Ok so not sure this is the best place to ask, but not sure where else to either.

A little background: the gutters on the rear of my home are pretty f'ed up, and as a result everytime it rains my basement floods. I reached out back in MARCH for estimates and in April, told this company to go ahead with the replacement.

I've heard nothing from them since April. Now this week, I receive a $550 bill due in 30 days. Thing is, nothing has been done and I've yet to receive any timetable on when they'll even begin the work. Back in April it was going to be a "few weeks" because weather had them busy (roofing). Now, 4 months later with no contact in between I get a bill.

I've never had to deal with contractors before, but is this common practice? I'd always heard you generally don't/shouldn't do full up-front payment? And besides that in the intervening 4 months with no word I'd more or less given up on this company and reached out to another, who's estimate came in at under 1/2 the first companies estimate. Am I beholden to the first offer since I accepted it (by email) or can I back out, since nothing was officially signed? I normally wouldn't do this since I agreed to them initially, but between the months long delay, lack of communication, and now a bill for something they haven't even reached out to say when they're starting on - let alone already done - just has me questioning this company.