"a little water damage . . .easily repaired" this guy obviously has never done anything like that. This one is ruined and the only way to bring it back to original is to replace the veneer.
I hate when people with no clue say "it should be easy". When I did alterations I'd have people come in and say "I only want it taken in a bit right here . . ." and then have fits when I quoted a price. Many times what they thought would be easy (just a little bit ) involved taking sleeves and collar off and resetting them.