Paving Scam In Prince George ?

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C. - Four Prince George home owners have paid out $18,000 dollars to a paving company and they are still waiting for the job to be done. The four were all asked to pay up front for a special deal on re- cycled paving. In two of the cases the residents paid $6,000 cash in advance only to find that only a portion of the work was done.

Another resident in Western Acres paid a deposit of $1500 on a job that was to cost $3,000 dollars. Yet another resident of the Haldi Rd area paid out $4500 dollars in advance of the work.

Darlene Green said she was approached by a man driving by, who said that they were paving in the neighbourhood and asked if she would  like a very good deal to get some paving work done?  It would cost $7500 dollars to do the job he said but if she paid up front and right now it would be $6,000 dollars. She did the deal.

Two men, who identified themselves as being from Western Recycle, presented a business card to Andy Fraser saying they were in the neighbourhood and Fraser's paving would cost $11,600 dollars but they would do it for $6,000 cash up front. They began some preliminary work says Fraser, "All they did  was spray oil on a small portion of the driveway and it is very substandard."

Lynda Pasacreta, the President and CEO of the, Better Business Bureau, warns people about a company calling itself "CityLink Paving". A male with a British accent representing the company shows up at your home and offers to repave your driveway at a reduced cost. He says he has extra material and his staff is available. It turns out she says that the work is substandard and the work falls apart within days.

She says the office listed on the CityLink Paving invoice was a fake.

In the Prince George case a man with a British accent showed up giving out a similar story . He identified himself as Dean, his partner as James.

The rest of the story is strikingly similar only that the name on the business card is  "James", with a Robson St address and a lower mainland phone number.  Opinion 250 checked out the address and it is a 42 suite apartment building on Robson Street, while the phone number is listed to a man named "Ron" in Chilliwack.

Pasacreta says they have been trying to catch up to this group but they have been moving around BC and Alberta too quickly to catch them.

She says if you do sign and would like to change your mind you have 10 days to do so. Problem is trying to catch up with these two men has been difficult for the four home owners.

The RCMP have looked at the matter and point out that while the homeowners can sue the company and people involved, because some work was done on the drive way there is no fraud involved. They say buyer beware.

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