I think I just dodged a Yammer sied bullet.

[Flyinfool]

So I am out in the back yard working on the house.

This white van pulls up and the driver asks if I am interested in some asphalt work.

He says that he is doing a major job in the area and will have some leftover asphalt, just enough to do my gravel drive.

 

He then pulls a magnetic sign out of the back seat to show me who he is and the sign says that his rate is only $4.65 per sq ft. He said that since I would be helping him out by using his excess material he would do my job for $2.00 per sq ft. Hmmm odd that a contractor would keep his magnetic sign in the back seat and not where it could do some good.

Looking at the area I determind it to be 20 x 30 or 600 sq ft. I asked him if he agreed with my area assessment and he said yes. He then told me that he could do the job for just $1375. Red flag number one.

 

I said that was still more than I could afford right now and he dropped the job to $1000. I thought that was interesting and asked if I could call him back later tonight to let him know. I then asked him for a business card. He said he did not have one with him. they were all in his other truck at the job site. What business owner does not keep his wallet stuffed with cards. Red flag number 2.

 

I did get his name and phone number. The phone number was from Framingham MA. I am in WI. Why would a local contractor have an out of state phone number.

 

Red flag no 3

 

As soon as I got in the house after finishing what I was working on, I got on the puter ad Googled William Stanley and the phone number and got scam alerts from all over the country. They even had his picture in a NJ courtroom getting convicted of the paving scam.

OK now I have a boatload of red flags.

 

After reading the scam stuff, this guys spiel matched right down to his name and picture.

 

The way the scam works is that he offers to do cut rate work for a real good price. once you accept he shows up and does some work and then hits you with a drastically inflated bill of more than 10 times the agreed price. He then gets nasty and threatens to take a contractors lien on your property. This guy is constantly moving across state lines.

 

I have instructed my GF that if anyone shows up to try to do work to not answer the door or talk to them, call 911 immediately and THEN call me at work.

[friesman]

i would maybe call the police and say that you saw the guy in town so they could keep an eye open for him....

 

Brian

[flb_78]

Yup, call the police now. Don't wait until he comes back.

[Yammer Dan]

Interesting. The Warden wants to take our idiot to court but I know when I've been had. I have nothing that would stand up in court. I screwed up big time on this one. Can't understand why I accepted him as easy as I did. Must be getting old. It won't happen again. I have thought of doing Blacktop in my drive to join the garage but don't send that one my way. I just cleaned my 357.....

[DragonRider]

I would have thought after, what 50 years as a correction officer you would know all of the scams......what happened, the lack of dollar signs get in the way of your better judgment or just being plain lazy and letting someone else get the sore back while you kick back with a cold adult beverage.:rotfl:

 

Interesting. The Warden wants to take our idiot to court but I know when I've been had. I have nothing that would stand up in court. I screwed up big time on this one. Can't understand why I accepted him as easy as I did. Must be getting old. It won't happen again. I have thought of doing Blacktop in my drive to join the garage but don't send that one my way. I just cleaned my 357.....

[bongobobny]

Yah! Oldest scam in the book!! First, if he has surplus he isn't very good at calculating material needs and second (actually first) NEVER trust a contractor going door to door soliciting for jobs!!!!! Good contractors are sought for, scammers go door to door looking for victoms...

[myminpins]

Good catch!!! When they repaved our street, they offered to do or redo people's driveways for them since they'd be here with boatloads of asphalt but they were legit. It was funny - they had to repave some of everyone's driveway then asked if they wanted the rest done for $$. So when they came to see where they'd have to pave our driveway to, it was a dip like crazy (our driveway was full of dips at that time) and they couldn't stop the paving there - it'd be too hazardous (a huge bump in the driveway). So they figured out where they'd have to pave it to and it was basically the entire driveway that we used so nope, no more, thank you. Redoing that part was great with us so we got a good portion of our driveway (the most used portion) redone for free

[Yammer Dan]

I would have thought after, what 50 years as a correction officer you would know all of the scams......what happened, the lack of dollar signs get in the way of your better judgment or just being plain lazy and letting someone else get the sore back while you kick back with a cold adult beverage.:rotfl:

 

 

I Agree!! Makes no sense at all. Did I mention Retirement SUCKS!!

[CaptainJoe]

Yup anytime someone shows up at your door to do busniess, without you having made the initial contact... it's probably a scam.

 

That paving scam has been going on for years...

 

Now they have this "Pickers/Pawn shop" show on and all the low lifes are comming out of their holes making "picking/pawn shop" offers on your stuff.

 

I tell them to "HIT THE ROAD"

 

They always ask how much "you" want for something even though you didn't ask them to stop by??? Their counter offer is always "pennys on the dollar" as they have to make a profit?? NO THANKS! If anyone is going to make a profit on MY stuff it's going to be ME!

 

I've got 6' tall sandstone millstones if front of my property and you'd be surprised to hear the offers i get for them... the only thing keeping them there is they are extreemely heavy... (over 2000 lbs apiece)

[Flyinfool]

I did call the local police this morning. I spoke with a detective. They are not interested since I did not actually get taken.

 

So much for crime "prevention".

[barend]

call the news channels .....

[CaptainJoe]

be a good neighbor then...put the word out!

[Trader]

I did call the local police this morning. I spoke with a detective. They are not interested since I did not actually get taken.

 

So much for crime "prevention".

 

 

Same thing...I called the RCMP "fraud squad" about a Kijiji scam (we've all seen it....trying to sell $15,000 Kabota for $5000 delivered...just pay the money to an EBAY escrow account. Seller is oversess etc etc

 

They said nothing they could do because no crime had been comitted.

 

Attemped murder is a crime....but "attemped fraud" is not a crime?

 

I agree with calling the TV stations and identifying the fraudster so others can be warned.

[OldBear]

There are a lot of folks around the country working the same scam. I had an interesting one the other day when a white van pulled up into our driveway (and we're out IN the country a long way off a road) and informed me he'd just "delivered a load of beef down the road and had some left over steaks that they wanted to sell cheap".....Uh, left over meat out of an unmarked van?? What the H...? Anywho, I told him I wasn't interested, and he wanted to argue about what a great deal it was. Anyway, when I told him he might try a certain house a few drives down, that I was sure our Sheriff who lives there would be interested since he LOVES steak, the guy suddenly seemed in a hurry to leave...Go figure?