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Be wary of door-to-door paving contractors with Irish or British accents and insipid company names, police say
By adamg on Tue, 03/05/2024 - 3:18pm
Boston Police report home-owning seniors are being targeted by larcenous alleged paving contractors who use pressure tactics to try to sign them up for what seem like cheap paving or masonry jobs that turn into expensive money-pit operations.
Police say they're trying to get a handle on Irishmen and Brits here on tourist visas who try to turn quick profits by offering, say, $1,500 repaving jobs, using material left over from an alleged project down the street that turn into $20,000 or $30,000 jobs after "structural engineers" have to be called in to fix claimed major problems.
Police said that in addition to the accents, fake stories about material from other jobs by strangers who just knock on your door in the middle of the day, homeowners should watch out for "uninspired" company names such as A1 Paving and City & Town Paving - and be prepared to just say "no" when the smiling guy asks you to make the check out to his name, rather than to his supposed company's name.
Any unknown person approaching you to do ANY work on your home should be viewed as a potential scammer. Residents who feel they have been victimized should contact their local police district and provide as much information as possible including vehicles and plates.
Remember, for any work on your property you should obtain a minimum of two estimates from reputable companies who will carry the appropriate insurance, licenses, apply for the appropriate permits and provide references and coverage to you for their work after completion.
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Comments
Don't contract with door-to-door sellers
We had some ratty masonry and we knew it needed to be addressed, but damn did it bring the charlatans out. "We recently did a job in your neighborhood". "We were touring the area looking for work". I have seen some sad stories where someone thought they could get something done for cheap and got left with an expensive mess when the contractor ghosted or slapped something together that didn't work.
Always ask for a card. If you check out "their work" on another house, talk to the owner and see who really did that work. Their prices are often "very attractive" for a reason - because they will at best do nothing and at worst mess everything up.
Now its the bit of siding damaged in one of our lovely windstorms that is the new "grail shaped beacon" for this bullshit (we plan to repair it ourselves). Ask your friends, or employ your friends (as we did with the stone walls), or get recs from neighbors online or signs at places where you see the work is good.
they aren't just door to door anymore...
A lot of the warnings I've seen about these folks refer to them as being door-to-door scammers, but they are also all over apps like Thumbtack and Angi's. They create a bunch of websites for fake companies (if you look up the domains they are usually registered in the UK, and the "businesses" are not registered in MA, or presumably anywhere else) and then create profiles on various home improvement apps. They sometimes use the registration numbers of actual contractors to assuage the concerns of their victims and claim those people are relatives that they work for. When they burn bridges with one fake "company," they just change names and websites. I had to have masonry work done on our building within the past year and 5 out of 6 people that I got estimates from turned out to be these sorts of scammers. All had websites that were professionally designed but offered no real information about them, a bunch of 5 star reviews in a short time span, and made weird/suspicious claims when asked questions about their business. I know it can be hard because legit contractors are really busy and it can be hard find someone reliable, but it really is important to get recs from neighbors or friends and to be sure they are actually registered with the state and are actually who they say they are.
"Not to worry, Mr. Fawlty!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zngxa8X6ggs
Genuine Irish Travelers…
… expanding overseas.
They have been here a long
They have been here a long time. I remember hearing about these door to door summer house and yard people when i was a kid.
Some of them live down south.
And I imagine they have southern accents. Half American by now.
Door to door is archaic
I think you need to be 55 or older to remember a time when door to door salespeople might plausibly represent a legitimate, good faith business.
Ouch!
Of course you're right. Charles Chips!!
A good faith business you say?
Well now we're talking. I too miss the days when you could count on someone coming to your doors pitching their wares being good country people.
Fair memories of Mr. Haney
Mr. Haney of Green Acres is my exemplar of door to door salesmen and other forms of quaintly providing anything a persons needs.
He was not a door to door salesman of course. Close enough though.
Travelers - a study in social dysfunction
Just saw figures that show that Irish Travelers in the UK perform one-quarter as well on the UK GSCE exam as Irish in general.
Same figures show that black Africans perform better than white British.
Culture > Race
https://twitter.com/DillyHussain88/status/1765324868038308035
Yet it's a crime to criticize Travelers in Ireland or the UK
Yet it's a crime to criticize
Citation?
vague hate speech laws
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/criminal-law/criminal-offe...
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/racist-and-religious-hate-crime-pr...
So then either it's not legal
So then either it's not legal to criticize any ethnic group, or it is, in fact, legal to to criticize Travellers if you do so without "being threatening or abusive and likely to stir up hatred."
it's illegal to disparage any ethnic group or member
including jokes and political commentary, if you've followed what the UK has done.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/teacher-coconut-placard-protests-m...
The Travelers aren't really a distinct ethnic racial group, rather a subculture held captive to a dysfunctional tradition.
The headline in question:
The headline in question:
Teacher who waved placard depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts interviewed by police
Yeah, I don't have a problem with disincentivizing this kind of racism.
Twitter reference
Best you can do to justify funneling hate at a group that has been marginalized and deprived of basic rights for literally centuries.
You are despicable.
figured you'd get on your high horse and make my point.
The Twitter reference includes a link to the exam results information. It's a fact.
Here we are, discussing scammers and you're lamenting how they've been marginalized.
Travelers are white people indistinguishable in appearance from other Irish or British people. They are somewhat inbred.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/news-events/news-2017/gene-study-reveals-iris...
If they sent their kids to school and didn't attempt to earn a living through scamming and theft, they would not be "marginalized and deprived of basic rights." The Irish and British states have left the door open for them for years. In the USA, public schools are open and unemployment is low.
They're an ethnic minority
They're an ethnic minority and hugely discriminated against. The majority of them just want to raise their kids and earn a living, like everyone else, but please go on about how the racism and abuse they experience is their own fault.
When they come to your door . . .
offering home improvement work, paving, painting, or anything else . . .
. . . don't discriminate against them
OK I won't
I'll say "no thank you" like I do to other solicitors, and move on with my life.
just last week
2 guys rang my doorbell offering their services after just finishing a job down the street. (cedar grove)
no thanks.
Sales pitches at the front door
are only one step up from those found scrawled on bathroom walls.
Number on The Wall
I once saw a name and number on a wall offering a good time.
It was was a girl named Jenny.
I tried to call once but I lost my nerve.
I wish I could remember the number.
They come around periodically
One of the last times they came around the rather burly Irish neighbor who stands over six foot knew exactly what they were about and told them in no uncertain terms what would happen to them if he saw them knocking on any doors offering their "services" for hire.
Needless to say we didn't see them again.
Soooo Glad
Soooo glad I have video cameras outside and I removed the doorbell years ago (and tell folks to call first)
People can knock all they want on the door and ring the (non working) doorbell thats there.. I will just sit there at my desk and watch the video monitor and wait for them to go away.
I literally get none of this b/c I never answer my door.
Guys like this..
Followed our elderly neighbor home from the grocery store. They worked their way into his unit and said his unit was flooding the neighboring building (that's impossible because of the firewall and complete lack of pipes anywhere nearby). They spun him around and led him to another room to "prove" damage, meanwhile one member of their crew stayed behind and sprayed his wall with a water bottle so it was wet. He managed to get them out by saying he was broke and had no money in his bank account. They threatened to beat him up and put a cigar out on the wall in our hallway. Scary stuff. He called me after they left and I came down and looked around and we went to the neighboring building just to ask if they were having any work done. Of course they weren't.
I just don't get how you can spend day after day of your life scamming the elderly. These people are absolute scum.
They made a movie with Mark Wahlberg about Travelers
It was about scamming.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120366/