ALLTEX General Contracting Deceptive practices, contract issues, shady owner Ovilla, Texas
I was approached by a neighbor who was using this company and they suggested that I get an estimate, which I did. The salesman. Michael Sterling, worked well with my insurance adjuster and negotiated pricing and I signed paperwork with ALLTEX Roofing, part of ALLTEX General Contracting. The bottom of the paperwork had a space for the Owner to sign, indicating he accepted the contract. Three month later, I get a call from the owner, Ray Choate. He wants to know if I am ready to get the work started.
The next day, I sent him a letter stating that I cancelled any and all agreements, which were invalid to begin with; he never accepted the contract, he had 3 months to send me paperwork if he did AND he failed to provide me with written and signed (by me) notice that I had been informed of my right to cancel in 3 business days, which is a violation of state law. I went to the Attorney General's website and found that the company also failed to have a required statement near the Signature line which is also required by law. According to the AG's website : A contractor's failure to include this notice constitutes a false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice under Section 17.46 of the DTPA. Texas Property Code 41.007(b).
I have already had my roof and carport replaced using a different contractor. I want to warn people about Ray Choate and ALLTEX General Contracting; judging by some other reports I found on the internet, I am not the only one who has ever had problems with the owner and his company.
I would recommend that everyone stay well clear of these people.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Ray Chote
oak leaf,Texas,
USA
Really Ray???
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, July 07, 2015
The owner of an Ovilla roofing company was indicted on two felony counts by an Ellis County grand jury on Wednesday, June 20. Raymond Choate, 39, the owner of ALL-TEX General Contracting was indicted on a theft of service charge for greater than $20,000 and less than $100,000, which is a third degree felony, Ellis County Prosecutor Lindy Toby said.
Toby added that Choate was previously indicted on May 2, for a third charge for theft of service greater than $20,000 and less than $100,000, which is also a third degree felony.
He is set for arraignment on that charge on July 5. The bonds handed down to Choate for these three charges totaled $65,000, and he posted these the same day of his arrests.
The investigation
Ovilla Police Department Detective Joey Bennett began looking into these cases after former employees and a sub-contractor began filing complaints against ALL-TEX General Contracting. He wanted to decipher this information and determine if it were a possible fraud situation.
“Each complainant was hired by ALL-TEX to locate and secure contracts to put new roofs on houses,” Bennett explained. “This was mainly last summer after the storms and upon doing such, the complainants were to receive a commission — typically 50 percent of the total job profit. Late last year, for numerous cited reasons, ALL-TEX intentionally stopped paying the complainants their owed commissions.”
Bennett added that each complainant sent a demand letter to ALL-TEX detailing the money owed and demanding payment. However, ALL-TEX refused to make payment and did not respond to the letters.Most cases of this nature are usually stuck somewhere between civil and criminal,” Bennett explains. “It gets onto some gray areas when it involves what can be considered an employee/employer relationship, and there are various labor and commission contracts involved.”
Bennett stressed that in these particular cases there is sufficient evidence and probable cause in order to support the pursuit of criminal prosecution.
Ovilla Police Chief Mike Moon agreed with this summation.
“In cases where a contractor did not pay another contractor, most police departments would defer that as a civil case, telling them to go to an attorney and be done with it,” Moon said. “Due to the number of victims that were in this case, detective Bennett wanted to investigate this as criminal cases. With the support of the administration at this department and the Ellis County District Attorney, Bennett investigated it all as criminal cases.
“I would like to commend detective Bennett for the hard work, effort and time that he put into these cases and all investigations that he performs,” he said. “This one in particular he spent many man hours ensuring this one was done correctly.”
Alltex
Ovilla,Texas,
United States of America
Where is the ripoff???
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, December 28, 2011
I do not understand the purpose of your complaint other than to disparage Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. and my name as well. Having never met you, Mr. Don Ryan, or even talked to you other than to accept your cancellation, I find it hard to believe that you have developed such a strong opinion toward Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. and myself without a little coaching from a disgruntled subcontractor who is no longer with the company because he (Michael Sterling) could not perform duties that were required under his contract. You filed this complaint 6 days after sending in your letter cancelling the agreement, which was accepted without further action. Each and every one of the issues you have brought to life in your complaint should have been addressed to your salesperson (Michael Sterling) who failed to provide you with the information you are complaining about.
First of all, Alltex General Contracting L.L.C did not give you an estimate for repairs, if you received an estimate it was certainly not authorized. Secondly, Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. is not affiliated in any way with Alltex Roofing. The agreement between you and Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. was to do the work specified on the insurance Scope of Loss Sheet, per Insurance Scope of Loss for full replacement cost value on Insurance Scope of Loss Sheet including Contractors Overhead and Profit, plus deductible, any upgrades, insurance supplements and decking or fascia replacements as needed. Having never met with you and having not been afforded the opportunity to make the repairs to your home, how can you justify filing this complaint? You met with Michael Sterling, he was your sole contact with the company until I called and asked if you were prepared for us to schedule your work. Had I known you had concerns I would have definitely corrected any issues you may have had.
The salesman, Michael Sterling, who is no longer with Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. may have had a good rapport with your insurance adjuster but had no authority to negotiate pricing with anyone. He also failed to have you complete all of the paperwork associated with your file. He failed to have you initial the portion of the contract that speaks about the right to cancel in 3 business days, along with the separate form signed by you that is required by the state. The acceptance portion of the contract has historically been used as part of our internal operations. There are many times when contracts are rejected due to inability to work with insurance companies and reach an agreed value as to the work that must be performed.
As you already know, there was a great deal of storm work in the area during the time in question. Your file had been reviewed, accepted and placed along with many other files into production. When blessed with more work than can be accomplished in a short period of time, you have to work toward completion in a first in, first out fashion. Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. does not use just any roofing subcontractor to do the work, and prefers using subcontractors that we know the quality of their work and trust that the job will be done right the first time. Three months later, after your file had been reviewed and accepted, and after notification that you had in fact received your check back from your mortgage company with the appropriate endorsements so that the money was available to be picked up the day we start the work, working in a first in first out manner, I called you to ask if you were ready to start the work. You notified me at that time that you were canceling the contract. Up to this point we had never heard anything from you regarding cancellation or anything of that nature. At the point you chose to cancel the agreement, we chose to accept your cancellation without moving any further. I received your letter a few days later canceling your agreement. It was filed in your file.
Apparently the Agreement was accepted or you would not have received the call to ask if you were ready to begin work. You were given your copy of the agreement by the salesman, Michael Sterling. Michael Sterling failed to provide you with written and signed (by you) notice that you had been informed of your right to cancel in 3 (three) business days. It is a violation of state law not to provide this notice to homeowners. That is why each salesperson is supposed to provide them to homeowners. After review it appears that your salesman, Michael Sterling, used an older version of the contract than we are currently using that does not include the statement you are referring to.
I hope you have had an excellent experience with your roof and carport replacement with whomever you chose to do the work.
It sounds like you should be warning people about the salesman Michael Sterling and not Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. or myself. You might find it interesting to know that those other reports you have found on the internet are all connected to Michael Sterling as well. Again, Michael Sterling is no longer associated in any way with Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. In hindsight, his contractual relationship with Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. should have been severed long before it was.
Where is the rip off? I never met with you, I only briefly talked to you on the phone yet you slander Alltex Roofing, Alltex General Contracting L.L.C. and Me. You cancelled your agreement and we never contacted you again. You say Deceptive Practices, how did we try to deceive you? You say contract issues, your salesperson failed to provide you with the correct paperwork. You even state that I am Shady, I struggle to see how anything that I have done in the entire process is the least bit shady. You say you want to warn people about Ray Choate and Alltex General Contracting. Warn them about what? I will admit your salesperson Michael Sterling, did not do his job correctly and that may have caused some confusion for you but I ask again where is the rip off?
Ray Choate
972-261-4321
raychoate@alltexgeneralcontracting.com