Complaint Review: PARKER-PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION INC. - Los Angeles California

My wife and I purchase a home in Reseda, CA  91335 back in late March of 2015.  Our immediate plans included remodeling the entire home. We interviewed several contractors and eventually engaged Mr. Isaac/Itzack Cohen of Parker Phoenix Construction. HIS REAL NAME TURNED OUT TO BE GREGOR KOHN.  Parker-Phoenix Construction came recommended through an internet source that specializes in construction referrals, Thumbtack.com.  Mr. KOHN personally came to my office to meet. At that time Mr. KOHN presented himself as the sole owner of Parker Phoenix Construction and a licensed contractor. He assured us that he would be able to organize and manage the entire remodel work, obtain all necessary construction permits and that all his work would comply with all mandatory regulations warranted by The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.  THIS TURNED OUT TO BE NOTHING BUT BS.

 

During this introduction Mr. Kohn presented the following contact details along with an estimate/scope of work document.

 

Issac Cohen/Gregor Kohn

Parker-Phoenix Construction

645 West 9^th Street # 110-246

Los Angeles, CA  90016

Phone: (213) 434-3915

Cell: (213) 999-9595

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.Parker-Phoenix.com

 

We entered into an agreement on 04/03/15 to have the following work done within a 7-week period (4/3/15 – 5/22/15). The initial demolition work began on 04/04/15. The initial contract was $57,000. 

 

Immediately after the demolition we became suspicious of Mr. KOHN as our initial instructions to save particular kitchen cabinetry and lighting fixtures were ignored.  We noticed that after the initial demolition began, the cabinetry had been discarded to the rubbish pile, and the lighting fixtures we asked to hold were all missing. We asked Mr. KOHN about the items, and his response was that “the cabinets were junk and could not be saved, and I had no idea where the lighting fixtures were.” At that point, and after an initial observation of his work and his lack of attention to our request, we decided to reduce the scope of work originally asked for and renegotiated the job price to $51,700. We canceled the A/C installation but added a gas line relocation at his suggestion. We’ve paid Parker-Phoenix a total of $38,750 thus far and hardly anything but a non-complete demolition effort and very suspect plumbing, electrical, window and door work has been done.  We’ve had the city inspectors out twice to review what’s been done and on both occasions were told that all work done thus far was not in compliance with city code and would need to be redone.

  

THINGS WE DISCOVERED THAT WERE NOT TRUTHFUL, LIES OR DECITFUL FROM GREGOR KOHN:

 

• Mr. KOHN claimed that he was a licensed contractor, and his company was fully insured.  We later found out that he used other’s license #, and the insurance was cancelled.

 

• Mr. KOHN gave us a fake name Mr. Isaac KOHN, sometimes Itzchak.  We have since found out that his real name is Gregor Kohn, a fraud who has been facing many charges in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

 

• Mr. KOHN promised to obtain all city permits before starting any work.  When a city code enforcement officer visited our house on 5/1, in week of 5of the term, we discovered that he had never applied for any permits.  We ended up having to pull the permits ourselves, or face the risk of receiving fines from the city.

 

• Mr. KOHN said he had a crew of around 20 qualified workers that his works with constantly.  We later found out that he sourced his crew from Craigslist.com or off street.  All of the workers have appeared to be unskilled.

 

• In contract, we have 7 weeks term.  In Week Three, in order to get a check from us, he even promised us to finish in 5 weeks.  However, by the 6^th. Week, the only thing had been done was demolition.  He told us that the rough plumbing and electric were done and ready for inspection, and asked for more money.  The inspector said that none of the work Mr. KOHN had done was up to code and was far from getting ready for an inspection.  

 

• Mr. KOHN didn’t pay his workers and told them that he couldn’t pay them because we didn’t pay him.  This is after we had already paid him $38,750 in the first two weeks since we signed the contract.

 

• When we started to report him to the website Thumbtack who recommended him, Mr. KOHN told the website that he was quitting the company.  However, he continued sending random people to our house and communicated with them as our GC.

 

• After Mr. KOHN told the website that he quit, he pretended as though he were Doug Brown and continued emailing us through his company email.  We asked to meet our new GC “Doug”, but were refused.  Then Mr. KOHN appeared again.  He claimed that Doug was out of town, and he would do us a personal favor to meet us.

 

EXAMPLES OF GREGOR KOHN’S POOR MANAGEMENT:

 

• We asked Mr. KOHN to keep our original 1960s antique kitchen cabinets, and put the items in the garage laundry room.  However, he destroyed the cabinets and told us that the cabinets were junk, and that he would buy a new set of cabinets for our laundry room. Of course, he never did. Same result to our 1960s antique light fixtures.

 

• Mr. KOHN never supervises on location.  He only manages over the phone by looking at photos his workers took on site.  He has showed up only a handful of times, and only to collect our checks.  

 

• Work has been extremely slow and sloppy.  Some days only 2 workers would show up, and some day none.  When we questioned his schedule and quality of work, his reasoning was always "don't tell me how to do my job." He claimed that he didn’t act like other GC because he was different.  

 

• Every time we have a concern about the quality of the work or time frame, instead of providing a better work, Mr. KOHN always pulled workers off of our job periodically telling them to go home, and use it to threaten us to shut up, or to give him more money.

 

• The checks Mr. KOHN issued to his workers bounced.  The workers quit.  New Craigslist guys would show up and not even understand or know the assignment.  Workers from other jobs also showed up at our door or called us looking for Mr. KOHN because they were not paid on other jobs.  

 

• Since Mr. KOHN recruits his crew off Craigslist and off the street, there are always random people running into our house.  We can’t hold anyone to be accountable. 

 

• Mr. KOHN instructed other workers from other jobs to dump their trash to our backyard.

 

• We have purchased services and organized product deliveries based on his original schedule.  However, since Mr. KOHN never performs on schedule, we had to constantly put off services or delay deliveries. We ended up throwing money away for service rescheduling and product re-delivery.  

 

• Mr. KOHN instructs his workers to cut corners by purchasing less materials and skipping necessary steps. Most of his work has been done in poor quality or in an incorrect way. 

 

• Mr. KOHN has made threatening comments to me and my wife when disagreements occurred.  He told me "good luck in finding me and your money.  I'll be gone.  Just try and sue me and you will waste 6 month to a year and will get nowhere."

 

• We have had two inspections and Mr. KOHN’s work failed on both.  Instead of correcting his work, he was telling us that the inspector was wrong because they didn’t know what they were doing. He asked for the second inspection because he believed that window, rough plumbing and electric were ready.  The inspector stated that nothing was up to code and everything was far from getting ready for inspection. 

 

• Without our permission, Mr. KOHN instructed his workers to remove our existing fence and our ADT security system.  Our house was now totally venerable to anyone.  Many products we purchased at Mr. KOHN’s request were stolen.  We filed a burglary report on 5/13.

 

• Every time we tried to fire him or report him, he always threatened us that he would close his company and we wouldn’t get a dime back.  

 

• He never treats us as his customers but only as an ATM machine.  He has taken our money and has put us in a financial hostage situation.  He threatens and bullies us.  We live in constant worry, fear, stress and frustration. 

 

 

And as it turns out the internet company who recommended Parker-Phoenix still endorses is Thumbtack.com.  I’ll next be addressing my experience with Thumbtack in a separate  Ripoff Report.  They have been completely compliant in defending Parker-Phoenix Construction and have given us no support or review of our claims.  Their contact information is

 

Thumbtack.com

Costumer Service: Angela

[email protected]

800-343-1710

 

All of this is such a total scam, stay away from both of them.