Complaint Review: Massey Brothers Excavating - Branford Connecticut

In Nov. '05, I was hired by Massey Brothers Excavating in New Orleans to transport their equipment from site to site. Massey Bros. had been awarded several large clean up jobs by FEMA. The agreement between Dave Massey and I was that I would be paid in full at the end of the week. When that time came, Massey had disappeared. He wouldn't answer my calls or many messages. I finally reached him around March '06. Massey was back in CT. Dave Massey told me he had been a victim of FEMA and wasn't paid for the work in New Orleans. He advised me he was finishing a job in CT and could pay 1/2 of what we were owed the next day. Next day comes , Massey won't answer our repeated calls.

Our calls continue, sometimes 10 times a day. About to the point of giving uo, I posted the story of how Massey had done us and others in New Orleans.There were many responses to the article on craigslist.com about Massey. All the replies were from the New haven and Branford areas and NONE of them had anyhing good to say about Dave Massey. Turns out that Dave Massey has a rep for screwing people out of their money. One of the repliers told me of an article about Massey that was in the New Haven Advocate.

Seems that Dave Massey requested an interview with a reporter of the Advocate about his losses in New Orleans. In the interview with reporter Casey Miner, Massey said subcontractors were making threats aginst him and his family over payment but he couldn't pay anybody because FEMA had screwed him out of $ 93,000. Well, unbeknownst to Massey, Ms. Miner had done her homework. Massey may have been shorted $ 93,000 but he failed to mention he was paid $ 750,000.00 for the work in New Orleans. Ms. Miner busted him out on camera at the end of the interview and Massey got upset and left the Advocate in a hurry and in a show room new black Caddilac Escalade with gold trim.

After finding this out, my efforts to collect a mere $ 2325.00 he owed me intensified. After more postings on the net, I got a response from Massey's attorney. Robert Mercer-Falkoff of Branford. In short he says if I don't leave Massey alone and stop the postings I'm going to be in trouble. With the bankruptcy courts in Arkansas, the FBI and other agencies.

When I ignored his threats just like Massey did me for 1 -1/2 years, Mercer sent a letter to the bankruptcy courts here in Arkansas that I was attempting to decieve them by waiting until after I filed chapter 7 to bill Massey. ( over a year later ) The judge ruled the money Massey owed us exempt and we were allowed to collect.

When Massey and Mercer were informed of this ruling, Mercer contacted me again. Mercer said that Massey would give me $ 500 in cash to go away and stop the postings on the web and never speak of this matter with anyone in the future. I declined without considering his offer. Mercer stated that by law he had to report the payment but would trust me to keep the transaction between he and I. He goes on to say that his client, Dave Massey said I was owed nothing and in fact , I had been overpaid. Another lie from Massey Bros. I assured Mercer I never recieved a dime for my work and my postings and attempts to contact Casey Miner with the New Haven Advocate would continue.

The next day, another e-mail from Mercer. This one starts off " I have good news for you, the Massey's have decided to pay your bill in full and immediatley if you don't talk with the Advocate or any other newsgroup about this matter forever. I agreed and I sent another invoice to Massey Brothers. Mercer responded the next day saying that Dave Massey was not happy with the 10 % late fee that was added to his bill. Massey claimed I was trying to rob him and besides the bill is only 1 year and 8 months past due.

Mercer and I negotiated back and forth and I decided I had made my point and agreed to the amount of the bill only. Mercer sent me a settlement agreement to sign saying it was necessary before he could release the money Massey had given him to pay us, I signed the agreement and mailed it back to Mercer. I waited 10 days and started e-mailing Mercer about our money. He finally responded and said the Massey's would not pay us a dime because we breached the agreement by talking to the Advocate. Mercer states that a story about Massey was published in the Advocate with info I had sent them. I assured Mercer, who is either retarded or senile, I had not sent anyone anything. He replied the matter was closed and I would not be paid.

Dave Massey cheated me out of $ 2400.00 + - , my friend from Texas was taken for $ 30,000.00 by Massey Bros, the Hispanic laborers that worked for the Masseys claimed they were not paid for their last 2 weeks and in fact had went to work one morning and found no sign of the Masseys. Tools , trucks, equipment, everything gone.

Massey has lied to us for the past 2 years about our money, why he couldn't pay us , when he'd pay us or even worse , he would just ignore us.

When I returned from Mississippi, I had to be hospitalized for 8 days and my family needed money for food, my wife's medicines, etc.. My wife called this creep, and in tears told him I had to be put in the hospital and she needed our money or at least some of it. My wife of 24 years , a Sunday School teacher begged this low-life for what is rightfully ours and her pleas went ignored .

Dave Massey was in CT with $ 750,000 FEMA paid him and he can't pay us ?

We've done everything humanly possible to collect this debt. Massey acknowledges he owes us but uses any excuse he can find when I get him backed into a corner .

Our services to him in New Orleans were a vital part of his success there. If he couldn't move his oversize equipment to the next job, he didn't work. No work , no pay. And this is how he shows his appreciation for our efforts to keep him working.

We worked during the night so Massey's equipment was sitting on the next job for him in the morning ready to work and he screws us. The hispanic laborers slaved for him and with all of us workng together, we made Dave Massey's company shine in New Orleans. And we went home empty handed. ( I forgot to mention that a week after I did the work for Massey, my custom heavy haul trailer , Kenworth truck, all my tools, clothes, even my shoes were stolen. ) I was there with nothing . No money, no clothes . 500 miles from home , by myself with nothing and Massey knew it. Yet , he was in CT, busy counting the money he stole from all of us and didn't care. I even resorted to begging this man for my money, or at least enough to get home on. He never returned my calls. What a pitiful existance this person lives.

We want our money. Every last dime of it. If given the chance to tell my story on camera , I will stand in Dave Massey's front yard and tell it like it really was in New Orleans.

With the e-mails from his own neighbors telling me what kind of crook he is and many others that have been robbed by him, there should be grounds for an investigation or a class action suit against Dave Massey and his company. People work too d**n hard for their money to have it stolen by a crooked contractor like Massey Bros. I have 53 e-mails from others in CT , his so called attorney and others that know about Massey and his reputation and have contact with some of the people in New Orleans he " slithered" out on with out paying.

His " personal assistant" in New Orleans, Roxanne ,also claims she wasn't paid for her last 2 weeks. For both job site and housekeeping work. And she is a single mother with 2 small children to feed.

God, Dave Massey ! How do you sleep at night ?

I can't speak for the others and can't represent them, but I can assure you this Dave Massey dba Massey bros. Excavating of Branford, CT, you will pay me. And until you do, I'll keep typing.

Dwight @ port city rigging

Pine Bluff, Arkansas

U.S.A.