I feel a little like you are trying to make excuses for this tiler. I'm sorry if that's not the case, but it certainly feels that way.
I know I will have to draw a line under this pretty much, but I also agree that there are plenty of cowboys out there. By the time I am finished hopefully people will be more aware of someone that I consider to be one of them and I'll save other people the problems caused by this person.
This person gave us a quote for the work to be done. He could see the materials under the tiles when he removed the first one, but he carried on. It's only when he appears to have removed more of the material than he should have done that he's left the building without saying a word.
I doubt he sensed I would be difficult if he approached me with this problem as I wasn't there and he hadn't met me. He'd met my wife who'd been nothing but friendly towards him and is a very understanding person. There's no excusing the fact he litterally just ran out of the door leaving an unusable bathroom, that's the final nail in the coffin for any professionalism he may pretend to have had and is totally inexcusable.
My wife is pregnant and as a result when she needs to use the bathroom it's normally a case of needing to use it pretty quickly. This person left stuff all over the bathroom that could have been a hazard to her in her condition and she had to clear it up after he'd gone so she could use the toilet.
I'm sorry, but this just seems unacceptable to me. We may have different expectations when it comes to tradespeople, but I feel this was disgraceful.
Did you get a recommendation on this workman or the company from a friend ?
Did you ask who is good at tiling in your community from amongst the locals ?
Did you research this company ?
Did you just ask for the cheapest job you could get and hope for the best ?
If you want sympathy we all have that in spades
But you have to be a little more judicious in your choice of locating reliable workers than solely looking for the cheapest
You should always get at least two, or perhaps three, quotes and weigh them in the balance, asking what would they do if they hit a problem and probing to see that they are capable of doing the work if they are not recommended personally

I can do some basic tiling and plastering myself, but if I could not manage to tackle the job I would go down to the local pub or builders yard and ask for advice or people they could recommend
Or else I would next try to tackle the job myself and learn a lot into the bargain
That way you come out on top with the experience costing some money and pain, but having been taught a valuable lesson in the process
