Tri Square Construction LLC review: Never started construction, failed to refund retainer 2

We entered into a contract with Tri Square Construction owned by Anthony Boling, on May 5, 2022 to build a screened porch. On May 9, 2022, we gave a $5000 deposit to Mr. Boling. Once he received the deposit, he said he would file for permitting. On May 26, 2022, Mr. Boling told us he received the permit and he needed another $5000 in order to secure the subcontractor to pour the footings for the porch. We were told that the subcontractor, Mr. Mack who would pour the footings was backed up with work, so we needed to wait about 3 weeks for him. Mr. Boling then proceeded to give us excuses as to why he couldn’t come to complete preliminary work. We felt bad that he had so many things going on, so we offered to help him with demolition of the existing staircase off the back door. We specifically asked him if he was ready to start as we did not want to take down these stairs as we had no other way to exit from the back of our house. He told us he was completely ready and he had no other jobs conflicting with ours. The first day he showed up to work, he arrived on June 8, 2022 at 9:30 and left at 9:49 because he didn’t have the proper tools. He returned at 12:30 and left at 1:53 where he cut up our existing cement slab to prepare for the footings. He returned the next day, June 9, 2022 at 12:11 and left at 1:32. He never finished his task and he never disposed of the staircase we had dismantled. He showed up briefly on June 14, 2022 from 11:24 to 11:29 to see what tool he needed to rent. He said he would return the following day. Each and every day since June 14 up until June 21, 2022, Anthony Boling said he would return the following day. During this time, we asked him for a copy of the permit to keep on file. He told us numerous times that he had it and he would email it to us. I became suspicious and called the town of Summerville to ask for the permit. I was told that a permit was not filed for my property. We asked Mr. Boling about this and he said again that he had a copy. We determined at this point that we were being lied to and asked Mr. Boling for a refund, we told him how we feel we were getting the run around and his stories are not adding up. He agreed to a refund and asked for one more chance, the opportunity to show up the following day with the permit in hand and start the job again. We agreed, and the following day, no permit and he didn’t show. At this point, we demanded our money back to which we are getting no response. We did some research on the internet and found numerous people who expressed negative reviews of Mr. Boling and that he had also taken their money and not completed the work. Each and every person was devastated. The stress this is putting on us is making us sick. I believe there are currently several court cases against him. Anthony Boling is a thief and we intend to pursue every available option out there to get back our money.