The so-called contractor might very well be a con artist. I'm embarrassed I fell for it.
He may have medical issues, and we're sorry if he does. We all suffer medical issues from time to time, but don't use that as an excuse for your actions. He continued to take on jobs and take people's money. He ran an ad in the paper for a 30-year, $2,900 roof. We responded on 4-23-08 to this ad, helping our son put a roof on his home at a low cost. He said he would honor the ad, but he claimed it was only supposed to be in the paper for two days and the Times-Union made a mistake by running it longer. The ad ran for several weeks, along with signs he had made at a local sign shop for his truck and customers' yards.
I met with him on 4-24-08 where he filled out a contract specifying his work and start date (four to five days). He signed it and took my check for $1,450. He didn't want the check made out to his company name but his personally because he had a hard time cashing it with his company name and stupid me honored his wishes. He high-tailed it to my bank the following morning and cashed the check.
Needless to say, after many phone calls and leaving messages, three of his employees showed up to work on 5-22-08. They worked for 1-1/2 days. They never returned because they weren't paid by their employer, I was told. He's very good at using a local building material store to deliver product with the stipulation that the homeowner pays the bill when the product is delivered, and if you aren't there to pay, they take the product back to the store.
What happened to the $1,450 he started your project with? Without going into further detail, after 5-31-08 we have never heard another word from this person and the specified terms in the contract was never fulfilled by his company. In fact, on 5-31-08, we offered to help him finish the job just to get it done and before rain fell upon the unfinished roof. We finished it ourselves at more of our expense. He has never sent us any letter as he states in his comments in the paper on 9-12-08.
If his health issues were so bad and he was understaffed, why did he take on so many jobs and take customers half down payments when he knew he couldn't start or finish? I filed complaints with the Indiana Attorney Generals office and the Better Business Bureau the first of June. I supplied them with two given addresses for this man and neither address was sufficient. What happened to forwarding mail? You sometimes can't find somebody when they don't want to be found. This person needs to be stopped and made accountable for his actions.
