Gemini Property Services - Shane Thans Deceptive, fraud, lied, Springfield Massachusetts
We hired Shane Thans for a remodeling project this past July. He came over a few times to talk about what we wanted done, and to give us an estimate. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about, came in with a lower estimate and quicker turnaround than most of the other contractors we had talked to. We soon found out why. He had no intention of completing our project or following through with the job he was hired to do. He wrote up a contract for us and after us finding mistakes on his part......we had him write up another. He did and the next one was completely different than the first. Red flag number 1. Why he didn't just rewrite it and fix the part that was wrong we couldn't figure out. Now, we know it was because he didn't make himself a copy to rewrite as he had no intention of completing our project....so there was no need for him to make himself a copy. He wanted us to just sign on the line and get ahold of the deposit he required in the contract. He doesn't have a bank account and immediately went to our bank to get the money even so he wasn't supposed to start on our project for another 2 weeks. Red Flag number 2. He explained that he needed to start buying the materials in order for him to do the job. He never did!
We were told by him later on that the reason he doesn't have anything in his name was because the state would take it from him for child support. His 3 sons were taken away from him as he was proven to be unfit to take care of them. We had reservations about hiring him and giving him that deposit the night he came over to get it. He told us some sad stories and said that he really wanted to work for us and that he was very meticulous about his work. The way con men operate, they get you to trust them and tell you what you want to hear. He said that we would be extremely happy with his work. He explained that the reason he isn't more expensive is that he doesn't have the overhead that the other contractors do such as the company trucks and multiple workers. He explained that he mostly works alone as that way he knows the work will be done right. He claimed in his ad that he hired licensed electricians and plumbers when he needed them. We found out a little too late that was not the case. He did say that when he needed help, he would have his brother come help him with lifting heavy items and removing debris from the job.
Shane told us that he could tear out and remodel in just 5 days with maybe a few days for unforseen problems. He was supposed to work full days to get the job done. This never happened! On the very first day he never showed up and didn't call. I had to call him and then he said he would be over in 15 minutes. 2 hours later, he did come and put in about 2 hours of work if you could call it that. Red flag number 3 and thats all it would take.
We knew the very first day we made a big mistake on hiring him. Since we had given him so much money, we decided that the best route to take for us at this time was to just go day by day and try and get as much work out of him as we could, if that was possible. He didn't show up for many days at a time, and when he did come, he worked for 1 or 2 hours tops and then told me that he was going out to lunch and would be right back. He never came back and when you would ask him about it, he would tell lies. Day after day, he would just come up with more lies. Not from the very first minute did we believe anything that came out of his mouth as he thought we did. Lying just seemed so natural to him.
Shane said that total tear out of the room would take 1 or 2 days. 2 full weeks later, tear out was still not completed. We had given him so many chances to show up and he refused to. We thought that the contract we had signed would protect us. It does but it doesn't. The legal system will rule on your side, but it does NOT help you collect your hard earned money back from the con artist. We learned a hard lesson and a costly one. He knows this and that is why he is still allowed to operate like this and continues to go after unsuspecting homeowners. We know now that the only reason Shane showed up to work at all was because if he didn't after we had given him that check, he could be arrested immediately for fraud or theft. If he shows up and puts in a little time and it looks like he is doing something, then he can't and you will have to take him to court to prove that he commited fraud. Most people will just let it go and not try and collect their hard earned money back from him. We have found out later that he has been doing this to others for years. We will not let this go and will do everything we can to get OUR money back.
Shane lives at 80 Alden St, Springfield, MA now but he has a history of moving around after not paying the rent. He either gets evicted or leaves before that happens. He is the president of Fathers Supporting Fathers/Massachusetts Chapter. Obviously, they do not do background checks on their people, and he is probably collecting money from that website. He was posting home improvement ads on Craigs List. He claims to be an expert on the computer so he might be posting ads for computer work. He I found out has a history of not showing up in court to answer to his crimes and has warrants out for his arrest for threatening people who take him to court. Why the Springfield police cannot just go to his house and arrest him and shut him down is beyond me as he has proven to be commiting fraud on homeowners. It seems like the legal system is on the side of the criminal and thats why Shane is able to do what he does. BEWARE if you are going to be hiring a contractor to remodel your house. Do research on them, ask to see identification, do not give them any money up front until services are rendered. We are less trusting of others after what we went through with Shane Thans.
We had to hire other contractors to come in and finish the job. We were cautious this time around. They came when they said they would and when they couldn't, they let us know ahead of time so that we could plan. They did an excellent job and only asked to be paid after the work was done. What a difference!! We were lucky and found hard working and honest contractors. Something Shane Thans is NOT and never will be!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous
Chicopee, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Wont Give Up
Indian Orchard,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Personal Issues
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, December 03, 2008
Shane guy always claim to have personal problems when he needs to buy time on his jobs! He uses his family and children to make his customers feel sorry for him. Apparently he is always the victim in his story and will say and do anything to prolong doing any work. He does nothing but lie and when he get caught in the mdidle of them he gets irritated and begin to tell more lies to cover up the ten others he told you. I guess no one ever complained before his threats worked on them but I guess he didn't realize that he was ripping off the wrong people and we would do everything within our legal rights to get our money back. He claims to be a one man show but then bring in strangers in your home when you are not there to help him out. My husband caught him lying the first day n our job. He told me his worker showed up at his house late but then later on told my husband he got out of bed late. There is two words that can sum up Shane Thans and that's......CON MAN!
Anonymous
Chicopee,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
You stand firm????????
#7Author of original report
Wed, December 03, 2008
Shane, that is why no work got done by you in our house! It is because you stood or sat firmly in front of your computer, watching your soaps on tv or because you slept in. You said that you had no other jobs to do when you were to start ours. 1st. day....was supposed to start at 8 am...arrived at 3:30 pm only after many attempts to reach you did you even show up. 2nd day-FAILED TO SHOW UP! See your work pattern here? You and I and we know the "real" truth. You are a liar and you know it! You lied to us, you lie to everyone and thats why we brought you to court. We want our money back; money that was to go for materials to do the job you were hired to do but instead, you went on a buying spree and spent our hard earned money on yourself. You admitted in court that the reason no work got done was because you failed to show up because you had personal problems. Now, you come on this site and lie, lie, lie. And, who is your ex wife? Aren't you married? You wear a wedding ring. Another made up story on your part to cover your fradulent tactics. We have absolutely no idea who your ex is or if there really is one.
You said in court that you were in jail and thats why you didn't show up for your first court date for us. Now you say that you were working for 3 months. What is the real truth Pinnochio? Don't forget to bring an official paper back to court proving that you were indeed incarcerated when you said you were and as the court instructed you to do.
You were allowed access to our home for 2 1/2 weeks (7 am-to as long as it took) and you know it, so please, get it right. You told us you could finish in 3-5 days and we gave you 2 1/2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You never completed the tear out in that time. We sat home waiting for you for days and you never showed up; without even as much as a courtesy call. You wouldn't answer our numerous calls to you. After not hearing from you in days, You finally emailed and said you had personal problems and that you were unstable. We have copies of everything you gave or sent us. See you back in court! Oh, I might even ask the court to give you a lie detector test. Ok with you???
Wont Give Up
Indian Orchard,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Shane...you're full of it!!!!
#7Consumer Comment
Tue, December 02, 2008
WOW.....I am not the customer who wrote this report about you but I spoke this lady many many times as she was sitting at home waiting for you to show up and you never did!! Yes I would demand you to work around my schedule as well when I sat at home and waited for you to come do the job you were hired to do and never bothered to show up and when you did...you worked for 2 hours and then said you had to leave and will be back a few hours later and never bothered to show up again. All you do is lie through your teeth and you are a professional con-man. You know how to talk your way into any job and then once you get your money...the customer is left to fend for themselves. You perform work that you are not licensed to do and all you do is make threats with your fake lawyer about filing charges against your customers....why do it? I can tell you why...because you are a liar and a fraud and all you do is rip people off. It is funny that you mention you have an ex-wife but yet you wore a ring to court the last time you were there.....was that just another one of your gimmick to get the judge to feel sorry for you? Grow up man and get a legitimate job and pay the child support back to the state and stop depending on our tax money to pay it for you.
Shane Thans
Springfield,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
I stand firm
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, November 23, 2008
The person who filed this report did indeed hire me, however once I began work I was informed that I would have to work around there schedual, wanting me to work late nights and other odd hours.
I work a 8am to 5pm workday, and in some cases will make exceptions for the customer, however, when I was not allowed to access the home unless they were there and at thgere convienance it became evident this was going to take longer than expected.
I made several attempts to remidy this situation withtem but they refused, they accused me of ripping them off, I recieved a deposit and did all the tearout of the bathroom, I discovered the floor was rotted, this drove up the price and the amount of labor involved as ithe floor was not part of the original contract, only taking up one layer of tile and replacing with linilium, not the 6 layers of flooring, plywood and subflooring, which is what I had to do.
From day one I was hounded with phone calls, I explained that I had 2 other jobs in process and I would do my best to accomidate "there scheduel", but it made it almost impossible to do the job as the hours I was allowed access varied from day to day depending on "there" work scheduel.
I have a long list of satisfield and happy customers that I will and do provide to any customer who asks for that list.
I am now finishing a computor store/repaire shop that has been in process for 3 monthes, the customer is extremely satifield and happy, and I have had no problems with this job.
This is a whitch hunt as this customer has teamed up with my ex who has a vendetta against me, so in turn they found an opprtunity to get the work done and try to get there money back.
I stand behind my work and defend my reputation.
Shane Thans
Owner.
Anonymous
Chicopee,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Update on our report against "Shane Thans"
#7Author of original report
Sun, October 19, 2008
We had a court date with Shane on October 17th. He did NOT show up! We were not really surprised as this has been his past behavior. Don't show up because he knows that he is a con man and he owes us and others a lot of money, not to leave out the state of MA. for them taking care of his children. Also, if he did show up, he would have been arrested. Shane not showing up ONCE again in court only proves his guilt. We have been through so much this past summer and still to this day as we don't have the money back that he basically stole from us and our children, because of our trusting nature. Never again! We were going to hire someone else for our remodeling project but "I" felt sorry for him thinking he was a family man and needed the work badly to support his family as he stated to us. What kind of man tears apart a families "only" bathroom and doesn't show up to put it back together?? It goes without saying again what kind of man we hired. We went through a month and a half without a working bathtub/shower until we found other contractors willing to take over Shane's mess, not to leave out having to pay for them to do the job all over again! I will never let this type of weakness get to me again. I will go with my head and not ignore all of those signals that were popping up with his various stories that didn't add up! I heard too much! After we had been duped out of thousands of dollars times 4, we found out the real truth. He didn't have his children with him afterall; they were in the states custody, taken away from him, and he foolishly told us that he was hiding money from the state so that they won't take it from him. Then, we found out a little too late that he has ripped off other homeowners before us and with his record, I'm sure many afterwards.
Shane: this message is to you! We will use all that we know to bring you to justice! It might take months or less or longer. No matter how long it takes, we will see our hard earned money returned back to us. FYI, we will never let this go! We work too hard to let somebody like you take that from us for doing "nothing". You didn't earn that money and you don't deserve it. You claimed that you did some horrible things to others in your past but that you changed! You said a couple of times that you are just like us trying to make an honest living. You couldn't be further from the truth. We earn everything we make by working hard, and would NEVER do what you did to anyone else. How do you sleep at night??? Turn yourself in and make things right with the people you duped out of money, get an honest full time job and make your children proud. If you are not the con man we believe you to be, you will make things right!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are, you will eventually have to answer to a higher power!
Wont Give Up
Indian Orchard,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
He scammed me too!
#7Consumer Comment
Tue, October 14, 2008
Shane also scammed me out of my money and your story is one I have heard before from him. Apparently, his speech is the same to every homeowner. He does not have a valid rivers license but yet drives a vehicle to his jobs. He uses alias names to disguise his identity when needed...so before hiring someone, ask for a state ID! He has multiple warrants out for his arrest so he will not show up to any court dates. He has nothing in his name because the state of MA is after him for child support and he threatens you with his "lawyer" when you take him to court....which i think is funny because he does not have money to pay his rent...but he can afford a lawyer. This lawyer he uses is a guy he does work for and allows him to throw his name out there to scare people....this came directly from his mouth. He is nothing but scum and wants money the easy way. Like you said, I am not giving up either....he stole my money and I WILL GET IT BACK!
oh yeah and the father supporting father is kicking him out because he is taking personal donations from people for creating a website....but that should be free and it does not cost anything but your time to create a website for someone....especially if it is for a non-profit organization. This man is so full of it...he has even been accused of molesting his daughter which I believe he probably did. He also says he do not drink or smoke.....he is a liar because he took a smoke break every 20 minutes when he did show up to work for us and he rolled his own so only he knows what was in there.