Complaint Review: Interstate Roofing Rapid City Denver Omaha - Denver Colorado

Scott Riopelle has a nifty trick he likes to pull--if HE wants to talk to you he's readily available. . . however, if he has to take responsibility for anything or if he owes vendors money he hides behind his staff, lies like there's no tomorrow, doesn't show up for appointments, and otherwise demeans and treats people like garbage.

My wife is a 'little old lady,' over 60, who used to be a schoolteacher and worked in the Shark Tank financial district in Denver for over 20 years. She's polite, but direct. People like Riopelle and his staff do not impress her at all, a lying and disrespectful bunch (RIOPELLE, REMEMBER THIS? GIVE RESPECT AND YOU'LL GET RESPECT).

First, Riopelle knew he was jacking me around and letting his staff abuse and rip me off in the Rapid City storm, yet he's such a wimp that he calls me and thinks he's a bad a*s by yelling at me (his usual management style)over the phone in front of the very staff he's letting rip me off. . . then he calls back 10 minutes later "it's OK Buddy, we are just trying to get on the same page, blah, blah, blah. . ." (I have the Voicemail--he really thinks he's a slick con artist. Doesn't work here BUDDY.)

Second, the little old lady tries to repeatedly confront Riopelle with his staff's dirty rip off tricks. Oh, he fakes he cares and sets repeated appointments, only to reset them or blow the appointments off, or he'll put his staff up to facing the problem (he does this to everybody; apparently he thinks he's more important than everyone else).

He'a afraid of me, too. He had many opportunities to review and talk over the situation he's using to steal my book, but again, he's too much of a puss to talk face to face the people he screws. Instead, he avoids me for two months, then puts his storekeeper Director of Operations in charge of screwing us. What a champ!

The final straw is when Scott Riopelle is so stubborn that instead of just paying his bills like a honest person, he will risk customers homes (and his own reputation) by allowing his staff to rip off salesmen. Doesn't work here either, BUDDY.

There have also been comments posted on how Riopelle has physically threatened subs that want to get paid. The comments are true--the thugs assaulted me once (police report Rapid City on file)and his buddy Tim Serantoni threatened my life while working for Brian Bailey and Melanie Altamirano. Serantoni bragged about 'where he met Scott Riopelle" as he was pushing me around. . . can we assume he's an old jailbird buddy?

I've always felt that one should get another chance, but in this case, seems like once a gangsta, always a gangsta. A thug that's afraid of old ladies! Get some spine, Riopelle. You don't have to be a crook the rest of your life. Pay what you owe me so I don't have to file Mechanics Liens on innocent homeowners.

I was acting as a general contractor for myself as a 1099 contractor, and a roofing salesperson for Interstate Roofing, working for a MM**** in Rapid City, SD on or about September 15, 2013. This contact was a lead paid for by me from HomeAdvisor, a online referral network for prescreened contractors.

The homeowner is rather disadvantaged, retired on a fixed income, and I suspect a little mentally unstable. I worked for several weeks off and on attempting to make the Insurance Carrier treat her fairly in giving her enough funds to properly repair the hail damage to her home. I was finally able to get her another $2000 or so to cover additional damage that was shown to the carrier on a reinspection.

I was told continually throughout the process by the homeowner how poor she was, that she could not afford deductible, ect. In addition, the house was built in the 1940’s and had been poorly maintained. As a EPA Lead Certified Renovator, I know legally that the hail damaged paint could not be disturbed without appropriate mitigation efforts. This led me to applying for additional funds from the insurance company to pay for the extra activity associated with mitigation during repairs. I also began a search for a Lead Certified Painter that could provide a bid to perform the mitigation and painting work.

The insurance company stalled the project for weeks, eventually denying the policy holder had coverage for mitigation (I was never provided a copy, despite repeated requests to the carrier and homeowner, who keeps her property as a ‘hoarder,’ as pictured on television). Nor were there any Lead Licensed painters available in the area, especially since the catastrophes. Thus I decided to act as a Independent Contractor, taking on a lot of the work at no cost (all of the mitigation was performed under my direction as the only Lead Licensed Renovator in the area, period).

Despite having to do much of the work pro bono, the property owners had committed to paying for all the repairs I had recovered funds for. I personally performed the gutter work and painting prep and primer with the understanding that we (Interstate) would be compensated with whatever funds I had recovered for each specific category work was performed for. I personally can donate whatever I choose to; I did donate the mitigation (several hundred dollars worth), after being promised (and bound to by contract) that we would be paid for the insurance compensated items.

After all the specialty work (mitigated and prepped paint west elevation) had been completed, the property owner accosted one of my contractors that was sent to complete the work, screaming at him and making false accusations regarding my performance on her project. My sub was totally confused, and at the next job he was going to do for Interstate (different salesperson) he asked if the homeowners had heard anything about Interstate, in a conversational fashion. When the salesperson (Brian Bailey) heard about the situation, he vindictively encouraged a Interstate employee, Tim Serantoni, to intercede and interfere with me with my client. Serantoni claimed he was a company manager in order to claim control over me, then ‘forgot’ to tell me about the situation. As a result, the client felt they could therefore ignore me and not pay their bill.

I have done this livelihood for years, and in every storm there is always someone who wants the work done, then simply thinks they can keep the insurance proceeds for themselves. I am a licensed adjuster myself, and am bound by ethics, codes of behavior, and other professional criteria. I will not be a party to fraud.

I was forbidden by Interstate to fulfill my obligations as a 1099 contractor and to the Terms of the Independent Agreement; I tried to collect by emails, which are very firm (but not vulgar or illegal).

This is where another chain of company emails starts, accusing but not dismissing me, or ignoring my requests for resolution for weeks; I feel that Interstate, by not feeling obligated to communicate with me on this situation, then ultimately ( with further efforts by Bailey, Serantoni, and Melanie Altamirano, Bailey’s wife, supported by Interstate management and Brett Wilson) inflaming and using this scenario as a pretext to:

1. Bailey wished to steal my book of business and deprive me of referrals earned from highly satisfied clients (has a track record of same behavior with other contractors).

2. Bailey, Serantoni (inexperienced beginner) and Altamirano wanted to drive me from a lucrative market so they could keep all the business others generated for themselves.

3. I was told by Interstate’s Riopelle, Serantoni, and Altamirano that I could not perform ‘side work,’ and that all my efforts should be for Interstate. No license or liability insurance is required in Rapid City for minor carpentry or painting, and I am licensed for Lead Paint Renovation, so my activities as a 1099 were indeed legal and legitimate. Interstate just wanted to make sure they profited off ALL my activity.

There never was no SD AG complaint describing me or my firm personally, and Interstate months before had simply declined to pursue further collections, without informing me as a Independent Contractor involved in the transaction. There were no “legal proceedings,” other than some, again, fabricated situations contrived by Interstate to prevent me from exercising any control over my business entity and to subject me to their business requirements that blur the line between employee and contractor. And to ultimately deprive me of timely compensation for my efforts on all other jobs in that market.

Note that their attorney parrots the same lines, and doesn’t seem to know the criteria of the Independent Contractor Agreement he defends.

Thank You

Here’s another anecdote about Scott Riopelle and his management style:  In the late summer of 2009 there was a hailstorm that hit the suburbs of Commerce City.  It was a pretty bad squall, with 2 inch hail driven by high winds.  The hail came in sideways and took out a lot of vinyl siding, generally on only one or two sides of the structure, which can be hard to match repairs to.

Everyone knows Riopelle employs door knockers and canvassers as his prime storm marketing strategy (a common ploy in the industry).  Some of these contingency writers know what they are doing as project managers, but most just take the insurance paperwork and submit it to a back office support person and a production dept to actually figure out the claim.  That goes for almost all storm roofing contractors, and not just Interstate.

Riopelle had a buddy (he likes to surround himself with a cadre of favored people, and rip off the rest ) named Danny F****.  Due to my extensive background in siding and general construction Riopelle used to ask favors of me, like measuring and surveying houses for his personal projects, and giving presentations to the sales force regarding products like gutters ( it’s amazing how many roofers don’t know a A from a B elbow! It’s the first row of a roofing system for crying out loud!). 

Riopelle asked me to help Danny F*** the door knocking contingency writer, who can sign ‘em up but only knows roofing, to help him on several contracts (that had siding, fascia, window repairs, etc., in order to get 10 and 10 on the multiple products and not just roofing)  so Danny F*** wouldn’t botch the deals by not knowing what he was doing or talking about.  According to Riopelle’s deal with me, me and Danny F***  were supposed to split the profit on the jobs, which would have been way more than just the roofing work commission alone.  Almost all of these door knocking stormchasers want just the roof work (stupidly easy to produce and lucrative if a insurance claim),  and will promise the homeowner “oh, we do it all,” then will credit back or end up declining or botching the rest of the repairs.  Happens all the time.

Sure, Danny F*** is all over the idea initially, providing me 3 addresses to scope for the siding and other damaged products.  With multiple products this is quite a bit of work. . .  I also ended up doing the meetings with the homeowners and the adjusters, and got the deals and funding all worked out.  Danny F*** even showed up for a adjuster meeting with me, but showed up just long enough to put in a appearance with the policyholders, then used his kid as a excuse to leave me there to take care of everything for us (him).  Naturally, I have my own projects going on at the same time, but the time I spent working with (for) Danny F*** as time  and knowledge that came from me.

Several days later, after I had finished meeting everyone and crunching the numbers, I get a call from Danny F***.  He starts screaming and cursing at me, telling me I’m ripping him off, that I have no business messing with his customers, and that he has someone else that is going to help him with the projects.  He called me every name in the book, and tried (like a lot of the thugs that work at Interstate) to intimidate me with physical violence if I made any more contact with HIS customers.  In his screaming and cursing he let it drop that Melanie and Brian were going to help him and give him a better split.  I knew who that Melanie Altamirano (that back office “Xactimate Dept.”, who of course, charges a fee, then and now, to provide claims services to dumb or beginning sales people), but I had no idea who that Brian was. . . but I do now.

Of course, I tried to speak to Riopelle about this hijacking of my efforts, but he always seemed to be unavailable (but never unavailable when asking for something).   I’ve been in outside sales for over 20 years with some high end companies and products, with high end and often backstabbing and self serving “Top Salespeople,” many of whom get that way by hook or by ‘crook,’ no pun intended.  These people think they are clever, but it always catches up in the end.

Here I am, out several thousand dollars worth of experience and effort.  No apologies, no curiosity, Riopelle just evaded confronting the situation, and let his buddies get away with it.  I quietly closed my book out so I would get paid, and then left working with Interstate.  Except for showing up for the Struck*** Lien Hearing: I traveled from KC to Denver to be at the Jefferson County District Court proceedings, and I didn’t even work with Riopelle at that time. 

The next installment will describe how Melanie Altamirano and Brian Bailey now work together to conspire to get as much as they can, with little or no concern for their fellow ‘contractors.’  And Riopelle does not intercede, like he’s part of the plan to use the efforts but keep the earnings of those outside the cadre.