Complaint Review: Tom Dixon - Dixon Construction Company - Taunton Massachusetts

Tom Dixon was referred by a friend so we never questioned his background or abilities having a comfortable level of trust in him. He completed several jobs on the outside of our home for us last fall providing signed contracts. We questioned a few things but were satisfied in general at the time.

This spring we contacted him for several more jobs. Although he promised to get contracts to us - we paid him for numerous materials and jobs without them. All payment with notations for materials and labor electronically available via my credit union's on-line statement.

We recently discovered from DPS that Tom lost his supervisory and general contractor licenses in 2002 and 2004 respectively. However, he continues to pass out business cards showing he is fully insured and licensed in all aspects of construction.

Materials Only -- We paid him $1695 for three sets of cedar shutters that we never received. We paid him $2600 for cultured stone that we later found out was worth about $800. We paid him $2139.27 for a Pella bay window but received a Jeldwen worth about $1000. We paid him $1280 for Kohler shower walls/bathtub only to find out they cost $600 @ Lowe's.

Labor -- Tom installed three layers of roofing shingles on the front side of our house, breezeway, and garage. He never pulled permits. The roof had to be stripped and re-done as only two layers are allowed per the building inspector.

Labor -- Tom did extensive electrical work explaining he could work on existing electrical. A licensed electrician has corrected a good portion of his work.

Labor -- Tom did extensive plumbing work explaining he could work on existing plumbing. He never pulled a permit when he completely gutted our bathroom. He installed our tub over framing without a floor. It feels like we're on a trampoline when we take a shower. In addition - he never sealed the shower or tub and the drain mechanism was installed backwards. A licensed plumber is currently working on correcting our problems.

Smoke Detectors - Tom informed us we needed to hard wire smoke detectors in our home to be "up to code" for which we paid him $1025 and the job was never done on the day he was paid. Our Fire Department informed us that we only need battery smoke detectors to be up to code.

Toilets -- Tom informed us our two one-year-old Kohler toilets needed the insides completely re-built for which we paid $300 for two kits. A licensed plumber confirmed the water tubing in the tank for both toilets just needed to be secured and they were fine.

Joists -- Tom informed us the joist beam under our bathroom was rotted from a leak and compromising the structure of our home. He nailed boards on the sides and underneath the beam but not completely boxing it in. We have since been informed by two licensed professionals that the beam is fine and the job wasn't even done correctly - for which we paid $2,000.

On a side note - Tom only spent about one-two hours each day (if he even showed up at all) on our home and each project took several days or weeks. I didn't realize this until my husband and I were actually home one week in April. One job always led to another new one as well. We also discovered he was not doing a good portion of the actual work due to an injury and left his 21-year-old assistant alone in our home to handle many of the jobs. Since I didn't question Tom's background, I believed him when he suggested numerous areas in our home had to be repaired/updated.

I have pictures of Tom's work showing it was completely unacceptable and unprofessional. His "finish" work was beyond shoddy. After having our home inspected and each of his jobs evaluated in addition to the materials never received/jobs never completed but paid for - we estimate Tom scammed us for about $23,064.

We met Tom in our driveway on May 12th with police support asking him to do the right thing and return a conservative $6445 to us. He never complied. In addition, he never provided us with the requested contracts, copy of his license, receipts/warranty paperwork, etc.

We have since secured an attorney but have been informed Tom has no assets and his home is in his wife's name. I am also working with the Attorney General's Office, District Attorney's Office, BBB, and the media. We most likely will never see any of our money returned. But we would at least like to see something good come out of this mess. The public needs to be warned so he doesn't continue taking advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

Thank you.

Doreen

West Bridgewater, Massachusetts

U.S.A.