- Report: #635761
Complaint Review: All Around Improvement Construction - Gwynn Oak Maryland
Reported By:
Corrinne -
Gwynn Oak, Maryland, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
All Around Improvement Construction
1148 Saint Agnes Lane Gwynn Oak, 21207 Maryland, United States of America
Phone:
443-455-4240
Web:
Categories:
Business Rating:
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All Around Improvement Construction Kevin London Christian Scammer Gwynn Oak, Maryland
I requested an estimate to replace iron railings with vinyl railings for the front walkup. Kevin London, owner of All Around Improvement Construction, accepted a deposit for the project. A few days later, Kevin London claimed the materials would be more costly. At that time, I informed him that I would rather cancel the contract than pay him more money. He agreed to give me the refund in a few days. A few days turned into two months and beyond. Kevin London continued to email me with rambling excuses for not refunding the deposit. The email excuses included: family emergency, hot weather, long days, recession, Christianity,etc. I reported Kevin London and All Around Improvement Construction to the Better Business Bureau. Once reported to the BBB, a history is started for other consumers to be alerted to Kevin London's scam. I will send reports of this scammer to all media that need to be notified. I, also, suspect that Kevin London's license number is not a valid registered MHIC number.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
Excuses.
#2Consumer Comment
Fri, September 03, 2010
"I have been victimized because of a lack of "wanting to understand" the financial position of my company. "
It is not your customers' obligation to have to understand your financial position. Real businesses do not ask their customers to accept excuses in lieu of money owed. By your own admission, you've earned your spot on this website.
A potential customer is certainly going to think twice about handing you a deposit for a job after seeing the way you've handled this. Not a good business decision.
SigmundFraud.org
Maryland,USA
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
#3General Comment
Fri, September 03, 2010
Misappropriated funds: The universal solution is a properly managed escrow account/ partitioned money, whereas, project money is placed into a separate bank account. [Note: In Maryland, the customer is only obligated to advance one-third of the total cost of a project (see the Maryland Home Improvement Commission (MHIC) website]. Moreover, the commingling of funds causes a project manager to loss sight of obligated funds, that is, when a contractor's accounts payable are being paid from his/ her personal checking account (or general business account), more often than not, Peter is being paid with Paul's money. And at some point, the contractor is going to run out of apostles. Whereupon, s/he doesn't have the money to refund unused deposits.
The change-order: When a change is made, document it! Put it in writing, and both parties need to sign and date it. And it should go without saying, be as detailed as possible. Sometimes incident to reducing your "simple" alteration to paper, you realize that you really can't afford it; the process alone can save you money.
Bruce Wayne
Maryland,USA
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
#4General Comment
Fri, September 03, 2010
Misappropriated funds: The universal solution is a properly managed escrow account/ partitioned money, whereas, project money is placed into a separate bank account. [Note: In Maryland, the customer is only obligated to advance one-third of the total cost of a project (see the Maryland Home Improvement Commission (MHIC) website]. Moreover, the commingling of funds causes a project manager to loss sight of obligated funds, that is, when a contractor's accounts payable are being paid from his/ her personal checking account (or general business account), more often than not, Peter is being paid with Paul's money. And at some point, the contractor is going to run out of apostles. Whereupon, s/he doesn't have the money to refund unused deposits.
The change-order: When a change is made, document it! Put it in writing, and both parties need to sign and date it. And it should go without saying, be as detailed as possible. Sometimes incident to reducing your "simple" alteration to paper, you realize that you really can't afford it; the process alone can save you money.
K.L. - A.A.I.C.
Windsor Mill,Maryland,
United States of America
Contractor Is Mis-Understood
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, August 31, 2010
In rebuttal to the complaint filed against my company, I would like to set the story straight. All business owners that I know hold their reputations highly. I have had the unfortunate opportunity to become a victim of the recession as have many other contractors in this country, state and city. Being self-employed hasn't been easy, especially when you work for General Contractors or even home owners who fail to pay you. I have been victimized because of a lack of "wanting to understand" the financial position of my company. My company is well on it's way to bankruptcy. This consumer "extracted specific portions of email correspondences" to facilitate her attack against my company. I have been operating over 15 years and never experienced such a blatant attack on not only my business but personally on my character. Financial restraints, first through overdrafts at my bank and then from non-payment for work my company completed created a situation where my company was unable to respond financially to return a deposit at the time even we anticipated that we would be able to. That is not to say that it will not happen, as it was explained numerous times to this consumer. When my companies financial position improves, we would be more than happy to return the deposit to her, currently, my company is just financially unable to. I personally kept in contact with this consumer to show good faith and I was blown off with a purely unprofessional response each time. I responded to an inquiry from the Better Business Bureau who closed the case as being satisfied. There are some people who we met in life who are just not willing to understand things from a different perspective and will attack you for being human in a world that is unforgiving. In her attack, she said that I used Christianity as an excuse, and I have never in all my years heard of a religion being an excuse. Suffice it to say that I have learned a lot from this experience and we will continue to move in the direction of refunding this consumer her deposit the moment we have the financial capability to do so.
Kevin London
