Pat wrote:
They probably bought it for $25 on the bargain table and now want to screw
him out of $250 plus keep the bird bath which has only superficial damage.



Agreed. We only one side story from the OP. I can understand it if the
contractor scratched their expensive living room furniture. But for an
outside birdbath? OP complained the bad attitude of the contractor. But
did OP talked to him nicely to begin with?

There was a news story a while ago that an old couple complained about
bad pratice in the insurance industry. The couple had been with the
insurance company for many years and the company droped them withour
valid reason. I really sympathized with the elders, until read that the
reporter talked to the company. Turned out that the couple made repeated
insurance complains of $300 or so for storen money. The couple filed
many police reports claiming that they lost their purses with cash in it
on their porch, deck etc.

You never really know who is telling the truth.