Questionable excuses

This is the part that is most difficult because if true, I would hate to be the person that is unmerciful:

• He said that his father had a heart attack and died on Wednesday
• He said his mother had a heart attack and died within 24 hours on Thursday
• He had a heart attack Friday night and went to the hospital

The above is not the entire list of excuses, other things I have been told include:

• Rain at rock yard prevented the truck from picking up the stone
• He told the crew to show up, but they just didn't do as instructed
• His crew was working on another job
• Rain in Tyler, TX delayed him from arriving in Rockwall on time
• Battery on phone died so he couldn't contact me
• Problems with trailer so he had to go to U-haul to get a new trailer
• The ceilings in his own house fell from the recent rains
• It is raining (although radar shows it is clear)  
• Paraphrase:  On june 30th... I need 7 days to determine a refund.  4th of July weekend is coming.

But let me address the top 3 because if true, they would justify a certain amount of delay and warrant additional patience:

• He told me his father and mother died on Wednesday and Thursday respectively... but when his wife texted (while he 'was in the hospital'), she said they died Thursday and Friday- so the dates don't align.
• I checked the obituaries (now 2 weeks later) for Laredo, TX and all of Texas for deaths of anyone named Garcia.  According to public records, there is no one with that name that died at that time that could have been his parents.
• When I called Baylor hospital to inquire (i was going to send flowers), they said they had no patient by that name.
• I texted and asked where i could send flowers and his wife told me he had been transferred to Parkland.  When I called Parkland, they had no patient by that name either.

In case it matters, I inquired about JR Garcia, J.R. Garcia, Juan Garcia, and Juan Garcia III.  All 4 names came up empty.

As I'm building things, I'll also address the excuses about the ceilings falling and the idea it is raining.  First the rain:

On the issue of rain causing problems at his house... he sent the following pictures as evidence of his problems keeping him from appearing:

 

So here's my problem, there is NO furniture in this house.  In fact, the only things that are really identifiable in the picture (other than the mess) is the box that says "MITER SAW" in the bottom right picture.  In other words, this isn't HIS house.  It is simply another construction project.

For the documented record, he has also performed work in Tyler and Grand Prairie since leaving my house in disarray.

A historical pattern of abandonment

The following complaints were found in addition to the $5800 I provided.  Added all together, this is $34,380 since March of 2013.

UPDATE:  Since abandoning my job, I have learned of an additional 15K he has taken from victims in Grand Prairie in almost identical scams.

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AMOUNT: $4000

Complaint: 1.Abandonment of job as of August 19 2013.We paid you the agreed the $3250.00 up front per your request; you were to finish the job for the final payment as agreed.3.We gave you an additional ($750.00 payment so you could pay your employees) draw against you contract and you made the following agreement signed by you on 08-17-2013 and witnessed by MAP Rep. 4.You have been paid a total of $4000.00 and may have paid out ($700.00) towards the job according to your employees. and you Sir have left us with a major disaster such as you only completed (25%) of the work, you Sir left dangerous walls left Not braced that could fall onto the general public. You Sir told your employees that you were coming to job to pay them including a lady you hired from the adjacent apartment complex. You used U-Haul trucks to haul away debris and had your employee put it in his name so he could pay the bill for you?5.You Sir do not have the experience that you said that you have in fact you do not know how to adjust a hard hat?6.According to your conviction records you have many Thefts of checks and committed fraud, etc we should have checked your back ground first, if we had we could not hire felons like yourself for all of the oblivious reasons.7.Few more violations below. 22.We are requesting you to pay us for the losses that we have had to endure, suffer due to your actions ($6150.00) in a cashier checks made out to MAP Investment Group, LLC within 10 days of receipt of the request.
Product_Or_Service: contract to perform demo work


ref:
http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/contractors-general/juan-garcia-construction-in-dallas-tx-90241320/complaints#breakdown
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/JUAN-GARCIA-11-CONSTRUCTION/dallas-Texas-76210/JUAN-GARCIA-11-CONSTRUCTION-RIP-OFF-Hired-Garcia-to-demolish-and-haul-away-a-two-story-b-1080153
http://juangarciaiiiconstructionreview.blogspot.com/

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AMOUNT: $6200

Job is not done as expected, home insurance policy will be cancel if job is not done by Jun 3 crews has not show for 5 days. contractor unproffesional
We did a contract on may 14 the approximate time for this job to finish was given by the contractor was five days, I explained the situation that the job needed to be done by June 3rd due to home insurance purposes. Contractor asked for $6200 in advance for material and to pay his labor. I was told I would get a receipt for the material which did not happen. On May the 20th a different crew took over the house work sent by ****** Construction. A week went by and the crew stopped going for non payment, the crew leader told me that I needed to send a payment to ****** Construction so he can get paid because the check I wrote had been cancelled. I told the crew members that I had pay ****** Construction $6200 in cash. My house is a complete mess and now I have n o idea who is going to finish the job.

ref:
http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/contractors-general/juan-garcia-construction-in-dallas-tx-90241320/complaints#breakdown

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AMOUNT: $13500

Has not finished the job will not return my phone calls. Job is paid in full. Have no bathroom and house is tore up from them.
Wrote a check for 6000.00 on feb 22 and 7500.00 on march 1, to remodel living room and master bathroom. On Feb 23 ****** and his crew did demo at my house on living room and bathroom. they showed up everyday after that until the second check was cashed for 7500.00. I have not heard from ****** since march 1, he wont return my calls and the job is no where near finished. The drywall in the living room is not done right there are cracks and gaps in the drywall, the electrical in the bathroom is not right either one light wont shut off another flickers when off and some of the outlets are not working anymore.

ref:
http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/contractors-general/juan-garcia-construction-in-dallas-tx-90241320/complaints#breakdown

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AMOUNT: $1300

Juan Garcia is a FRAUD. He contracted with me to remodel a bathroom. He took $1300 from me. Call the Police if he contacts you. We signed a contract to do business on a rental property of mine and when we first met we agreed upon an amount for the complete job. I paid him half to start the job and he was to finish in 3 days time. Well, he decided to do some demo and then never showed up to the property again. I called him. He had the nerve to not return my call but texted me he was out of town and would not be back for a week. What the hell??? So, my tenants over the Thanksgiving holiday had a master bathroom that was half demo'd and inoperable. Juan proceeded to text me on the following Monday that he wouldn't do any work unless I paid him the other half. Really? By this time I realized that this Fraud had scammed me of my initial $1300. Stay clear of this Fraud. Call the Police, Dallas County DA, Trade Commission and Texas General Attorney

ref:
http://www.yellowpages.com/mesquite-tx/mip/juan-garcia-construction-481080054
http://www.citysearch.com/profile/788672950/mesquite_tx/juan_garcia_construction.html


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AMOUNT: $3000

Juan Garcia Construction in Dallas was referred by Rainbow Restoration in Denton, Texas. This little fu*er, Juan Garcia (if this is his real name) showed up in response to needed bathroom repairs due to flooding. He stole $3000, never did any work, and never came back. I'm guessing he won't live long at this rate, but AVOID THIS THIEF until that time.

He drives a pimped out 2001 red Chevy truck, license number BR9 2605

Phone numbers (214) 527-4355  (469) 324-8082
Zita F Garcia
7721 Gayglen Dr

ref:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Juan-Garcia-Construction/Dallas-Texas-75217/Juan-Garcia-Construction-in-Dallas-Juan-Garcia-Construction-in-Dallas-Ripoff-Artist-Dalla-1051277

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AMOUNT: $580

I posted an Ad on Craigslist looking for a contractor to do insulation work on my home as well as some weatherstripping on my doors. JR Construction, AKA Juan Garcia responded to my ad. I spoke with him on the phone and via text message, we agreed to meet in Dallas to sign a contract and discuss. Signed contract and Juan stated he needed more than half of the money up front. I hesitantly did so via a $350 Check. We met and signed the contract on Thursday, February 27, 2014. He agreed to complete the work Saturday Morning 3/1/2014. 

On Saturday, 3/1/2014 he showed up to complete the work. He completed the door weatherstripping and his insulation truck showed up shortly after that. He said he had to leave as it was his daughter's 15th birthday party and asked for the remainder of the money. I paid him $230 in cash which was the agreed upon remainder of the contract. 

About 20 minutes pass and he calls my cell phone and said there is a problem with the check I gave him on Thursday and that he needs to collect the $350 in cash. 

I checked with my bank and the check had cleared the same day I wrote it to him. I believe he went to my bank and cashed it, but I'm not sure. I told him I would pay him no more money and he needed to complete the job. He said he can't complete the job as he tried to deposit the check and my bank had put a 7 day hold on the check. I took a picture of my online bank statement showing the check had cleared my bank and sent it to him via text . I demanded he give me my money back or complete the work. He said he would come back to my house and straighten it out.

He then called the subcontractor (Nico's Insulation in Lewisville, TX) and said that he wouldn't be paying them as "I didn't pay him". They knocked on my door and I spoke to them and explained that I had already paid him. After waiting about half an hour for him to show back up at my house to straighten this out, the subcontractors said they believe he may have scammed both of us. They said he didn't pay them yet and they are afraid he has done this before. They did not go into detail about how they knew he had done this before, just that they didn't trust him. They were very nice to me and encouraged me to call the police and file a report. Which I plan on doing in a couple of days if he doesn't get the work done. 

After looking on the internet and on ripoffreport, I see that others have been scammed by this contractor and that he has a criminal record for this sort of thing. Can't believe I was so foolish as to not look into this contractor further!

ref:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/JR-Construction/Mesquite-Texas/JR-Construction-Juan-Garcia-JR-Insulation-Work-Ripoff-Theft-Stolen-Took-my-Money-Thi-1127524

http://www.pandahi.com/1025473854.html

An unfinished privacy wall and brick corner restoration

This is the way he left matters after tearing down the brick privacy wall.

 

An unfinished ceiling

This is the way he left the ceiling.  I ended up purchasing the supplies and completing the repair myself because racoons have a history of getting in my attic and I couldn't wait for him to return.

An unfinished paint job

This is the state that my paint job has been left in for 11 days as of June 23rd:

An unfinished retaining wall

This is the state that my wall has been left in for 11 days as of June 23rd:

A letter of demand

Following is the letter I sent via certified mail:

June 24, 2014 Juan Garcia Construction 7721 Gayglen Drive, Dallas, TX 75217 (claimed home address) 2517 Franklin Dr Ste J, Mesquite, TX 75150 (claimed business address) Dear Mr. Garcia: This letter is to serve notice that I am seeking to terminate our previous contractual agreement. Additionally, this notice is to inform you that I will not permit any additional work on my property until we reach a mutually agreed continuing agreement in writing. Specific concerns and complaints include: • At the time I am typing this, you have gone 12 days without appearing on my property to complete ANY work. • You have set (and now missed) 6 separate deadlines to complete the work. • You have not completed ANY single task that you contracted to perform. o You did not install additional soffit vents per our initial agreement o You did not perform a reasonable job preparing to paint (scraping, sanding, caulking). o Although you sprayed the soffits around the house and detached garage, you did not complete cutting in the majority of perimeter. o Although you removed the retaining wall around the pool, you did no work to begin reconstructing it. o You started to remove the leaning brick privacy wall, but you did not remove the debris as promised. Similarly, you did not begin to remove the matching brick privacy wall and repair the corner of the house as requested. o Although you purchased the material to repair the hole in the covered patio ceiling, you did not make the requested repair. Furthermore, the materials purchased were cut incorrectly so they could not even be used to complete the job. o Although some materials (sand, stone and concrete) were delivered and left to do the rebuild the retaining wall, two other stone masons said the materials onsite are not sufficient to complete the work. o You did not leave the primer or epoxy to resurface the pool deck nor perform any prep work including scraping, filling in cracks, or repairing the pool coping. • You have become increasingly slow to answer text messages or communicate delays. Furthermore, you have now stopped answering phone calls. At this point I have provided two checks totaling $5,800. You stated your crew receives $180/day and you take $250/day- for a total of $430/day. You worked for 2 days for a total of $860. I will also provide a 25% allowance for the 2 hours you worked on Thursday for $107.50. This makes for a total labor allowance of $967.50. The stone that was delivered is of no use to me for this project and you are welcome to come take it back as I am now refusing to accept it while I pursue other ways to complete the project. Add 2 yards (generous) of sand @ $55/yard and 5 bags of cement @ $17/bag, I will allow another $200 for the materials for the wall. Finally 10 gallons of paint at $30/gallon plus a case of caulking (12 @ $2) makes for $324 for painting. Added together, I calculate a reasonable cost for materials and labor so far to be $1491. I will round to the nearest hundred in your favor for $1500. This means the amount I am seeking to be returned for services not performed is $4,300. To compensate for any miscalculations on my part and to be finished with this, I will accept a cashiers check or money order for $4,000 even and consider the matter resolved. These funds should be provided within 2 weeks of the date of this letter. Anthony Morris <my address here>