St. Thomas homeowners out thousands warn of driveway paving scam

A tall pile of asphalt concrete surrounded by pylons has been sitting in front of the torn up driveways of neighbours Pat Church and Barb Marriott outside their St. Thomas homes since last week.

The seniors say it's the doing of a group of men who claimed to work for a reputable paving company and offered to fix their driveways, giving them a deal they couldn't refuse.

"A person came and approached us, he said he'll have it all done in one day and it'll be $5,000 cash. He said we'll be very happy," Marriott recalled, saying she agreed to get the job started but refused to pay until it was completed.

Church's son however, paid them upfront. The workers were supposed to return the next day to put on finishing touches, but they never showed up and were nowhere to be found. The women asked others on their street if they had similar encounters and later realized they'd been scammed — and are now on the hook to fix the mess their driveways are in.

It's also the case for Melinda Tales. She lives a few blocks down and lost $6,000 to a group of men she believes is the same, who told her they'd do much-needed repairs for a limited time offer.

"At the time I said, 'No, I'm not interested.' However, my laneway was in bad shape and I thought maybe I'll just get it done for a good price. He did explain they were only in town for a brief time, and so they're doing deals for people now while they can," said Tales.

"They came, they didn't talk, they laid the asphalt and then they left. No receipt, no card," said Tales, whose driveway was also left unfinished. "There's supposed to be a five-year warranty and I don't know how that happens without a receipt."

Tales and other homeowners have since filed a police report. They're sharing their stories to warn others as they believe residents in other neighbourhoods may also fall victim to the alleged scam.

The ordeal has been challenging to cope with for Tales, who said she lost money she was saving up to buy a new vehicle she really needed.

"I honestly feel sick to my stomach; $6,000 isn't money that I can just pull out of a hat. I work part time myself so to save that money up for a vehicle was really hard for me to do," she said. "People are struggling out there so to take advantage of others is absolutely disgusting."

In both situations, homeowners said two men with thick Scottish accents went door-to-door in their neighbourhoods, claiming to work for a company called True North Seal and collected either full payments or deposits.

A series of complaints have prompted the paving company's real owner Macauley Goldsmith to inform the community that True North Seal is not involved in these incidents and someone is impersonating them.

"It's me and another guy that do this, and very rarely will we go door-to-door to actually get sales. We just have people call us," said Goldsmith, whose company has been around for five years and serves the St. Thomas, Port Stanley and London areas.

"It's frustrating because I do have a lot of good reviews on Google and obviously it could affect my business, especially in a small town when there's not too many people doing it."

He said door-to-door asphalt scams are becoming more common. His advice to homeowners is to ask for websites and business cards, take a look at their vehicles and setup to see if it's branded and photos of previous jobs they've completed. Potential scammers may not have immediate answers to those questions which can be a tell, he added.

Meanwhile Marriott and Church are waiting to learn how much more they have to pay to fix their driveways.

"I don't know what the bill is gonna be for this because we have to hire another [contractor], and now we have to pay for the whole driveway again," said Marriott.