An article appeared recently in our local Colorado Springs newspaper about a homeowner who was cheated by a roofer on a roof replacement job. There has been more than double the normal number of replaced roofs this past year due to several severe storms that hit the region.
When an area is hit hard by damaging hail storms there are apparently a class of people who show up at peoples' doors claiming to be roofers and who offer to give a free roof inspection. These people are referred to as hail chasers and are akin to the shady lawyers called ambulance chasers who look to sign up clients after auto accidents. This author's home was in fact impacted by a serious storm this year and had a roof replacement done. Fortunately I have a friend who has been a roofer for decades who did my job, but I did have someone knocking on my door and offering to inspect my roof.
The homeowner actually did do some due diligence and checked with the BBB about the roofer in question, and the BBB gave a positive report. Supposedly there had been no improprieties reported as yet on the roofer at the time the report was requested. Since then there have been quite a few, and law enforcement is searching for this person, who has apparently scammed about a dozen homeowners in the area. As an aside, the BBB has come under fire recently on a national level for having recently changed the rating criteria they use to recommend businesses. Not long ago they started giving higher scores to people that pay them money than to people who don't. This appears to some as a conflict of interest, and the BBB has backed off from this position. Whether this particular roofer had paid money to the BBB is not known, so the stories might not tie together at all.
The roofer in question gave a free inspection of the homeowner's roof and of course suggested the roof needed replacement. The insurance company agreed and paid an initial check for $2,300 which the roofer was given and cashed. The roofer never returned and as time went on answered phone calls with false information and delaying tactics.
The roofer even subsequently submitted a claim to the insurance company stating that the job had been completed and tried to collect the balance of the money that had been approved to replace the roof. In the end the homeowner was in a loss position of several thousand dollars and still had the bad roof.
She was very lucky, however, as an honest roofer stepped up and finished the job for free. This was extremely generous of the roofer, and he certainly earned a lot of goodwill. The story was on page one of the newspaper, so after it ran there must have been quite a few homeowners who wanted to have that particular roofer work for them.
Certainly the most important thing to do if you are having a roof replacement is to find an experienced and honest roofer with a proven track record. Ask friends and family if they know of a good roofer in your area. And stay away from hail chasers who show up at your door and offer a free roof inspection.
More Information:
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