u/Tipsterspainting

So, long story short, product i ordered 2 years ago, caught fire, and the manufacturer from amazon did a full refund. Loans been paid off for over 2 years now, I got the credit and spoke to the rep, they're refunding it to the original payment methods I used, which, I closed out that bank a year ago. They've said now it's a wait until it gets rejected, and then file a "check for credit on account" process in a week once its sitting there. Is this how its worked for everyone? I'm not bothering to contact my old bank because, there's a legal reason I closed them. But anyone else run into a weird return/refund like this?

What I mean to say or ask is. I have a comfortable position now thats lax in effort. I had one like this before and took it for granted and got the ol lay off notice. Having panicked and took a paycut I got back into my career field of computer science specifically of governance and automation. I was a dev, but after 16 years moved into more of the governance side. And became a senior infrastructure engineer for awhile. Anyhow... I have a BA in technical management that I dont use honestly. But I am considering going back to uni and getting an education major. I find pure joy and fulfillment in teaching and mentoring others. It gives me such pride that its hard to explain. Less ego and just joy to see others eyes light up when they have that ah ha moment. I was considering it for a bit and now with the market getting even more unstable I dont see a reason not to further my education as a fall back. Whats everyone's thoughts? Maybe I am not looking in the right direction? I know if it happens again I can go into consulting for my niche skillset. Dev, mentor, train, then onto the next. But im not sure.. I am mid 30s if it helps. Been in IT now for 18 years. And yep that math, math's I was 16 when I went to college and had graduated highschool. And was working at 17 as a data engineer for the college as an fte. No joke.. wish my luck kept going but alas my super star status faded. Haha!

Recently we had an insurance claim where our roof leaked and damaged our dinning room cieling. We had to redo and replace the entire cieling and in the process our handyman decided to rewire the cieling mount for the light. We didnt really ask him to do this but he did it so its easier for him in the future to do work on it. We have had a new chandelier led light in this spot for over a year. Bought it June 25. Water was no where near this portion of the cieling but we had 3 inch of thick old plaster 1880s house. So decided to remove the entire cieling down to the supports for a few extra inches. No big deal. Anyhow we found out about the light upgrade after we came home from a trip and it was installed. Said it was in the breakdown already so I said ok sure. We've had this guy working for us for over 2 years now so we have alot of trust. Lately though hes been getting to comfortable, doing sloppy work compared to when we first hired him way back when. Brings his day job drama as well. And is just awkward to talk to because he 'jokes' but always seems angry.

Anyhow the light was installed Sunday evening and started with a 30 second delay compared to maybe a 3 second in the past. We just figured it was the new box he installed and would live with it.

This morning so less then 2 days since it was reinstalled, my wife turns it on and it took about a minute to fully light, and she hears this loud pop and boom lights off.

He originally put it up Sunday morning and it wouldnt turn on at all. I said whats the deal here and he snapped or joked in his mind, that he wasnt done yet. 6 hours later he comes back and admits he didnt have all the wires attached and had to redo it.

Then on second attempt it worked..

But now? Again it poped and fried. He says i owe him an additional 300 for extra supplies.. context he was paid 4k for labor. I paid for materials. He was suppose to get a dumpster which was factored into the 4k. I ended up paying out of pocket for that myself. Only for him to complain for a week straight how I should have just paid him more for his buddy to get a dumpster. I paid 500 he wanted 900. We had 3/4 room left over with the one I bought.

He also blew us off 2 weekends in a row and several evenings. Like we were 2 weeks behind schedule.

I want to know how to tell him I wont be paying the 300 if I have to replace this light. Its 259 on Amazon. And my wife had a breakdown and cried as its her favorite light.

We've already had to superglue parts of it together, its a flower petal led, and he snapped one of them off during the first install, so hes already damaged it some.

Not sure what to do in this case. We only have a very basic word document contract. That is high level. Because weve never had trust issues with him

My wife and I already have agreed when we are done with this issue or hes paid out. We are not hiring him again. Period.

*Just realized*

So, I just realized on this, I'm getting screwed. Wife and I just did inventory, and his material list, including items he didn't even use. And they aren't in the house anymore. He also demanded/asked for the drywall and OSB sheets we didn't use. He's over estimated the project, to have materials for his own projects on the side. I'm furious, but I won't mention it, I'll bite my tongue, but I'm not hiring him again at all...