CLEVELAND — Remember the storm system last August that brought tornadoes, lots of damage and plenty of clean-up headaches in Northeast Ohio? Well, now the Ohio Attorney General is investigating claims that a roofing-and-siding company made promises, took money, and so far has not done any work on some people’s homes.
The company in question, General Contractors National, sent people door-to-door, and clients told us they had damage, so they wanted to get it all fixed pretty quickly. However, here we are in May, where the business partners helping to run the company say they’re working on it, but customers are fed up.
THE CUSTOMERS
“It was so long because it’s the whole piece. It was just dangling,” said Brenda Starks, referring to her home's siding. She is one of the numerous people who experienced home damage after the storms.
She needed new siding and got a knock on her door.
“'Well, we see some pieces of your vinyl is missing. We can help you with that,'” Starks said about what company reps told her that day.
Starks showed us that General Contractors National collected a $11,000+ down payment from her. And she is not alone.
“I noticed a couple shingles were gone,” said Stephen Anderson, about his Old Brooklyn home. He gave General Contractors National $3,600. “I just would like my money back and to find another company to fix my roof."
And Karen Zagorsky from Lorain gave the company about $2,400.
“I was very hot and I thought what happened here? I trusted,” said Zagorsky.
THE POLICE REPORTS
All have filed police reports against the company after they said they’ve had little to no communication with business partners Renato Perez and Andre Kinduelo, and zero work completed on their projects.
Starks showed us an email from March that she said came from Perez about how they have dozens of projects to get to.
“They have over 100 customers that they need to complete jobs on…in this area alone,” Starks told us.
The Better Business Bureau gives General Contractors National a D+ rating.
Shortly after we started asking questions, the General Contractors National website shut down. Plus, News 5 Investigators have confirmed that the Ohio Attorney General’s Office is actively investigating the business with 18 complaints there.
THE BUSINESS PARTNERS
We contacted General Contractors National and asked Perez and Kinduelo to go on camera. They said they would, needed to talk to their attorney, but then never set anything up. They did claim by phone that former employees stole from them, the weather hasn’t cooperated, some people are getting repairs, and they are cooperating with the attorney general’s investigation.
THE WARNINGS
“There were jobs that should have been done that weren’t done,” said Josh Ickes, who told us he worked for the company recently but left in April when he says he wasn’t getting paid. He said that roughly 20 customers were contacting him. “(From) people that have just been requesting their money back consistently. I mean, I still get phone calls to this day.”
Meanwhile, Starks told us all of this doesn’t sit well with her.
“I’m angry. I’m very angry,” she said.
She’s a local school bus driver who told us that after all of the frustration, her insurance dropped her because of complications with her repairs.
“Now, I actually have no home insurance. It’s hard to get covered because I need the work done on my home,” said Starks.
Customers of General Contractors National wanted to step forward and warn you about their experiences.
“I just want to save anyone the heartache and hassle of dealing with this,” said Anderson.
“Be careful, be careful, be careful and just say no,” said Zagorsky.
“I hope no one else gives them any money,” Starks told us.
