Further to an article or letter you published on or around March 24 regarding a Sun City scammer, I am writing to advise I think we also have been scammed by possibly the same people.
We live in Yuma and one day last week a guy drove by our house and called out to my husband to ask if we would like our concrete patio epoxy painted. We had actually been thinking about doing our back patio, and I was going to do it, but my husband thought it was too big a task for me. So he invited the guy to take a look.
He said he could do it, and that he had leftover product that he was going to have to dispose off if not used that day. I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible, but he started off by quoting $5,000, then $4,500, then $4,000, then finally $3,500, and this would include our small front patio as well, which we thought was still too high, but agreed to it. I asked when he could do it, and he said “now” and that he just had to go to a store and get more product. This all happened so fast and we didn’t think to ask about licenses or a written quote/invoice.
He came back about an hour later, close to 5 p.m., and had his wife with him, and then another guy arrived, supposedly his father, who ended up doing most of the work, just rolling on the product after the wife had painted the expansion joints. The original guy sprayed the expansion joints beforehand, weed spray and possibly acid wash, not sure about that. The only other prep work was to blow the dust away. They did not have a blower, so borrowed ours. This part of the job took less than an hour and he then approached my husband and suggested they do the front driveway and walkway for “same price,” which we took to mean within the $3,500, so we agreed. Seemed like a bargain.
The entire job, front and back, took less than two hours. I had already made out a check for him as it was approaching dark, no name on the check as yet. He came inside, and his first words were, “now the fun begins,” and my radar went off along with red flags. I asked him who to make the check out to and he gave me a name, which I felt didn’t really fit, as he and his wife and “father” spoke with a foreign accent, and the name was not foreign. However, I didn’t feel right to question his name. I should have asked for ID in retrospect. I handed him the check, and he then asked where the rest was. I can if you are interested. We ended up agreeing to $1,000 more a week later when we receive our SS payment.
We finally got rid of them at about 7 p.m., he took the check. He rang the next morning to advise he couldn’t cash it as the bank would not cash any higher than $2,500, so we agreed to meet him at my bank that morning and I would have the check cashed, which we did. I also asked that he bring an invoice and receipt. No invoice, he said it’s on his phone and he would send it, which eventually happened after several requests.
It is in the name of a what we assume is a bogus company. It’s not listed anywhere, no address, no license number. My husband has advised him he has a check made out to the company, as per the invoice, but they are not happy with this, The began harrassing us for cash, which was never part of any verbal discussion. At this stage we are at a stalemate, but have not paid the $1,000. The job is not worth the extra money. It is very poor workmanship, and I, at 73-years-old, could have done a better job. There is so much more I could add to this, but have tried to be as brief as possible.
We have registration numbers for both of their vehicles, but do not have the authority to investigate ownership. It would be very interesting to have a description of the people that scammed the Sun City lady, and maybe we could have these people exposed for breaking the law as we now know they should not be operating without a license, or if operating as a “handyman,” should not be doing jobs over $1,000 for materials and labor.
We have reported this to our local sheriff’s office, but didn’t really get a sympathetic hearing. They said they would make a note of the incident. We do realize we are at fault for not taking the necessary precautions at the outset.
