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Home Improvement Contractor Scam

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Home Improvement Contractor Scam Reports & Reviews (56)

- Coopersburg, PA, USA • Sep 10, 2024
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I inquired about chimney cleaning services from this company through the website. A little while later someone called me from a completely different number than the company uses and asked about chimney cleaning and said that they would have a traveling cleaning service in the area. This didn't make sense because the company was supposed to be local. I asked what company they were calling from and they said "Turbo Cleaning". I declined and hung up the phone. Later the phone number listed on the website called me and asked to schedule an appointment. We scheduled for the next day and the "technician" came in a van with a temporary New Jersey license plate and attempted to do an inspection of the chimney but didn't do anything other than look up the flue with a very small flashlight. He did not check the outside, he did not check the roof area where the chimney penetrates. Then he said that he needed to do a full "deep clean". I approved and he went out to his truck and got a small brush kit and a drill. He ran the brush up the chimney for about 15 to 20 minutes and then cleaned up and went back out to his truck. He came back with a invoice for $425. The invoice had a completely different company name and phone number on it, the company name was "A-Z Chimney Sweep". He put no information on the invoice at all for any of the inspection items, he just wrote "deep clean" on the invoice. I was not very happy about the work that he did for that much money but I just wanted him out of the house so I paid it. I checked my credit card after the transaction went though and that came up as yet another business name, "SP Chimney Service". I then did a little more research and found that the business address used on the website was for a local grocery store and the Randy's Chimney Sweep business doesn't actually exist, it shows up on Google maps but I've been in that grocery store many times and I know there is no chimney sweep business in there. I believe that they are also using fake pictures on their website. They are passing themselves off as licensed chimney sweeps but I'm sure that they are not.

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- Reston, VA, USA • Aug 14, 2024
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Two guys came by Aug 3rd with offer for free estimate. Showed me video that my chimney is in a bad away (did not share this video even though I asked for it). But I was persuaded to sign the contract for $800. Told me that they'd return on Monday but they didn't arrive. Did not call.

Showed up on Tuesday Aug 6th, showed me another video of my chimney saying that it's worse than they thought and now the chimney needs new crown and four cores inside and out (bricks) and the cost now is $8800. Made update to the signed contract. (I did not have to acknowledge on the contract that it has been changed or that I approved it) I had to give them $1000 as deposit. Went away as they said they'll start work the next day. The contract now has corrections but no initials or otherwise.

Unfortunately they didn't show up the next day but showed up on Thursday Aug 8th late afternoon. I decided to void the check I gave them just that morning because I felt like I have been lied to. Their website link does not work (the site does not exist). Called their phone number -- it went to generic voice mail (leave a message after the call -- no ID mentioned as being a company) Called the home insurance company Travelers and then called a local roofing company for a consultation.

In the mean time, the fake contractors called me and told me that I have signed their contract and they've spent money on buying bricks (and spent their time -- which I cannot tell that they worked on anything) and that they will send the contract to their claims department. If I went ahead with them right now, they'll now charge me only $5800 and will save me $3000. If I wait until after the consultation, they'll sue me for breach of contract.

The local company came by on Wednesday Aug 14th and sent me photos taken which showed the previous people did a number on my chimney and did not even bother to put a tarp over the chimney (even though it was raining the day they came by to re-inspect the chimney). Said the chimney was perfectly in good shape and that the damage that was incurred by these fake contractors must be fixed.

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- Landisville, PA, USA • Aug 13, 2024
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Landscaping job to clean-out, weed, edge, & mulch flower beds at my home. I have his signed work order/invoice for $613.74 total dated 6/19/2024. He took my personal check for down deposit of $334.00 on 7/3/2024 and my go-ahead for job and cashed it (which cleared my bank).

As of today 8/13/2024, he has never started this job. Repeated phone calls and text messages (about 13) have not gotten him to start this job. Every time he answers or responses to give me his start date, he never shows up. He has always promised to come and never goes.

I have asked for my deposit money back if he no longer wants to do this landscaping job. He said he would send my money back, but never does.

I feel that he has scammed me!

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• Aug 07, 2024
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I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR NYC_SERVICES24-7 TO FIX A SHOWER DOOR. THEY DID A BAD JOB AND WHEN I ASKED THEM TO COME BACK TO FIX THE PROBLEMS THEY FOBBED ME OFF WITH ONE EXCUSE AFTER ANOTHER. THESE PEOPLE ARE DISHONEST AND NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

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- Jamison, PA, USA • Jun 10, 2024
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We contacted Cole & Sons at 215-330-5154 to obtain a quote for new garage doors. We were told a technician would be at our home within 2 hours, which did happen, however when we were given the quotation there was no Company address on the letterhead, when we ask what the Company name is we were told USA Garage Door which did not match the name on the quote nor did it match the name associated with the number for Coile & Son.

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- Silver Spring, MD, USA
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He requested for cash to purchase the materials. He came to pick up the cash and said he would schedule the day & time to do the job. After numerous exchanges of text messsges promising to find me a schedule he couldn’t come up with one. If he did he wouldn’t show up at such time. I then asked for a refund which he agreed to do but never did never showed up again. That was October 2023.

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- Washington, DC, USA
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The person claims that he provide home/car detailing services. I had asked he just can mount my tv for me and he told me I would have to pay a $50 travel fee and I would have to send it to his mom cash app. Which was strange but I was still trying to be supportive in his business and trust him this was on Feb 10th at 9:23am. He told me he would come on Monday between 4pm-8pm. He also asked for my name, number, & address. I just had gave him my name & number because I didn’t feel comfortable giving out my home address on social media. So Monday came I reached out on Instagram because that is how we were communicating and he asked if he can come on Tuesday instead and I agreed because I am understanding but after that he completely disappeared and was not communicating with me at all. When I was finally about to get a hold of him with was yesterday 2/15, this man was overly aggressive, rude, and upset. All because I expressed how I felt. I told him he is a scammer and I would like my $50 dollars back. After four days of trying to get my fifty dollars back from him by texting and calling he threatened to “embarrass & bully” me which I do not know how when he doesn’t even know who I am. I am disgusted by his actions and so disappointed in him because he is making all small businesses look l bad especially when they are trying to build cliental.

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- Easton, PA, USA
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I hired a contractor to install a new HVAC system. He showed me in a flier what he would install. The heat pump nor the Air intake unit were what he stated he would install. When he installed the Heat pump, he installed it on the ground, manufacture manual states in PA HP should be 3-12" off the ground. He didn't finish installation of Air intake unit. there is no filter rack, nor a filter. He installed the new AIU on the old box. The old box is 4" too small, and the AIU is not supported. Jarret Nash sent me text messages stating he will come back to finish installation. He has ghosted me since August. I have sent emails, text messages, certified letters...all go unanswered and he has blocked my phone number. I want my money back. Can you help?

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- New York, NY, USA
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Chris Deraffele misrepresented himself as a licensed contractor. He also employed subcontractors who were not licensed. When this was brought to our attention, he was terminated from the work. Eventhough, he was not licensed, he sued for construction payments which were not due to him. He also did not pay his subs.

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- Warminster, PA, USA
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Ceown

Moore who represents Apex Appliance Repair Service came out to my house

on 12/26/2023 to service my GE gas dryer that was not producing heat.

He diagnosed the problem and determined that it needed a igniter and he

would have to order it. He also said he needed from me a deposit of

175.00 and suggested to pay him with Zelle which I did thru my credit

union account because I was anxious to get it fixed. Well, he left and

said he would contact me and return when the part came in. On Dec 28th

he said he had a family emergency and said he could come on Tuesday, Jan

2nd. He never came and ignored my texts and when you call his number

it always goes to voice mail and he never returns my calls. I kept

calling and texting him the next several day which he just ignored me. I

ended up calling someone else on Tuesday, January 9th. This service

person came the next day and fixed my dryer. So basically Ceown Moore

from Apex Appliance Repair Service scammed me for 175.00. This guy is

dishonest and not trustworthy. I guess he thought I was a pushover

because I was a senior citizen.

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This customer was fully reimbursed by our company for all expenses and placed on our priority care membership. We’ve also talked with the customer and resolved the issues with all complaints dropped

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- Mc Lean, VA, USA
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Did a Google search for appliance repair and came across https://www.appliance-pros.com which connected me to a scam company that actually came out to my property and gave what turned out to be a bogus repair assessment for a refrigerator. They said they needed an initial deposit for the work and then I never heard back from them.

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- Martinsburg, WV, USA
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Contractor was supposed to come to work and asked for money to buy supplies. Sent money via Venmo. When confirming the time he would be arriving on 12/11/2023, his phone is out of service, no response to calls or texts for days, (this is his business cell) no response to emails. The water and mold company that referred him to me has also tried to make contact with him unsuccessfully.

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- Mount Rainier, MD, USA
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My parents contracted with Haziel & Brothers Construction LLC as general contractor for work at their home. The contractor sent emails to my parents requesting that the payment be made through Zelle. My parent received multiple emails from the contractors email [email protected]. These emails discussed the quote for the work to be completed, start date, Zelle payment information. The money was sent to the Zelle account information twice, but the contractor (Edwin Hernandez) said he did not send the emails and he did not receive any payments. My parents reported this to their bank as suspicious but because the email was from the contractor address, the bank denied her the refund of the money that was Zelled. This now appears that the contractor is running a scam, we reviewed all the emails sent from that address to my parents is the same. Unfortunately my elderly parents believed the contractor so they paid him by check. This means the contractor got paid double for the job that was done. This is another example of scammers taking advantage of senior citizens. It's obvious that this contractor used Zelle to scam my parents out of their money, now they are unable to get back the money sent to this contractor's accomplice. The company does not have a fixed address so I could not file a complaint on BBB. The website used is https://haziel-brothersconstructionllc.com/. I hope that this can be turned into a complaint against this company. My parents or any senior citizen should not be taken advantage of.

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- Leesburg, VA, USA
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They posed as state highway contractors, saying they were doing work on local roads and noticed drainage issue in my driveway, the surface of which was loose round smooth stones. I did have a small drainage issue, so it seemed legitimate. They said they had a little extra gravel in their truck and would place it on my drive. When I asked how much it would be, they said they had to measure the area after the gravel was laid down. When it was too late to back out, they said I owed $2800 which I shouldn't have paid, but did. They cashed the check the same day, and their invoice didn't have a printed company name on it or a phone number, so I know now it was a scam. The work is pretty shoddy too.

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- Jericho, NY, USA
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The scammer posed as an Egress Windows expert. He was trying to sell me a $3900 job. I looked him up, and he has no business license or a home improvement license in the Nassau or Suffolk county. His business is supposedly called 'EgressXperts', but that business is not registered in the NY state. He told me he was 'licensed and insured', but he couldn't produce any documentations. Based on his Facebook reviews, he has done this kind of scams before.

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- Silver Spring, MD, USA
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On October 2 I submitted a post to the social website Next Door, looking for a contractor who could widen three doorways in my condominium. I received a text response from Cedrick Smith, offering his services. He visited our unit on October 3, agreed to do the job starting October 7, and gave us a receipt for his estimate of $773. He asked for a down payment of $413, the cost for the doors, which he said he was going to pick up from Home Depot on Friday, October 6. October 3, we sent the down payment via Zelle to the number Cedrick said belonged to his wife, Jennifer Speight. On Friday, October 6 Cedrick and I discussed who was going to pick up the paint needed for the drywall; when I asked him to get it, he asked for another Zelle payment for the paint. I sent him $81.67 via Zelle to his wife’s phone number.

Cedrick was expected the morning of Saturday, October 7 to begin the job. He contacted me late that morning to tell me that Home Depot did not have the doors. He said the doors were expected on Sunday, October 8. The.next day, Sunday, October 9, the doors did not arrive. He texted me that he was trying to find the doors from a different source and that he would be at our house Monday, with no exceptions. Monday, October 9 I texted Cedrick to ask if he had picked up the doors. That afternoon he responded to say that the truck had been delayed due to the holiday. I asked what time he would arrive on Tuesday, October 10, to which he responded that he was figuring it out.

I didn’t hear from Cedrick on Tuesday, October 10. Wednesday evening, October 11, at 6:30 pm, I asked Cedrick why I hadn’t heard from him. He sent me photographs showing that he had been in a car accident that day. Friday, October 13 I texted Cedrick complaining that I hadn’t heard from him; I was wondering when he would be returning to work. I asked him if it wasn’t going to be soon enough for my purposes, when could I have a refund.

By October 19 I had tried to reach Cedrick many times by phone, with no response. That afternoon I called Cedrick from a different number, which he answered. I asked him what his plans were. He said he would be at our home the next day. I have not heard from him since.

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- East Stroudsburg, PA, USA
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Gave deposit to have renovation done came back about a month later to say he no longer had the money as it was in his account when another customer disputed the charge wanted us to pay the remainder of the balance to do the job. He refused, it has been just over a month since the job was to be done and he has now ghosted me.

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- Darby, PA, USA
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Timothy Pettigrew, he said he could put a full bathroom in my basement. I gave him $4,000 for supplies to start the project. He wanted $10,000. He said he wanted cash to purchase the items for the bathroom on his expense account at Home Depot and Lowes. I gave him $4000 in cash on July 26, 2023. No services have been done or started. Tim brought the shower unit to my house which costs $650. Every time I call for a status on the project, i get the run around. He has given me false dates to start the project and never shows up to my house. Tim has claimed that the only way to get the project completed is to have full access to my house at all times especially when I am at work. He says the hold up on the bathroom is because i have not given him keys to my house. I have asked for my money back which he has saud NO. I have asked for receipts which he has said "i dont have receipts ". I am unsure of how to go about getting my money back from Tim Pettigrew, Lionrock construction llc.

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- Weatherly, PA, USA
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Wife of Daniel Sabella, Alice posted on our local group that they just moved here,her children will be attending school at Weatherly and her husband lost 2 big jobs. Met with Daniel at my home, he gave me a estimate. I paid him 50% of job 2175.00 by check. Never seen him again.

A Google search revealed he has been doing this since 2018.

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- Springfield, VA, USA
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Electrolux Chat Agent referred All Appliance Repair to me when I needed a service on Electrolux dryer. I called the number and Lucky showed up to look at the dryer. He didn't examine much but told me that he could do more than Electrolux appliance repair. I gave him two additional appliances to repair. He charged me a $300 for a deposit and later another $300. It was a short discussion; I noticed his rude behavior and tone, but I trusted him because he was referred by Electrolux. I confirmed an appointment date with him a few times, but his answers were always vague and unclear. He said he would call me when he was on his way to my house. He never called me to confirm the appointment. When I called him again for the appointment. He did not answer. I tried a different phone number on the work order, the same person (Lucky) pick up the phone and told me that Jay was on the way between 5 pm and 9 pm. No one came. I contacted my credit card company to claim a dispute. The merchant ID number has a different business name, Prime Appliances Repair, 19904 August Village, Pl., Ashburn VA 20147, (703) 424-0579. I did online research on both companies and found multiple scam reports. However, Lucky continues to scam innocent people. I provided the scam reports to my credit card company and my disputes were closed. However, I want to make sure there will be no other victims.

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