It happened yesterday. A truck cruised in our neighborhood and I saw them stop by our neighbor's house (we have a concrete driveway, his is asphalt) and they talked. Then I went to do something else, the next thing I know is that my neighbor's asphalt driveway was sprayed with some tar like substance. So I went to talk to see what happened.
He said that he was scammed: they first agreed on a certain price ($175), they took the money, sprayed half of his driveway, then acted all surprised and said that "it takes a lot more coating than they expected" and demanded $50 more for finishing the work. I guess with the implication that if he did not pay, they would drive off with his driveway half sprayed looking really stupid. So, he said he paid extra $50 and they finished the work.
So. I am aware that the general wisdom says do not give work to any "drive by" people. But I would like to know, let's say that due to poor judgment, it happened to me and these artists demand extra $50 to finish. What would be a sensible thing to do in these lousy circumstances?
i