Complaint Review: All American Handyman

It started as a small $1600 home-repair job by Lake Zurich-based All American Handyman.  Some work was billed in full but never performed. Other work was performed badly (e.g. a kitchen knife rack fell off the wall within four hours of installation, a light switch was installed backwards, and a safety railing violated the local building code by not starting until the SECOND step, see photos). Instead of agreeing to a small discount, All American’s owner, Sergey Taitler, demanded full payment, filed a mechanic’s lien on our home, and SUED us to collect every dime!

We had found All American Handyman’s name on a trusted Facebook group of local moms which was designed to share recommendations for local service providers.  All American (https://www.yourallamericanhandyman.com/) got glowing endorsements, but we didn’t know that all those “All American is the best!” reviews (and others for its sister roofing company, All American Exterior Solutions, https://www.aaexs.com/) were all secretly written by the General Manager/owner’s wife, Brenda Green Taitler. That's pretty sneaky.

Endorsements that fail to divulge the writer’s personal financial connection is called “astroturfing,” which the FTC calls “deceptive.” See https://goo.gl/j6xz3r. All American also violated various parts of the Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act (HRRA) which is designed to protect consumers from disreputable repair companies. These include failing to provide a written estimate for work over $1000, failing to provide a copy of the HRRA brochure, failing to give us homeowner a copy of the Consumer Rights brochure, and more.