Complaint Review: Direct Exteriors

Casey, Kurt, and all of the employees of Direct Exteriors may have also been hurt by the McAlpins, but that does not excuse their part in all of this. When they saw what was happening, they made choices. Casey in particular made the choice to lie to me - numerous times. She knew very well that my roof was not going to be fixed 2 days from our last phone call - she knew that there wasn't any "crew went south due to the cold weather' crap that she told me.... she knew. And she did nothing to stop it, only lied to me and many others right up until the day her phone was disconnected. No reputable company should hire her or anyone else that worked for Direct Exteriors and allowed McAlpin to rip off all of these people. Tell me, has Casey or anyone else filed a statement with the police or any consumer protection agencies regarding McAlpin? have they assisted the numerous lawyers trying to collect sums in the 6 figure range that McAlpin stole from suppliers? have any of them even said as much as "I'm Sorry" to any of the people they helped him rip off????

The McAlpins took advantage of the economic situation and bilked tons of money out of many many people in all of this mess...on purpose. Direct Exteriors fixed many roofs and did a decent job for may people.. at one time they were a 'good' company... they had a policy to fix your roof for whatever the insurance company paid, which sometimes ended up having hem fix roofs for less than they deserved, such as in a case where the insurance company does not come through - but most of the time they made well over what the roof would have cost. that was a good business practice. it made sense, and it made them money. It was not out of the goodness of their heart that they fixed your roof when you couldn't pay, it was their policy. It was a very profitable policy, one that made them into top lists of growing companies, as they were listed as having over half a million in revenue just 2 months before they filed bankruptcy.  It is just not possible that Direct Exteriors went from doing so well to bankrupt.. it doesn't happen that way in a matter of weeks. It may to some, but not to a man like McAlpin that just so happened to go bankrupt with multiple other companies in the past, and just so happened to be accused of fraud numerous times and lose other sate licenses... Give me a break. What they did was fraud, plain and simple. For whatever reason, he had issues with his company and decided to just get what he could out of it before filing bankruptcy, and poof, all the bills go away, and he keeps all the money he already funneled into various other unscrupulous ventures. And he was careful to spread it out among various states, just under the radar of larger state agencies, and also spread it out among people that cannot afford expensive lawyers because we are all still saving for a roof..... yes, still saving for a roof. Over the past year and a half, I have had 2 jobs, sometimes 3 when I can handle it... still trying to keep my house in this economy, haven't had an extra dime to put towards a roof. $12,000 may as well be a million to people like me that are struggling to not become one of the millions of foreclosures in our economy... 

I also want to set the record straight. While I also was hurt by the Direct Exterior downfall. I also had applied for insurance to fix my roof, of which I hired Direct Exteriors. I hired them because I have know Mike for years and he has always been honest with me and my family. They came  out promptly and fixed our roof and the bill was $3487.42. Unfortunately my insurance didnt cover all of the bill and I still owe over half of the bill for the work done. While this wasnt my intention in not paying Direct Exteriors, it isnt their fault either because people like me can't  pay on time. While I currently have a lien on my house, I still dont get on this website and b***h about a company for what my insurance company did. I also don't get on this site and bash good people, just because things didn't go my way.
I did not get defrauded by Direct Exteriors, if anything I hurt them by not being able to pay my bill. While it is embarrasing to admit this. At least I am honest about it. Food for thought.

I am writing this because I have too been hurt by all of this.  But not by Direct Exteriors, not by the economy, and not by Mike McAlpin himself...But by the thought that someone could and would pull people's names, family, and friends through the mud without knowing who they are hurting and what they are truly doing.  I am an outsider looking in.  I did not work for Direct Exteriors however I know enough to know that this was not a scam.  As much as it hurt you and your family, it hurt those who worked there and their families as well.  A friend of mine, Casey Urai, worked there for almost 3 years.  She started there after being laid off while on maternity leave with her 2nd son.  Casey worked hard there every single day being an advocate for Direct Exteriors and for people like you with the insurance companies, contractors, and office staff.  For years the company thrived, they expanded, and they helped tons of people including myself.  Our insurance claim was denied because the insurance company felt that we were not knowledgeable and would walk and pay for the roof ourselves if they denied the claim, but we called up our friends and asked for guidance.  Direct Exteriors took over and helped us get the claim processed quickly and efficiently.  And as far as we know, it was not until recently that the company became distressed by the economy.  Just like so many other businesses out there and not too different from you when you filed bankruptcy, Michele.  Do not get me wrong, I feel terrible for you and I cannot even imagine what you have gone through and any other family out there that is in your same position.  It feels like you were lied to and cheated and everyone involved should pay BUT your guilt by association theory is not the way to go here.  Did everyone that worked for Denny Hecker get indicted?  Should anyone that ever worked at Enron be put in jail?  If your brother murdered someone, does that mean that you were in on the plot?  The answer is NO to all of the above.  I cannot speak for anyone else there but I will tell you that when you were told that a request was being put in for a refund, she was telling you the truth.  Did you stop for one moment and think that maybe she was hurt by all of this as much as you were?  Did you know that her last couple paychecks bounced?  Did you realize that she lost her only source of income for her children?   Did it occur to you when you posted something on the internet that you were harming her chances of rebuilding her career by typing things that you didn't know were true?  And it doesn't actually stop there, to even go a step further, this whole thing then hurt people that depended on her.  She had to pull her children from the home daycare that they have been in for years.  That was a loss of income then to that family as well.  And i could go on and on...       
 
Since you spent 7 paragraphs spreading rumors of what you THOUGHT was true, I want to tell you what I know is true.  Casey is a young mother of 2, god mother, friend, sister, girlfriend, daughter and granddaughter.  And she is great at all of them.  She spends her time working, taking care of her home, and being a better mother than I could ever dream of being.  She is a fantastic listener and finds the lighter side of everything.  She makes me and everyone around her smile when she talks.  She is dependable, a fast learner, organized and passionate.  She stands up for herself but only when she needs to.  Casey is smart, creative and savvy.  She finds a solution to every single problem so she is the first person I call when I have one.  Casey loves to play board games with her friends, try new recipes, do art projects with her kids and go on the occasional girls day out and shop.  She is none of the things that were portrayed on previous posts to this site.  God blessed me enough to have her in my life and I feel it my duty as a friend to tell the world how great of a person that she really is and anyone who is lucky enough to work with, be related to or even be in the same room with her has been given a gift that most people won't have the luxury of sharing.
 
Michele, with your comments on this website, Casey is having trouble building trust and moving on with her life and her career.  I just hope and pray to God that anyone hoping to work with Casey professionally will read what I have written and know that it is true and has come from the heart.  Casey was another victim of this economy, just as you were.  But I know in my heart that Casey is a fighter and she will be able to get through the slander and prove to everyone that she is NOT a crook and is a wonderful, trustworthy person with a lot in her heart and in her brain to share with anyone that will allow her to.
 
 

Kurt, you did not contact us until this post now!

The last time we spoke, you advised that you were no longer with the company, and you hinted at some problems others had... you did not tell us the whole story, UNTIL NOW.

So excuse me for adding you with the rest of the company... but what else am I to think???

And as for other "managers" - some of those I spoke with, like Casey Urai - are firends with Mike's wife on Facebook.. so I really doubt that no one else benefited besides the McAlpins..!

I sent in a complaint to Owens Corning - they did not respond at all - but they promptly removed Direct Exteriors form their Platinum Preferred list.... so of course they read my email!

Thanks for giving Thornton PD our number, though, hopefully something will come of it. There was a judgement won against them in Minnesota, for not paying suppliers around a quarter million dollars.- and a MN attorney contacted me for info...and said he would see what he could do to forward it to the CO attorney General... but nothing has come of it yet.

I'm Kurt T, and first off I'd like to say that I am an honest person, I had no idea this company would rip people off, and as you stated, all the reputable companies calling them a reputable company is something that everybody believed, I worked fro them for two years and they have never done this before, ( that I know of). I am also out over $40,000.00. I have several clients that I worked with that were ripped off and nobody seems to want to help these people. I did hear that the MN people who got ripped off did get there money back through the bonding company, but they were not insured in Colorado, ( however they exhibited that they were) therefore people in Colorado are out of luck. I spent months going around to peoples homes and assisting them with anything I could do to help them. I LOST SLEEP OVER THIS, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG. I was just doing my job, once I found out what happened to folks I quit immediately. Adding my name to this report is a little off, YOU KNOW THAT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. I even contacted you and gave you all the information I had to ASSIST YOU. You are right, Mike is a crook, and he had partners willing to help him rip people off too, all in MN, three other partners who also are complicit in this mess.

The salesmen who worked for the company DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING, all four managers were ripped off too and families have struggled due to this man and what he did. They would also hire brand new salesmen and not pay them too, they ripped off over 100 people and they got away with it. I have elderly clients that lost over 20,000.00 to this con artist and he has zero remorse too. I can't believe the insurance companies won't help out, they just tell folks 'oh well", we paid once and that's that. Here is another side note, these con artist usually resurface with another company name and do it again. I'll bet his VP is already back in the business doing it. I must have called Mike 50 times, I talked with his lawyer several times too, all they did was threaten to sue me in court for harassment. I'm so sorry this happened to you, there was nothing I could do about it. They even ripped off three of my neighbours who live across the street from me. I now work for an honest LOCAL company and things are the way they should be, if the client does not want to pay upfront, they do not have to. If they do pay a portion upfront, we usually are roofing in less than 5 days from that date the funds were received. The lesson I learned, out of state companies are NOT the route to take, local companies are the only way. Storm chasers do all kinds of bad things and then just leave and go somewhere else and do it again, local companies care about their clients and they take care of them. I know and remember every client I worked with, I am very sorry this happened but you have to know that I did nothing corrupt and I had zero knowledge that this company would do that to you.