Scam Type
Home Improvement Scam
Date Reported
2023-05-27 00:00:00
Victim Postal Code
M5N 1L5
Total Dollars Lost
7000
Scam Description
They were doing work on my neighbours house and knocked on my door. They are about 4 or 5 Irish lads and they are fast talkers, They told me my neighbour was very upset because our chimney was so crooked he was afraid it was going to fall and damage their house. Our house is almost 100 years old and I thought after the winter and storms maybe it was bad, I went outside with the boys, this was the last week of April, 2023, to look at the chimney. We greed upon tuck pointing for 2500. Since it was raining they said they would do the work the next day. The next day they knocked on the door and said they were just up on the roof and the chimney was extremely bad and now that they started we are not to code and have to fix the chimney. They said it has to be rebuilt and they need to go get new bricks and mortar. These boys are bullies. I said I would have to talk to my husband and he stood by my door when I called and as I was talking to him he came in and said I will talk to your husband and took the phone. My husband is an accountant and the last week of April is very stressful. He kept on saying he needed all the money to buy the bricks and supplies. We said we were not going to pay the whole amount which was 10,000 and he talked us into giving him 7,000. He promised us the chimney would look perfect and straight and strong when they were done. We have a signed contract by them and they never came back. I tried calling them the following week, They answered the phone and said they would come over the next day at 6pm. They did not show up. I tried calling them again and now you get disconnected. I am looking after my 98 year old mother and the day they knocked on my door she was having a bad day and I was very vulnerable. I later found out that they used the same tactics on my neighbour who has just gone through cancer by knocking on her door but they did work on her house but not good work and kept bulling her into doing more work than was needed.My neighbour also told me that he never said anything to these boys about our chimney! I have called the police about them and they are not sure if this falls under fraud. I have to get a company to go up and see if they damaged the chimney and they smeared a bit of cement on one corner and that’s why the police are saying they are not sure if they can put this through as fraud. I later saw on their website that another person has just gone through a similar experience as I did. These Irish lads by now might have changed their name, the address is a garage and the phone number does not work. Whatever I can do to stop these boys, I will do.
