"[Owner] Ronald Ayers of Crusader Services in Cincinnati was going to tile my shower, put a [PermaBase] cement board down and also change out a showerhead.

"I put $350 down, and he paid $148 for the products. He said he wanted to charge by the hour for a total of $1,500. I could only afford $800, so I asked him to just do the shower. However, he went way over my budget.

"Instead of only taking five hours, as other contractors suggested the job should take, he clocked more than 12 hours and charged me for hours logged by his assistant."

DESIRED RESOLUTION: "I would like to pay $200 for the partial work he finished and then terminate my previous contract."

COMPANY RESPONSE: Ronald Ayers, owner, Crusader Services

"We had a contract clearly stating the work to be done. She never mentioned only having $800 to finish the project, and we constantly communicated on the status and daily cost of the project. My counteroffer to settle after further adjustments will be $256.15."

STATUS: Stalemate