Wait, $200 for a list and you sat on it for 4 months thinking it was a scam? And then out of nowhere the guy just sends you a Corktown job that ends up being a $3,400 repipe? That is wild. Most of these list sellers take your money and vanish, they don't come back months later with actual work. The fact that he followed up with a real job in a neighborhood like Corktown where those old houses always need plumbing is the part that blows my mind. One good job doesn't prove the whole list works, but $3,400 off a $200 buy is a pretty crazy return either way.

It's the same thing that happened with smart home stuff a few years back. Everyone rushed to sell voice controlled everything before it actually worked, so you'd tell your lights to turn off and end up turning on the garage door instead. The pattern is always the same: a neat demo goes viral, money pours in, and nobody waits around to fix the boring edge cases. Your refund being off by $45 is exactly that, the math part isn't flashy so it gets shipped half done. What finally made you bail on that third one?