Complaint Review: Chris Browning with Crown Home Restoration

Early Summer 2012 we began trying to find a company that would work with us to get a new roof from storm damage via insurance.  We found Crown on HomeAdvisor.com (formerly ServiceMagic.com) and they looked legitimate, sent out a crack team to offer to help us.  Off and on for months we had to fight to get this company and the insurance company together and finally set a date for earl October.  Crown showed up, lead by the man we had come to trust, John, and he did it.  He got the roof for us.  Exhilarated and punch-drunk, we foolishly gave them half upfront, with a promise for an Oct. 18th installation.  Rain pushed that to Monday the 22nd, which became Wednesday the 24th, then Thursday and Friday and then we find out that John and another man we had grown to trust had suddenly left the company.  The owner, Chris Browning--when you could actually get ahold of him--gave us excuses, with fake cough sound effects, and swore and promised dates.  They came and went.  By Oct. 30th, he stopped returning our calls...but not our money or our contract.  Now, I don't believe the company exists at all.  My mother-in-law left a message asking about a roof.  He actually called her back.  She surprised him by asking about our roof...after some awkward silence, he fake apologized and gave excuses, then promised a date, Oct. 31, then Nov. 1.  By now we couldn't get the sales guy Ryan to return out calls either.  Well, I can tell you, we haven't heard from Chris Browning and certainly don't have a roof or our money.  And this guy is BBB accredited and still listed on HomeAdvisor.com, I believe.  We have a neighbor a few streets down that got a roof from them without problems (John handled it).  They were a reputable company a few months ago.  Crown Home Restoration seems to have fallen apart in a matter of days.  If Chris Browning had been professional and returned his calls months ago, we might have gotten a new roof over our kids' heads for the winter, but now it isn't looking so good.