Complaint Review: Kenneth Wayne Peloe And Richard Maret - Loveland Ohio

My next door neighbor, Kenneth Wayne Peloe, works as an Independent Contractor doing home remodeling, and has for the last ten years. He is business partners with a man who is essentially a drunk driving con artist who deliberately finds single women (married or single) to give him money, free rent and transportation. His business partner's name is Richard Maret. Both men are natives of the Cincinnati, Ohio area.

On Mother's Day last year, we had a small kitchen fire last summer and had to repair our kitchen. After having horrible luck with the first contractor, in June 2002 we asked Mr. Peloe if he would please come and remove a wall, and install a door. He agreed to do the work for $750. He agreed to do the work the weekend of July 5. I planned a holiday to be out of town because my daughter who was born with a birth defect to her trachea and has asthma is highly susceptible to construction dust and paint fumes. She frequently has pneumonia when exposed to these contaminants.

Without canceling our project, or giving me the courtesy of an explanation or advance warning. Mr. Peloe took a vacation instead of showing up to do our work. No reason was ever supplied, except that they had to finish a project they had already started. (Please note that this person did not pay them some $50,000 for their work. I do not know who she is or why she didn't pay, but I am sure am curious if her experience mirrored ours!). I hope to track her down. We cancelled our trip to the disappointment of our kids.

Then, Mr. Peloe agreed to come "before the end of July". He did not. Then Mr. Peloe said he would come and do the work on August 28-30. He agreed to this along with his wife Susan Peloe, who is a school teacher. She stated that she needed for him to watch their boys that week because she had to work, but they would not be in school yet. We planned our trip to New York City and Cape Cod that week. I went out of town with my daughter and left my husband and sons home so that the work could be supervised. Mr. Peloe and Mr. Maret unbelieveably - did not show up.

So, I spent some $1500 taking the trip to create a safe environment for my daughter for absolutely nothing. I spent $500+ on materials that are still sitting in my garage unused. The $750 allocated for them was spent by my husband and kids while I was out of town. Grrr. Grrr. Grrrr.

My husband got another contractor to come over that weekend. This contractor revealed that the wall Mr. Peloe had agreed to take down could not be removed because it was full of 6 HVAC vents from the furnace below. Rude and Incompetent. How Annoying!

Then Mr. Peloe's business partner and con artist friend, Mr. Richard Maret, began to befriend my husband and I. He came over to our house on almost a daily basis to complain about his frustration with working with Mr. Peloe. Mr. Maret explained that Mr. Peloe was an ingnoramous incapable of conducting business in a competent manner. He did not clearly contract with customers. He failed to show up with the proper tools and equipment. He did not know how to construct and repair things independently. He never finished jobs in the time promised. He let his customers make him do work without getting payment for it (I suspect they don't pay because of the other issues at hand). The list went on and on and on. But, pretty much reflected our experience with Mr. Peloe accurately, never the less.

Please note that Mr. Maret was living for free in Mr. Peloe's home on a cot in their laundry room. He was eating for free. Mr. & Mrs. Peloe provided transportation to Mr. Maret. Great friend and business partner he is, huh? During the same period of time I watched Mr. Maret seduce a married woman online at PalTalk.com into having sex with him and paying for his extravagant entertainment with her. He explained she did this voluntarily with no expectation of reciprocity from him (uhhhh, yeah right!). When she told her husband she was in love with Mr. Maret and was leaving him. Mr. Maret ceremoniously dumped her leaving her poorer, on the way to divorce court, and emotionally devastated. He was cold, cruel and dishonest with her entirely, and he did not show the least bit of remorse for his activities.

He picked up several other women at local pool halls for fun and free unfettered sex. At one time juggling the married three different women at once.

When Mr. Maret revealed that he had never had his own place, I asked Mr. Maret why he didn't just get his own place so he didn't have to worry about these tumultuous love affairs blowing up in his face (he had been living with Mr. Peloe for free for months by this time, complaining radically about him the whole time), he said he was just waiting to 'shack up with some chick'.

Mr. Maret successfuly did just thatlast December, with a Karen Sora, the reportedly 'well to do' (per Mr. Maret) divorcee of John Sora, who owns a towing and auto repair business in our community. She has been burned before, so she was trying to be careful of his intentions. He reeled her in like a prize trophy. She is kind. She is beautiful. She is probably so screwed. Our warnings and concerns expressed directly to Ms. Sora fall on deaf ears, but we wish her well all the same, and would make ourselves available to her if she chose to report Mr. Maret to the Miami Township Police Department in Milford, Ohio now, or at any time in the future. It is difficult knowing she is "next" on his list of victims and to feel impotent at that same time.

In retrospect, Mr. Maret was using us in order to hide alcohol in our home and garage so Mrs. Peloe would not be aware of the extent of his drinking. Mr. Maret has a long history of drinking and destroying his life and the people around him as well. He is reputed to have had car accidents where other people were injured, though I have not been able to substantiate this in our county or surrounding ones. Another neighbor reported that he had tried to represent that he had had a disaterous car wreck while in his employ, and in his company van. Mr. Maret told these people to sue my neighbor Mr. Meyer instead of him. He was in his own vehichle at the time, and not on company time.

Returning to the chronology, while Mr. Maret frolicked with his list of free and easy women, he did some repairs in our home for which he was compensated fully last fall. He did do nice work, I have to admit, once we actually succeeded in getting him to do the work. Although he didn't finish most of the jobs he started. Only one of three glass block gcheck was that less our $500 deductable. Cincinnati Insurance requires both parties to sign the check to cash it.

I repeteadly asked Mr. Maret for a breakdown of labor vs. material expenses which he avoided providing. I was not about to give him the whole check. We had already purchased a new bathtub, and new bathroom tile and flooring, which accounted for about $1000 for the materials expense in the check. We advanced Mr. Maret $1330 in cash towards labor on December 20, 2002 with the agreement that he return at a date of his choosing, December 26. I planned to go out of town with our daughter again. He didn't show up. We tracked him down.

Mr. Maret explained, very defensively, that he was 'in love' with Ms. Sora, and that he was entitled to a "much deserved vacation". I didn't care one way or the other, but he had chosen the work date. I felt it was irrelevant. He promised to come on Jan. 2. We agreed.

I went out of town with my daughter. Again spending money on the trip so he could tear the bathroom out and prepare it for installing the new fixures. He didn't show up again. This time he said 'Oh, I had to go do that other job we were doing with Ken. I can't blow him off.' As if he hadn't promised to be there. He now promises that he and Ken are both going to come and do the work together, rather than work separate jobs in their business, so that the work will be done soon, and quickly.

Now we are very unhappily saddled with Mr. Peloe in the process again. Mr. Maret moves out from next door without saying good bye to my husband who was supposedly his "friend" and pool buddy. He does not return our phone calls, or emails. He becomes difficult to get a hold of. Mr. Peloe claims ingornance and does not assist us in getting the money back. I've spent another $750 on a trip out of town, and my bathroom is a wreck, and Mr. Maret has left holes in my dining room ceiling. I have no way of repairing this myself. I am pretty much out of construction funds, given I only have some $900 of the allotted $3300 left.....I am so frustrated. I feel so betrayed. And I feel really stupid for trying to see the best in these people.

Weeks go by without any contact. Finally I run into Mr. Maret and kindly ask for him to return our money, as it appears he won't be available to do the work until Spring, and there is no reason for him to hold on to our money if we can't go out of town again until Spring break. He says he will return with it the following day. He does not.

As an aside....The Peloe's have a Sunday morning prayer meeting next door. Every Sunday morning I am confronted with the hypocrisy of their taking our money, and causing so much inconvenience and expense. By now the three of them are into us for the $1300 in cash plus another $2000 in wasted travel expense to protect Sydney's health.

Mr. Peloe has begun being passive aggressive. He disputes our property line at any given opportunity. He complains about things in our yard, that are none of his business. He allows his sons, ages 9 and 13, to shoot off pellet guns unsupervised in their backyard - claiming his second amendment rights to bear arms no less - and that it is "legal". We have three small children. He allows them to shoot through the trees directly into the neighbors back yard behind them. They have all kinds of junk in there back yard that creates richochet hazard. Their mother works thirteen hours a day and is seemingly never home (lucky her). There are windows and a screened in porch they are firing straight into on the next street over. Those people are clueless their home is being used for target practice. Mr. Peloe appears to be malicious and incredibly stupid. Mr. Maret has told us many times that Mr. Peloe repeatedly makes anti-semitic remarks about us and another Jewish woman in our neighborhood. Mr. Peloe takes up edging from our yard. He complains at the slightest provocation. He wants me to redistribute dirt left by a plumbing company while I am recovering from surgery to remove a benign tumor in my head. I feel harassed, and with the war and growing anti-Israeli sentiment, I fear for my safety and the safety of my children. My children are afraid of their children and refer to them as the "gun boys" and run away from them. The kids report that they are cruel to animals in the neighborhood. This is not good. I am really getting angry, and I have more hatred than love for my neighbors at this point.

I was told we were moving into a nice neighborhood with people who cared about one another. Uhhhh. NOT. My other neighbors are pretty much oblivious about what is going on between us, but are beginning to be aware that there are hostilities between us, as Mr. Peloe and I begin to loudly exchange angry words on a more and more regular basis. It is becoming harder and harder for me not to lose my temper with this jerk.

Finally I see Mr. Maret and Mr. Peloe unloading their work truck. I go next door to confront the two of them about taking our money and not coming to do the work. Mr. Maret states that he will not come and do the work until I provide him the entire $3200 up front. I laugh at the ridiculousness of that prospect. Note: I ran a multimillion dollar business for ten years, and I know a little about estimates, expenses, profitability and legal business practices. My husband has a law degree. They have finally screwed with the wrong "b***h". I will wear it as a badge of honor and pride before I take anymore abuse off of these guys.

Mr. Maret tries to say that he can allocate as much or as little for labor as he wants out of his estimate to the insurance company. He does not have to specifically assign what he is going to use to repair our bath. He actually sneers at me and says I have to take whatever he dishes out. They will come when they want to, without notice or allowing me to prepare to take Sydney out of town. They don't know when they will be finished with this other job they are doing. Basically, he is going to do whatever he wants without repurcussion. Maybe with someone else, not with me.

At that point, I point out to Mr. Maret that I have a solution to our disagreement. I fire the two of them on the spot, and demand a return of our prepayment. I no longer feel safe with them in my home, and I don't want them to make friends with our new dog, and this is beyond ridiculous. No one is going to tell me I have to put up their abuse and sneer at me. This is towards the end of January. Needless to say, I didn't get my money back, and now I can't afford to hire someone else to do the repair work. I start reading tile and repair books myself.

Then I discover that Mr. Maret has reported my husband and I to Melissa Steigmaier and Cincinnati Insurance for "Insurance Fraud" because we took the money but didn't have the bathroom repaired. Cincinnati Insurance didn't take the bait. Melissa's supervisor Richard Osborne, expressed regret we had been ripped off. But pointed out that the role of the insurance company was to make us "financially whole", and that we aren't guilty of fraund unless we never repair what we planned to repair. He could not provide assistance, and their legal department couldn't pursue Mr. Maret and Mr. Peloe for ripping us off. Bummer.

Finally, on February 15, Mr. Peloe admits to me that what Mr. Maret has done is wrong, and that he "won't let him get away with it". (He's the religious guy with everyone praying at his house after all and he is a good man. Yeah. I can see a lot of evidence of that.) He asks me not to file suit against them, and says that he will advance Rich the money to repay us. He doesn't. He changes his tune. Then he says that Rich will 'have to come up with a payment plan". This is not acceptable to me. I want enough money to have someone who is reputable to do the work. Afterall 20% of my home is in disrepair. I've taken money for it's repair from Cincinnati Insurance. Not only do I want and need my home repaired, I have a financial obligation to repair it. I am being prevented from doing it by Mr. Peloe and Mr. Maret.

So last week it turns out my dog had messed in Mr. Peloe's yard. I have been harassed so many times by this guy, but you know it isn't nice to let my dog poop there. So I ask where the poop is, and say I will do a better job of keeping Mocha on a leash at all times. He points out that he has already gathered up the poop....and placed it on my driveway. I am incensed he would pick it up and relocate it. I think he should have just disposed of it properly if he was going to pick it up at all. Frankly, I totally lost my patience and temper and I called him everything but a white man. He threatened to call the dog pound. I said I would call the police the next time they played with guns irresponsibly. He claimed the right to do it.

I finally called the Miami Township Police and reported that we were having big problems. I asked if they would come and assess the area for air gun safety because I felt threatened by Mr. Peloe and his unruly children. The policeman seemed very surprised, even shocked, that they were allowing their children to shoot guns in our residential neighborhood directly at the house behind them. This was at one time a rural area, but it is too crowded for the air pellet guns to be used safely now. I support their second amendment rights - on a shooting range under proper supervision. The officer informs them that they can't play with guns in the back yard anymore and to quit harassing us and putting poop in our yard, etc.

This past Sunday. Mr. Peloe's children were outside, unsupervised, taking their golf clubs and relocating dog poop from MY yard, and putting it into MY driveway. I yell at them and tell them I am calling the police. They go inside and get golf balls and nicely play putt putt while waiting for the police to arrive. I follow instructions of Officer Bullock and call the police instead of losing my ca-ca with Mr. Peloe again. Later, I see the whole entire neighborhood in front of Mr. Peloe's house. I guess he is telling them how crazy I am. I doubt any of them would be as patient as I have been.

I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. I want my money back. I am not going to sit back and play nice so my neighbors will ask me over for a BBQ next summer. I want my bathroom repaired. I want my door put in the kitchen. I don't want my money tied up in construction supplies. I don't want to be harassed by people who hate me because of my religious beliefs, and try to intimidate me into backing down. I won't teach my children to be cowards in the face of corruption and racism.

I ask for the support of my neighbors and my community. Make these people stop ripping off people. Identify Mr. Peloe and Mr. Maret as what they are. Rip Off Artists. Bullies. Racists. Intimidators. Hold them accountable to the standards and laws of our community.

I will use every legal method to bring these two to justice. I will use whatever social methods I can to humiliate and shame them into doing the right thing. I will investigate them to determine their legitimacy (I have been told they are not a legitimate enterprise by the State of Ohio. I need a subpoena to document it.)

Since February 15, Mr. Peloe additionally has provided Mr. Maret with a work truck, knowing that Mr. Maret drinks and drives, and that he has already injured other people while drinking and driving, and knowing that Mr. Maret is still actively drinking. Mr. Peloe paid cash every Friday to Mr. Maret the entire time I was acquainted with Mr. Maret. Mr. Peloe dictactes Mr. Maret's time as evidenced by Mr. Maret's refusal to do our job when directed to do a different job by Mr. Peloe. By rules and laws of the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Peloe owns a home remodeling service. He EMPLOYS Mr. Maret as he provides the work truck, dictates the schedule, and pays Mr. Maret.

I have not been able to find any proof of a dba(doing business as) name for Mr. Peloe's business. Mr. Peloe nor Mr. Maret have any kind of Vendor's License to do business in our area. They do not have any professional affiliations. They are not members of the Better Business Bureau. I have not been able to find any kind of Incorporation. This makes Mr. Peloe personally liable for the professional actions of both himself and Mr. Maret. I hold both Mr. and Mrs. Peloe fully responsible for the actions of Mr. Maret as I do for Mr. Peloe's own hateful and malicious actions towards our family. He is in essence Mr. Maret's accomplice in ripping off our family, as well as the other people that Mr. Maret continues to take financial and emotional advantage of.

Mr. Peloe has shown the poor judgement of housing, supporting and providing transportation to someone who regularly uses an automobile as a lethal weapon.....careening down the streets of our small community. He and his wife Susan, have turned a blind eye to the activities of Mr. Maret while he repeatedly hunts for and captures the hearts of unsuspecting single women. Once Mr. Maret has finished using up the financial and emotional resources of his victims, Mr. and Mrs. Peloe open their home to him until he can find his next victim.

I realize their contention is that they are just trying to be nice to Mr. Maret. I just wish they were more concerned about their neighbors and the innocent bystanders who get ripped apart by Mr. Maret.

Further, while The Peloe's my have at one time been ignorant of Mr. Maret's transition from slimy b*****d to genunine con artist....so ignorant as not to even see themselves being taken advantage of financially by Mr. Maret....they certainly aren't ignorant of it now.

I DEMAND MY $1300 FROM THE PELOES AND RICH MARET. I DEMAND $1700 IN UNNECESSARY EXPENSES FOR TRAVEL WHILE THEY DID NOT SHOW UP TO DO THEIR WORK.

Thanks you to ripoffreport.com for an honest forum.

Beth

Loveland, Ohio
U.S.A.