Scam Type
Home Improvement Scam
Business Name Used
Wayne Phillips Construction Remodel
Date Reported
May 29, 2022
Victim Postal Code
98685
Total Dollars Lost
$7,400.00
Scam Description
We paid $7400 as a deposit and he was only going to refund us $2,500 so we are taking him to small claims court. I highly doubt he was going to refund us $2,500. The only work that was performed was demolition, pouring of the shower pan and partial installation of cement board in the shower. The cement board in the shower was fastened with roofing nails and had to be redone by the new contractor with the proper cement board screws. The shower was poured incorrectly and had to be done by another contractor. We agreed on the scope of work to be completed in three weeks beginning April 11th and completed by April 29th. John Larson was going to do the work himself with possible help from his brother (up north).After we entered the contract, John informed us that he would only be working at our house on Wed, Thurs and Friday of each week. The revised start date was now Wed April 20th.Rather than John Larson doing the work, he brought in another worker. This other worker, Shane, did the demo and John did minimal demo work. Having another person in our house was not part of our original agreement.Demo was not completed until April 29th. Shane took the mirror, the vanity and the bathtub that was removed from our master bath. We don’t know, but assume that this was some type of barter to provide incentive for Shane to work at our house. John told us that he would be here on May 2. He never showed up. He told us that he would be here on May 3 and he never showed up. May 4 the same. Due to his lack of doing work at our house, we wanted to discuss his schedule face to face. He was supposed to come on May 5, but never showed up because he was on another job. I volunteered to meet him at this job site to discuss his schedule, but he refused.On Friday May 6, we sent him a revised agreement via text message with a penalty clause that he agreed to. The penalty clause was to kick in after May 20th, but we still expected the work to be done no later than May 15th. May 15th was the day that John Larson said, “I give you my absolute commitment that the work will be completed by the middle of May”. On May 6th, no one showed up.On May 9th, we had a conversation with John Larson and he was non-comital on his schedule. He volunteered to terminate the job, and we agreed. We have never seen any money back from him.
