Roofing Scams

[RandomGuy]

So we had some roofing guys going door to door in our neighborhood... talking about hail damage this and that...

So the dude starts talkin to my dad and tells him that he can get him a roof for free... 0 money out of pocket. A claim is filed and the insurance sends us a check.

This main guy is really shady, and is using every sales technique in the book to get us to do it with him...

So my question is, legally, is there anything binding keeping us from going to another, cheaper, higher quality roofer. (i'm doubting that my roof even needs repair to begin with, now that i see this guys shady practices)

This guy offered to eat our 1000$ deductible, but still something tells me that giving him the entire check will leave us screwed. He wouldnt even give me an estimate without seeing the insurance check wtf.

So when i expressed this to him, that i wanted to shop around, his sales skills hit vtec and he started putting on super pressure, He says that if we do not do the roof with him, we need to pay him $600... I told him to fuck off...

What should I do?

[oneSLOWex]

WOW....are you serious?

sounds like something those shady bastards try to pull on old people to get money from them

[lowazzcord]

my buddys owns a roofing company and because of the economy he has to eat the cost of deductibles to even get jobs, because that is what every other roofing company is doing.

[uproot]

find a legit company, one that doesn't need to go door to door. also, see if the shady company is a NRCA member, RASMCA member, or has any other certifications.

[Mike Lowrey]

So we had some roofing guys going door to door in our neighborhood... talking about hail damage this and that...

So the dude starts talkin to my dad and tells him that he can get him a roof for free... 0 money out of pocket. A claim is filed and the insurance sends us a check.

This main guy is really shady, and is using every sales technique in the book to get us to do it with him...

So my question is, legally, is there anything binding keeping us from going to another, cheaper, higher quality roofer. (i'm doubting that my roof even needs repair to begin with, now that i see this guys shady practices)

This guy offered to eat our 1000$ deductible, but still something tells me that giving him the entire check will leave us screwed. He wouldnt even give me an estimate without seeing the insurance check wtf.

So when i expressed this to him, that i wanted to shop around, his sales skills hit vtec and he started putting on super pressure, He says that if we do not do the roof with him, we need to pay him $600... I told him to fuck off...

What should I do?

If you did not sign any agreement, you are free do go with whoever you want.

p.s. I just had my roof done and the company I used was very good. They go the job done quickly, but did a quality job. Good prices too. lmk if you want the info.

[RandomGuy]

If you did not sign any agreement, you are free do go with whoever you want.

p.s. I just had my roof done and the company I used was very good. They go the job done quickly, but did a quality job. Good prices too. lmk if you want the info.

I wasn't home until they came to get the check didnt even know what was going on...

I think they might have conned my Dad into signing something, but not sure what it was... Even so is it a fair business practice to trap customers like that? Its not like he did anything to get the claim filed.

[Mike Lowrey]

I wasn't home until they came to get the check didnt even know what was going on...

I think they might have conned my Dad into signing something, but not sure what it was... Even so is it a fair business practice to trap customers like that? Its not like he did anything to get the claim filed.

Check with your dad to see if he signed the agreement. If he did, read the agreement to see what it states. You can then contact the company and say that you are "unable" to do your roof right not and ask to be "let out" of the agreement. You should ask for this in writing. You can then go to whoever you want.

[RandomGuy]

You can then contact the company and say that you are "unable" to do your roof right not and ask to be "let out" of the agreement. You should ask for this in writing. You can then go to whoever you want.

why would he agree to this? lol

[Mike Lowrey]

why would he agree to this? lol

I actually went through this. I told the person, that I was unable to do the roof (due to money concerns, etc), and therefore I wanted out of the agreement. They did so. I am not even sure how binding these agreements even are.....The one I had said they would handle everything and I just needed to pay the deductable. It said that I would only use them for doing the roof.

[Hulud]

i rarely trust those door to door improvement people.

a guy came to my place two days ago asking to fix the huge dent in my rear quarterpanel for cheap. i said nah my bro is gonna do it for free

[Ed]

nothings free

[ISAtlanta300]

Not only door to door roofers do this, but I've seen some 'reputable' companies sinking to this level too.... they look at the roof, go 'oh wow..that roof is bad.... call your insurance" bla bla bla... and "if your insurance agrees to replace the roof, will you agree to go with me" etc.

The bad part is that as they 'catch and bait' more and more people in going via their insurance, insurance premiums will go out for EVERYONE in your neighborhood by all the claims filed.

[wrekonize]

ive seen this happening lately my boss got his house done last week and said he didnt pay, the insurance did. and his neighbor did the same...also two of my neighbors just got their roofs done which is weird all of the sudden roof are being redone and i thought we were in a resession....my only guess it that roofers must have found a way to work the system where they get the insurance to pay when you don't really need it...but i guess if your paying insurance every month and nothing ever happens to your house due to weather, ect...then why not make the insurance pay since its your money anyways....

[Jiggity96]

i used to this myself it is all legit

you have one year from the date of devastating hail to file a claim

feb 18th i believe was the last hail storm where golf ball sized hail was reported

your premium does not go up due to it being natural catastrophe

but as isatlanta300 said eventually everyones premiums will go up

as for the contract it is a binding agreement that upon approval from your insurance company you will allow said company to perform the work

how its free: the average cost to replace a roof is 200 dollars a square thats fair market value bringing the price of a claim for an average house to 5000 which is what you would get from the insurance company in 2 seperate checks but our companies buy mass amounts of materials thus getting them at a discounted rate so heres a general breakdown

5000(insurance check)-1000(deductible)-1500(materials)-800(amigos to install roof=1700 to the company and the canvasser (asshole who knocked on your door) gets a percentage

but please ask others who have had roofs installed by the company BEFORE signing the contract

[DownSouthGB]

If he comes to collect the money or whatever, have a gun in your hand and ask him why do you have to pay again. It will solve your problem.

[aguynamedpat]

If he comes to collect the money or whatever, have a gun in your hand and ask him why do you have to pay again. It will solve your problem.

If you think that will SOLVE his problem, you have bigger problems.

So he is trying to make you pay before they do the work? My buddy does this, and they will get you past the deductible and all that. They ask for half up front, but he usually waives the half up front and just has you pay in full upon completion of the roof. He also will give you references even if you do not ask, that way you can see what kind of work they do.

What company are these people representing?

[slostang]

ive noticed a shit ton of people getting new roofs lately.

[yerrow]

it sounds like the irish travelers aka gypsies....google and read up

[Blitanicle99]

Been in the roofing business for about 3 years now. I know my shit, I run 6 crews a day.


Randomguy, your father has probably lost his deposit. The paperwork he signed probably has it in one of the clauses. Sorry to be the bad news, but thats just some of the sketchy ass policies of roofing companies.


For anyone else, I do this legitlly, I do it right and I'm more than willing to help any IA member on this. I do not sell for any roofing company, I am a sub contractor and I run production and crews.

I am also about to be working for All State on their claims service in GA, if you get your roof insurance checked, you might see me up there.



Anyways, since firefox keeps glitching up and keeps deleting my post (3rd time now ) I'll keep it short.

There are some sketchy ass companies in this business.
There are also some great reliable people in this business.
No, its not that the big companies are better or the small companies suck. Its just knowing their work and the people there.


I do hail damage claims in my sleep, I walk on most roofs in my flip flops, and I can do xactimate faster than most all state people can. I know my shit here haha.




Anyone with questions about this, or looking for a good company or even patchwork stuff, PM me or email me TravisBenson121(at)gmail(dot)com


No this is not my advertising my business, this is offering my knowledge so more people don't get screwed.

Even its a "which company is better, company a or company b," I don't care, I'll answer to the best of my knowledge, again I know EVERYONE in the business on a face to face level.

[Lankhoss]

I'm dealing with the same thing now.

Had a company come out and look at my roof. My neighbor had a buddy that worked for a company that does it, so when they were looking at his house they came over and checked mine. They gave me the whole "you've got nothing to lose, this won't cost you anything" speech. The guy even admitted to me that usually all they do is sweet talk the adjuster when he comes out, and they try to talk him into doing the claim....even if it isn't legit.

So I had an adjuster come out the 1st time (with someone from the roofing company) and he denied it. About a month or two later, we had another small hail storm so I called the roofers again and they came out and gave me the same story. The 2nd insurance adjuster approved the work (he did it without the roofing company there). So I talked over which "upgrades" I wanted and such, and signed a piece of paper with all of the options I'd chosen on it.

So after signing this, I discovered 2 things. 1) The guy is trying to do a "roofover" where he lays the shingles on my existing shingles. This is actually against GA building code (the sheet I signed actually has "roofover" checked) 2) My neighbor for the last 5 years does roofing, and he said he could do it for me as well as doing it for much cheaper.

So I decided to go with my neighbor, and now the 1st company is saying I had a contract with them and broke it, but if I pay them $432, they won't take me to court.