A 72-year-old carpenter is considering legal action after Clear View Suites and Villas refused to pay for a window frame he made for the local guesthouse.

Clear View says it never ordered the $3,700 window frame to replace one that was damaged by fire.

But Rupert Smith says the order was placed by a Charles Williams, with whom he had done business before, who showed him a fire damaged window frame that needed replacing early last month.

The elderly carpenter said he took the frame measurements on the premises in Mr. Williams' presence.

"He said 'when can you make it', I said 'as soon as you want it'. I didn't question or give any consideration to who had the authority. I assumed he had the authority being that he took me on the property and took measurements there with him," Mr. Smith said.

Clear View told Mr. Smith that Mr. Williams did not work for them, but had lived there and had no authority to place the order.

Mr. Williams disappeared soon after being informed that the work was done and his phone number has been disconnected.

"I called him up a couple of times but never got a response," Mr. Smith continued. "So I called the lady (the Clear View owner) after a while and explained to her and she said the guy did not have any permission to order a frame. She said he stays there sometimes but never said whether he works there or not. Later on, she says he doesn't work there so I had to back off."

Mr. Smith took the matter to the Consumer Affairs Bureau who advised legal action.

"I have a bill of $3,700 inclusive of labour and materials. I was going to give him the bill but I have not been able to find him at all," he said. "As far as getting the money back, I plan to go to court. I can't afford to lose this kind of money. I'm 72 years old."

Mr. Smith has been operating a small carpenter's shop, Pop Pops Workshops, in Sandys Parish for almost 20 years.

"I've had little small jobs that you can sell or dispose of. But this is a one in a million - there's nowhere else you can dispose of this. It's 171 inches long and 94 inches tall and has 18 sections."

Clear View's owners could not be reached by presstime last night.

"I don't rush out looking for work, I just take what I can handle. I thought this had to be done as quick as possible because of the damage," Mr. Smith said.

"In doing that I turned down some jobs, I definitely lost some of my little regular customers because I thought it was important."

And he added that the guest house, as a public facility, should have insurance to take care of such costs.

"I'm not going to give up yet. I'm still going to try to redeem my money. I can't afford not to in the first place."