The Energon Pub

In December we had signed an agreement with a contractor to demolish and remove all debris of our Katrina flood ravaged garage. At first he and his crew came out and did some work then he stopped and did everything to avoid us. Excuse after excuse was given as to why he could not return. Promises were made to return and it has been a game of phone tag and him for the last 2 months with him pretty much avoiding our calls. In Jan I filed an initial police report and attempted to get him back to finish the job.
After almost 4 and a half months of this crap I again called the JPSO (Jefferson parish sheriffs office) for the second time, this time I pressed formal charges of theft of over $1000 against him.

Now the waiting game begins as he will eventually be given a few choices.

1) finish the job in a seriously limited amount of time
2) take a loan and pay us the $1100 he owes us
3) him go to jail then have us sue his company for the owed money (and our court/attorney fees)


It was not pleasant pressing charges against him but I did what had to be done..

His name wasn't Ray Magini was it?

Contractors, always dodgy.

Good luck.

Tha Tweezrrr wrote:His name wasn't Ray Magini was it?

Nope.
Is this Ray person located in New Orleans?

i read a thing in class the other day about many people in new Orleans being ripped off by con artists and such. Here's hoping you make the bastard pay in, one way or another.

Decepticon Spike wrote:i read a thing in class the other day about many people in new Orleans being ripped off by con artists and such. Here's hoping you make the bastard pay in, one way or another.

Thanks.

Yeah it is a shame how people are being taken advantage of since Katrina.

Ray Magini is a fictional character from the simpsons who is based on Ray Romano.

Ray Magini is also an anagram for "imaginary"

And if you ever see the bastard who ripped you off again. then slap him once for me would ya'?

What? Does everyone have badges these days?

Even though it would be the most headache for everyone involved, he should go to jail. It would be a moral victory.

Good luck with it.

Milanion wrote:What? Does everyone have badges these days?

the only "Mod Squad" rip-offs are The Locust's, mine, and Cujo's.

Tha Tweezrrr wrote:

Milanion wrote:What? Does everyone have badges these days?

the only "Mod Squad" rip-offs are The Locust's, mine, and Cujo's.

Cool, I love inside jokes. I hope to be a part of one some day.

We had to do a similar thing when we hired contractor to clean our basement after it was flooded a few years ago. We did get some money out of it eventually.

Good luck, Bishop! Hope everything works out for you.

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Decepticon Spike wrote:i read a thing in class the other day about many people in new Orleans being ripped off by con artists and such. Here's hoping you make the bastard pay in, one way or another.

Thanks.

Yeah it is a shame how people are being taken advantage of since Katrina.

Not just Katrina.

It's ridiculous how much costs have skyrocketed here since Larry. Use to be able to get a roof replaced for under $5000. Now it's $30000. Gotta love out of town contractors and insurance companies who will just pay up.

Burn wrote:Not just Katrina.

It's ridiculous how much costs have skyrocketed here since Larry. Use to be able to get a roof replaced for under $5000. Now it's $30000. Gotta love out of town contractors and insurance companies who will just pay up.

Really? you guys are getting hit over there as well.
This guy I am dealing with is not out of town, this guy is local and lives not too far from me.

(And for those that may think this, no going to his house and threatening him was not an option.. I am letting the law handle it).

Definitely.

Dunno what things are like over there but for some reason there's different building standards from state to state, as such, a lot of the out of state contractors came up, did the work, and when the building inspector came around pretty much wrote the work off as it didn't meet the standards (considering we're in cyclone country the stanards are much higher than down south where they don't get them).

And then of course there's the dodgy ones who came up for a few quick dollars and didn't even make an effort to remotely comply with the standards. So yeah, there's been a few horror stories around here as well.

And working for an accountant it's amazing the number of out of town contractors who have come in to get their work done through us. And the majority of those already have a tax debt following them. Not suprisingly, they come in, get a few well paying jobs and then quickly move on before the tax office can catch up with them.

It is disappointing that yours is a local though. I would have expected it from someone out of town, but not someone who's been through the same thing you've been through.

Burn wrote:It is disappointing that yours is a local though. I would have expected it from someone out of town, but not someone who's been through the same thing you've been through.

What is crazy is the contractor had a home in New Orleans and it had 8 and a half foot of water in it thanks to the storm..

Burn wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Decepticon Spike wrote:i read a thing in class the other day about many people in new Orleans being ripped off by con artists and such. Here's hoping you make the bastard pay in, one way or another.

Thanks.

Yeah it is a shame how people are being taken advantage of since Katrina.

Not just Katrina.

It's ridiculous how much costs have skyrocketed here since Larry. Use to be able to get a roof replaced for under $5000. Now it's $30000. Gotta love out of town contractors and insurance companies who will just pay up.

Seems that natural disasters brings out the worst in people