describe his tone of voice)all in cash, but I refused. Instead I paid him $100 in cash and $300 in a check made out to Elaine Krasausky. He said only the clean-up was left to do and he’d come back for that. Actually, more than that was left. The walks were full of depressions, so that they became dotted with little lakes of water after every rain. Be that as it may, he never returned after August 9th. I understand an injury to a foot kept him in bed on pain killers for several days during which he responded to my calls, but one fine day that stopped. I was never able to reach him again. On August 31 I left him a final voicemail message, which I indicated I was recording, telling him that I would pursue a more serious course of action if he did not come and finish the work. Again no response. The attached photographs show where things stand today, $2,000 later. They show all the debris that was never picked up, the unevenness of the surface, and the little pools of water. The cheapest quote I have gotten for removing the broken pieces of the old walkway and the wood—which Angel and Elaine were already paid for doing-- is $250. Worse, every person who has come to give me an estimate about filling the depressions in the concrete tells me Angel’s work is so awful it must all be broken up and begun anew. And they are hiding from me. Obviously I will pursue every recourse the law makes available to me to obtain justice, but the fact is I am probably stuck with the walkways as they are now.