PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Eighty-year-old Mary Snead says she was scammed out of $1,000 by a door-knocking contractor.
She says a man named Jimmy Mack said he could fill in the cracks in the driveway of her Portsmouth home.
“And then I talked with the man he said ‘when I get finished, it’ll look just like brand new … and it should last you about eight to 10 years,'” Snead said.
Snead said Mack demanded the money upfront. She wasn’t impressed with the finished product, though. Less than 24 hours later, the rain washed away a lot of the white powdery stuff Mack had brushed I to the driveway.
“It was all over my shoes, all over my porch, it was all white all over my carpet in my home. I said what in the world is this?”
She called Mack who promised to fix it the next day, but Snead said he never came. We gave Mack a call at the number he gave Snead. A man answered who said his name was Todd Santos and claimed to be a secretary for Mack. We explained to him what happened to Snead’s driveway.
“Uh, ma’am, this has never happened to us before, I mean this is the only case we got going on like this,” Santos told WAVY 10 in a recorded phone conversation.
We did some digging and found a similar complaint in Charlotte with the same name and the same problem. When we asked Santos if this was his company, he said they’ve never been in North Carolina. Santos assured us someone with the company would be out soon to fix her driveway.
“I’ll make sure they’re out there by the middle of next week, OK? (Reporter: Are y’all in Virginia right now?) Ma’am? (Reporter: Are y’all in Virginia right now?) That’s none of your business where I’m at, hon,” Santos said shortly before hanging up.
“I don’t want nobody else to go through what I had went through. I am 80-years-old, I wasted my money, thought I might have a nice driveway, when they finish. And it look like this,” Snead added.
Experts say to watch out for contractors who go door knocking. They’ll offer you a fee that sounds too good to be true and they’ll demand the money before the job is finished. Experts say research any contractor before hiring them. Make sure they are licensed and bonded and always check them out on the Better Business Bureau’s website.
Information
For more information about home repair or home improvement scams, see the links below:
AARP: https://states.aarp.org/virginia/aarp-virginia-fraud-alert-home-repair-scams
BBB: https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/16924-bbb-tip-home-improvement-scams
National Council on Aging: https://www.ncoa.org/article/what-is-a-home-improvement-scam-learn-8-warning-signs