Update: The engine still hasn't been removed from the back of my truck, although not through lack of my brother trying.
My bro met with the guy (who came recommended from a good friend) gave him the keys and paid him half up front ($150). The agreement had been that the truck was to be towed to the guy's house just down the street from where it has been sitting, the engine would be taken out by Monday and the whole job would be finished by Wednesday.
So, the guy texted my brother to bring the motor in on Monday around "lunch". So, we went in to meet with him and the guy didn't ever meet up and we couldn't get ahold of him. Finally someone answered his phone for him and said he was napping. Over an hour later we finally heard back from him and he said he was "tied up". We spent several hours waiting when he finally told us two things: 1) he had NOT had the vehicle towed to the agreed upon location and had instead had it towed somewhere on the opposite side of town (technically outside of town I think) and 2) he would have to do it Tuesday (which is now today) and to meet him around lunchtime.
So, again, we drove in and he did not give us an exact address-- just the street name. So, we drove up and down that street looking for my brother's truck and there was absolutely no sign of it anywhere. The guy was supposed to be meeting us at the location, but way after lunch the guy finally texted back that he had to mow his father's lawn and then would meet us. So, we waited a few hours and were getting frustrated that we couldn't even find the vehicle. We said all we needed to do was offload the motor and then he said his truck wouldn't start. We said we could go give him a lift or try to jumpstart him. He didn't reply to that, but then said he couldn't do it today and that he was going to get a lift from his brother to go take the engine out-- which was the part that he was supposed to have done already-- and he said he would give us the address for where the truck is allegedly waiting once he gets it (most of the places didn't have street numbers and the street itself didn't have a sign).
So, now I've told my brother that I will not drive it back in until the guy confirms for certain that he is not going to bull**** us and that he will actually meet with us and remove the engine from the back of my truck. But right now, we don't even know what happened to my brother's truck.
I'm giving him 'til the end of the week. If he doesn't at least let us see the truck before the end of the week, we will call the cops and report the truck as stolen.
The people are one of the things I hate about this area. They are just so unreliable. My brother was pretty livid about it because he had to waste time when he was supposed to be resting before work and he doesn't get very many days off.
Granted, he was the one who burned his engine up in the first place and he should have been more proactive about getting things fixed, but having people blow us off is really really frustrating.