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Mr. Jeff Zima Owner Of Goodway Landscape & Design Goodway Landscape Owner Jeff Zima ripped me off over $21,000. Patio is sloped improperly. Water damage likely to occur ripoff Castro Valley California
I entered into an agreement (see attached contract) with Mr. Jeff Zima, the owner of Goodway Landscape & Design, on December 30, 2005 to have a backyard patio installed. Mr. Zima installed my backyard patio in such a manner that it does NOT properly slope away from my house. This is just one of multiple serious building code violations that Mr. Zima refuses to even acknowledge. Currently, my home is in serious jeopardy of sustaining major water damage if a rainstorm occurs. I have been told by another contractor that I need to have the patio taken out. Unfortunately, Mr. Zima has more than $21,000 of my money for work that has (1) placed my home in serious danger of water damage and (2) has lowered my property value substantially.
Furthermore, Mr. Zima is guilty of at least TWO CRIMINAL MISDEMEANOR OFFENSES due to his multiple violations of Section 7159.5(a)(1), Section 7159.5(a)(4), and Section 7159.5(a)(5) of the California Business and Professions Code. Please allow me to quote these laws. Section 7159.5(a)(1) states that a home improvement contract shall include the entire cost of the contract, including PROFIT, LABOR, and MATERIALS.
Nowhere in the contract is profit, labor, or construction materials mentioned. Secondly, Mr. Zima violated Section 7159.5(a)(4), which states that the contract shall include a schedule of payments SPECIFICALLY REFERENCING the amount of work or services to be performed and any materials and equipment to be supplied. Although the contract does contain an addendum listing the dates when progress payments were due, NO PART of this addendum references the amount of work or services that corresponded to ANY of the progress payments.
Finally, Mr. Zima violated Section 7159.5(a)(5) by continually demanding, accepting, and cashing checks for work that had not yet been performed (see attached copies of cancelled checks and compare to dates listed in attached Progress Payment Agreement.). This crime by Mr. Zima can be proven conclusively by three pieces of evidence: the contract plus addendum, the cancelled checks showing the amount and date of each payment, and the testimony of the subcontractor that Mr. Zima used in order to pour the concrete for my patio.
This evidence will prove that Mr. Zima was paid approximately 68% of the total contract price ($25,389) before pouring one drop of concrete for my patio. Furthermore, Jeff collected his first progress payment from me of $8129.66 on Saturday, January 7, 2006 the first day that his crew began working on the project. (See contract which identifies the start date as 01/07/2006. The copy of the cancelled check proves he was paid 01/07/2006.)
Please take careful notice that TWO of the violations that I described above are classified as CRIMINAL MISDEMEANOR OFFENSES based upon Section 7159.5(a)(8)(b) of the Business and Professions Code which reads: 'A violation of paragraph (1), (3), or (5) of subdivision (a) by a licensee ... is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5000), or by IMPRISONMENT in a COUNTY JAIL not exceeding ONE YEAR.'
The following documentation for this complaint includes: (1) Contract and Progress Payment Agreement (2) Cancelled Checks (3) Email messages from Mr. Zima making absurd and outrageous claims that I had not paid him enough money. (Note: Mr. Zima received and cashed EVERY payment in the Progress Payment Agreement, except the last payment. Moreover, even though many items of the job were still in need of fixing and re-doing (according to Mr. Zima's own admissions (see attached emails)), Mr. Zima still had the outrageous audacity to make the absurd claim that I defaulted on the agreement because I held back the final payment (see attached emails).
Lastly, it's important to mention one final important detail about the evidence in this case. Mr. Zima possesses a photo of what the finished job should look like. He showed it to me before I signed the contract and before I handed him a downpayment check for $1,000. The picture depicts shiny and beautiful concrete. It was the entire reason I signed the contract with Mr. Zima in the first place.
Unfortunately, I later learned from Mr. Zima that the photo he had showed me was a gross misrepresentation of what my concrete patio would look like. The reason it was a gross misrepresentation is that Mr. Zima did not tell me that the photo depicted wet concrete (which looks much more aesthetically pleasing than dry concrete), until AFTER I had already paid him more than $21,000. This is just another example of Mr. Zima's dishonest conduct. Also, it is important to mention that I asked Mr. Zima via email to include the photo in our contract, but he ignored my request.
In closing, please let me know if there is any way I can assist in your investigation. I believe I have provided irrefutable proof of at least one misdemeanor. Simply by looking at the contract, one can determine that no mention is made about profit, labor, or construction materials. The other charge I am alleging has very strong supporting evidence also. By the first day that Mr. Zima's crew began working, he already had cashed $9129.66 in checks from me ($1000 downpayment + $8129.66 first progress payment.) I understand that you might consider these misdemeanor offenses to be minor, but Mr. Zima has robbed me of more than $20,000 by building a worthless patio that (1) violates the building code, (2) directs water toward my house which can cause termite, mold, and other serious problems, and (3) prevents me from selling my house as I had planned to do this spring. Nobody's going to buy my house with a patio that is soon to cause serious water damage.
Gregory
Hayward, California
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Office Manager
Castro Valley,California,
U.S.A.
False Complaint Filed Against Goodway Landscape/Jeff Zima: Cleared by State of CA, County & City.
#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, May 29, 2009
Goodway would like to apologize to any customers for which this may cause alarm. This customer's allegations were completely false and Goodway Landscape was cleared 100% of any wrongdoing in all areas where this client falsely accused Goodway Landscape of violating any laws, rules or otherwise.
Gregory Mandell submitted a false report to Ripoff Report in 2006 citing invalid "codes" and actions that he accused Goodway Landscape of violating.
The State of California, City of Hayward and County of Alameda all found Goodway Landscape to be in total compliance of any and all civil and building codes for landscaping and no wrongdoing whatsoever for the payment collection methods used (of which Gregory Mandell signed the contract and agreed to before submitting a progress payment), misrepresentation of work or any other allegations made here by Gregory Mandell regarding Goodway Landscape.
A full report is available under Goodway Landscape's License #824650 showing that Goodway was cleared of any and all wrongdoing in any and all aspects of Gregory Mandell's accusations.
a.) Goodway did not violate any "sloping", "civil" codes or otherwise (the work was 100% within code.)
b.) Goodway did not falsely collect payments that were not pre-approved by Gregory Mandell.
c.) Goodway did inform Gregory Mandell that the concrete photos were of "wet" concrete so he could see the detail better in a photograph.
d.) Goodway attempted to correct any issues with the landscape to which physical and legal threats were made if Goodway returned to the property. The client never allowed Goodway Landscape to return to the job site although Goodway was 100% willing to do what it took to correct issues, if any.
Goodway Landscape's attorney presented Gregory Mandell with a potential counter-suit for Libel (for which he was supposed to correct this posting, in the least.)
In addition, Gregory Mandell has still not paid the several thousand dollars owed for the completed project. It was discovered that Gregory Mandell was never in a financial position to fund this project through completion and these falsified allegations were submitted to deter further payment collection.
Gregory
Hayward,California,
U.S.A.
CLARIFICATION OF COMPLAINT CONTENT
#3Author of original report
Sun, February 19, 2006
EVERYTHING I WROTE IN MY COMPLAINT STATEMENT WAS A REPRESENTATION OF MY PERSONAL VIEWPOINT AND MY PERSONAL OPINION.
THE STRUCTURE OF MY COMPLAINT STATEMENT WAS TO PRESENT FACTS AND THEN TO OFFER MY OPINION AS TO WHAT THESE FACTS MEAN FROM A LEGAL STANDPOINT.
I AM NOT A LICENSED ATTORNEY AND THEREFORE, THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT MY LEGAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE FACTS MIGHT BE INCORRECT.
IN AREAS OF MY COMPLAINT STATEMENT WHERE I MADE A SUGGESTION THAT MR. ZIMA'S ACTIONS WERE CRIMINAL IN NATURE, THIS IS MERELY MY PERSONAL OPINION AND NOTHING MORE.
ONLY A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION CAN MAKE SUCH A DETERMINATION.
FURTHERMORE, AS OF THE DATE OF THIS WRITING, MR. ZIMA HAS NOT BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF ANY CRIMINAL WRONGDOING.