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Home Improvement Repairs Scam - Itinerant Contractor

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Home Improvement Repairs Scam - Itinerant Contractor Reports & Reviews (2)

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I'm writing in regards to my mother who is 87 y/o. She was home watching TV when a man named Allen King knocked on her door & said she was missing shingles from her roof. He showed her some of the shingles that fell. He asked if he could go check out the rest of the roof. She agreed to let him look.

He came back down saying that there was extensive damage to her roof and it needed to be repaired. She said let me talk to my insurance company.

He said "don't do that. They are never going to pay for that, it's wear & tear" He said I'm doing work in the neighborhood and have all the supplies for this job. She said I don't know maybe I should get another estimate. He said I'm going to give you a good price & I can start right now!. He proceeded to get back on the ladder & started taking off the roof. He gave her a price of $50,000 for 1/2 of the roof including the wood underneath because it was all rotted. She was very unsure of the price but went with it because he already started to job. He said I only except cash!! She said I don't have that kind of money lying around. She reluctantly went to the bank to withdraw the money. He came into the house and said your fireplace is falling apart & needs to be repointed and the roof on that side needs to be replaced. He told her it would cost another $ 57,000. He started working on it. He kept calling for the money. She paid him in full. He was supposed to return to check out the finished job which he did not!.! We have been calling the number & have gotten no response from him & can't leave a message. We now have a leak in our living room because no one finished the job correctly.

There's no flashing around the fireplace, many of the shingles are coming up and some of the end caps were not installed properly.

I had to get more estimates from other roofers to fix this problem which is going to cost us more money. Many of these roofers who came to look at this poorly installed roof said it should have cost between $15,000 to $18,000 for new roof with the wood. The other roofers all agreed that this a poorly done roof and is criminal for the price that he charged. He did not guarantee anything. The work was done in June & we now have this big leak.

This should not be happening. The price she paid is just sickening. We are all so upset that someone would take advantage of an elderly woman.

I hope she does not get physically sick from this man's actions. She has herself so overwhelmed & upset by what has happened.

He completely ripped my mother off & is now not taking calls or he is unable to be contacted in any way leaving us in a big mess.

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- Whitestone, NY, USA
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Scam contractor knocked at my door and gave me a flyer of their company and said that he was just at my neighbor's and noticed that our house needs repair and offered to do the job at a cheap price ($XXX.00) - so we signed a contract for that. Since the price quote the scam contractor gave me for the initial job is quite reasonable, I requested for the scam contractor to look at another area in our property that needs repair. After checking it out, he came back stating that I have a huge problem and that if said problem is not fixed the City might shutdown our home and our family will have to stay at a hotel for months. He added though that I do not have to worry since they can fix the problem. He and his partner came back the following day, and his partner reiterated what he said. Overwhelmed by their SCARE-TACTIC, I told them to start the job. The initial contract for $XXX.00 was changed to $XX,XXX.00. I ended up giving them $XX,XXX.00 IN CASH as downpayment. After starting the job which includes demolishing part of our property and excavating the front yard, they kept reporting back to me - each time escalating the problem until it reached to a point where they literally told me that our "house is sinking". The scam contractors, using their cell phone, had me speak on the phone with their "supervisor" who they claim is an inspector who can shutdown out property. Said "supervisor" told me that the problem is URGENT and that he have to pull-out men from other jobs to bring to my property and also get specialized equipments so they can correct the problem with my house. When I asked him how much will the total cost be, he answered that he does not know since he still needs to assess the property BUT they need another $XX,XXX.00 cash downwayment NOW. Panicked, I consulted with my family who advised me not to give them additional money. I asked the scam contractors to meet with me and a family member who can advise me on the following day. The scam contractors did not show-up for the 1st scheduled meeting. They also stopped work leaving my property looking like a construction zone. They called instead and claimed that there was road accident on their way to my house. We rescheduled the meeting for the next day. However, the scam contractors did not show-up again. They called instead to check if my family member was present. They also tried to pressure me to say that I stopped the job, which I STRONGLY DENIED since they were the ones that stopped coming to my house once they learned that a family member will be with me to meet with them. They also kept reiterating the HUGE problems with my house. I told them we plan to consult with a licensed civil engineer. The scam contractors OFFERED to have a licensed civil engineer THEY KNOW to come to my house to perform an inspection - which i declined. A friend of ours who learned of my plight, asked a relative who is a licensed civil engineer to immediately go to my house and perform an inspection. After the inspection, the final result is that our house is structurally sound! The scam contractors' claims are ALL FAKE! When I informed the scam contractors of the property inspection result, one of the scam contractors claimed that he is also a licensed civil engineer to repute the result and threatened me to send their "supervisor" to my house which will result in our house being shutdown! I told them to have their superisor come so my family member and I can meet with him instead. The "supervisor" also never showed-up. To summarize, these scam contractors did 2 DAYS OF DESTRUCTION to my property, made numerous calls to scare and pressure me to give them more money, and run away with my hard-earned retirement funds! I was in a vulnerable state when they approached me, hence I couldn't think straight and thus made bad decisions. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE! Take the following steps when hiring a contractor: (1) ask for proof of license and insurance, (2) verify the contractor's license with your local authorities, (3) check online reviews, and (4) ask for job work references from the contractor. Do these steps so that you don't end up with a very HARD and EXPENSIVE lesson like me.

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