Complaint Review: Upstate Paving and Sealcoating Charlotte Cooper

Charlotte Cooper and her son came to our Weedsport home on 7/14/18 to measure and give an estimate for paving our driveway.  Later that evening I spoke with my husband who was out of town on military duty and we decided not to move forward with work on our driveway.  The following day I called Charlotte and let her know that we decided not to move forward with work on our driveway and asked her to mail us our deposit check.  Charlotte refused to return our deposit and stated that she had already ordered matierials and paid her workers for our job.  After that she cut off any and all forms of communications.

I contacted local law enforcement in Cayuga Co., where I live, and in Saratoga County, where Charlotte lives, and they explained that it would have to be pursued as a civil case.  I connected with several other customers online who recommended I contact the attorney general's office.  I spoke directly with Amy Schallop in Albany and she did contact Charlotte about our case.  Amy explained to me that the contract Charlotte was using was illegal because it did not contain a "cancellation clause" and it was illegal for her to cash our deposit into her personal account - it should have been placed into a "business escrow" account until work had begun on our job.

Amy Schallop was helpful in getting a portion of our deposit returned, but we are still out THOUSANDS of dollars and are near financial ruins.  My husband and our family proudly made sacrifices for the rights and freedoms of the citizens of our great country, including Charlotte Cooper.  All we are aksing for is what is right and just in the return of our remaing $3,000 deposit.