Scam Type
Home Improvement Scam
Business Name Used
Ideal Duct Cleaning
Date Reported
Sep 27, 2022
Victim Postal Code
12123
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
On my local town Facebook page, “Valatie NY Community Board” a gentleman named “Rob Barkman” posted about duct cleaning. Since this is a service I’ve been looking for, I requested a quote. He private messaged me asking about the square footage of my home and how many a/c ducts. I told him, and he gave me a reasonable quote. When I didn’t respond immediately, he told me about a “special price” of $199 instead of the originally quoted $279, and said he’d need to know my availability by the next day – first red flag. I told him I was interested in that price, and he asked for my zip code, which I provided. I asked if his company was insured, and he said it was, and told me the company name was “Ideal Duct Cleaning”. Although I searched via google and Facebook, I could find no company by that name. When I asked him about it, he provided a website to a clearly fake website. He then asked for my address and phone number, which I did not provide. I explained that there were too many red flags at this time and I believed it was a scam, at which time he tried to convince me otherwise. After I explained why I felt it was a scam (no professional website, no customer reviews, a phone number that rings and rings with no company answering machine, etc.) he immediately removed his post from the Valatie NY Community board. I have many more photos but am only allowed to include one below.
