This is a Cole's Notes version of a very bad business practice that occurred because of a large error made by Drake Contracting. This error cost my mother An additional $20K. This error now prevents my mother from buying the new furnace that is much needed this winter.
My father passed in the fall and after many months finally, received a bit of money to take care of some essential repairs and necessary work for home improvements.
I had made a deal with Scott Lockwwod for repairs to my mother's driveway so that we could get a water truck to deliver water as she does not have potable well water.
Shane Laschowski was put in charge of the project and had extended the work so much more than we had agreed on. When they had learned of their mistake they pulled all machines off the "new" unfinished project and sent a bill to my mother for double the amount. She was also responsible for paying the gravel bill that came to about 3x what was expected solely because the project went from a small section of the driveway to half the driveway (which later became the entire driveway).
Shane had refinished half the driveway then left half of the driveway as bare clay and left a soft spot that was eroding away. The road was again, bad to drive on when it rained.
After removing all equipment they said they would fix their mistakes for free as well as spread the gravel necessary to complete the remaining, unfinished half of the driveway at no charge.
When I spoke to Shane on the phone he said he would pay for some gravel to put on the bare clay. In good faith, my mother had also agreed to pay for gravel. As a compromise for costing my mother additional, unnecessary costs I offered to split the cost of buying a cheaper option of gravel. I estimated the total cost to come to $9K ($4500 each). Shane then said in an email a couple of days later "I'm sorry if it SEEMED like I offered...".
They refused and would not bring their machinery back until we were ready to spread the remaining gravel.
In essence, they held us hostage to them completing their sloppy work unless my mother paid the remaining expenses herself.
All of this time, Everett Prescott, the owner of Drake Contracting, never once came to see the project or call me to discuss the issue. He only came out when my mother said she wanted to move ahead and get the road complete.
Because the bare road caused my mother great issue when it got wet, she pushed to get it done.
This is a disgraceful company and their business practice in this matter was disgusting. As long as they can be happy that they made money then I suppose it doesn't matter that it cost my mother more than she could really afford.