Door-to-door home improvement offer is a scam in more ways than one
- Tommie Lee
- Oct 7, 2015
- 2 min read
Don't get run over in this old driveway scam
The boldest scammers are the ones who will walk right up to your door and try to pull a fast one face to face.
This is the time of year when we're all starting to get our homes ready for the cold winter weather on the horizon. Dreama Jensen of the Better Business Bureau of Northern Indiana says contractors are making the rounds in our neighborhoods, doing a small amount of work that doesn't amount to anything, and getting hundreds of dollars from homeowners.
They will usually tell you that they finished a job somewhere nearby and had some leftover materials that they don't want to see go to waste. They claim to have a special product of their own invention that will fill the cracks in your driveway and make it appear to be brand new.
Typically the contractors will quote a price and begin to spread their special product on your driveway once you agree to hire them, filling in a few cracks before knocking off for the day to come back tomorrow when there is better light. By this time, they've "re-evaluated" your driveway and the price goes up a little bit. You've given them several hundred dollars by the time they leave, but you have no reason to doubt they will come back the next day.
The following day, however, there is no trace of the scammers, and the phone number they provided leads to no one. To make matters even worse, one area resident has reported that the product on the driveway fell apart as soon as it became wet.
The BBB recommends saying no to door-to-door contractors who make this claim, and if one does happen to ring your doorbell you should contact the BBB to report it and pass along any information that could be useful to bring their deceitful work to an end.
Tommie Lee is the host of The Early Edition on Truth Radio 1340. The “Scam of the Week” is heard every Tuesday morning at 8:40 on his program.
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