Business ProfileforBrian Buell Painting

I hired Brian to do interior painting for our house. The price was agreed upon as $850.00 for the job and $450.00 deposit as reflected in his printed receipt. The work was to begin on April 14th, but the day before that I received a text from Brian that he was having issues with a severe sciatic nerve condition. He was seeking medical attention and would let me know the impact on the work. On April 13th Brian said he would have to postpone the work for 1 week and would contact me to reschedule. After leaving several phone calls and texts to Brian he did respond on April 17th that he hoped to start the job on the weekend (April 21st). On April 19th Brian called and said he was going to see a chiropractor and would call later but he still expected to be at our house on April 21st. On the evening of April 20th Brian called to say he was still not feeling well and was not sure when he could reschedule. I told Brian that I had planned travel for the next 2 months and therefore needed to cancel the work until my return. In the meantime, I would like to have my deposit refunded until we could reschedule. Brian responded via text with "That's unfortunate". On April 21st I received a text from Brian that he could not refund the deposit as he had already spent the funds. After several calls and texts, Brian did send back a reply that he promised to refund the deposit. Since that time Brian has not returned any of my phone calls or texts to provide an update on the deposit refund.