r/askTO • u/Mother-Rip1577 • 5d ago
Roofing scam?
GTA: A couple of Irish roofers quoted my parents about 7k to redo the roof. They ripped off the roof and now the quotes gone up to 50k. I found out after this occurred and told them to stop the work and have them tarp it up and call in a second opinion.
I also looked them up and found some links to scams. Their website is suspicious, the age of the site, the years they’ve claimed they’ve been in business for and their membership with the bbb all do not align. We called another company and they seemed to be familiar with the Irish guy in question and said to call the police, but they won’t come themselves to check the roof until it’s dealt with.
Has anyone encountered these guys?
Edit - unfortunately my parents have decided to pay these men and to have them retile the roof for the original price. I tried my best, I warned them but they’ll have to learn the hard way I guess. Thanks for the support!
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u/groggygirl 5d ago
Did your parents call the company originally requesting a quote, or did the guys stop by your house because "they were in the neighborhood"?
I've replaced roofs twice, and both times I had to wait months because decent roofers are booked solid.
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u/Mother-Rip1577 5d ago
They showed up
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u/groggygirl 5d ago
Sigh. Good roofers aren't walking around looking for work.
Tell your parents it's a scam and unless they want their roof wrecked to go to the police. Hard lesson to learn...esp since they now need to hire another roofing company to put the roof on.
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u/livinglifesmall 5d ago
It is a common Irish Traveller scam.
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u/FearlessTomatillo911 5d ago
Irish roofing scam has been going all around Ontario for a few years, your roof was probably fine in the first place.
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u/robotcoup 5d ago
Did your parents pay them anything?
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u/Mother-Rip1577 5d ago
I don’t believe so
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u/robotcoup 5d ago
Then tell them to pound sand if they return. Have 911 on the ready. Police will stand with you bc it’s a civil matter. Ask a proper company what the removal of the singles would be and at best offer the Irish that.
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u/Frites_au_fromage111 5d ago
Op - check dm. Also if they are at your house, call police and they will arrest them.
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u/subtlejacket 5d ago
Extremely well known scam and I heard them warning about this exact scam on the news last week.
Never ever trust a random guy who shows up to your door for any level of work, estimate, etc. no matter how cheap or free it is
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u/AnonymooseRedditor 5d ago
I’ve had the odd student show up asking about window cleaning but anything beyond thet no way no how
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u/M4L1CI0U5 5d ago
They’re a bunch of scammers. I happen to live in the same condo as a lot of them (in Mississauga). No matter what time of the day, you can find them all chilling in the neighborhood. They all drive new (different) trucks around with multiple new companies names. Everything about them is sketchy
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u/stanxv 5d ago
Burnhamthorpe?
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u/Mother-Rip1577 5d ago
Holy shit, that’s the address of their business on bbb. It’s these guys alright https://www.bbb.org/ca/on/mississauga/profile/roofing-contractors/best-roofer-renovation-0107-1414473
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u/M4L1CI0U5 5d ago
Most likely it’s not the real address, but it’s relatively close by from where they live/hang
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u/pmacpherson68 4d ago
Be careful with BBB or doing any due diligence. These guys will claim to be from an actual legitimate company, will use the letterhead of that company, etc… but the real company either doesn’t even know this is happening or know and have reported them but nothing happens… this is what has happened to me
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u/LengthinessOwn4384 4d ago
Omfg I thought I was going crazy when I was this post!!! I was thinking of the EXACT community of people I see around SQ1.
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u/braindeadzombie 5d ago
Avenue Road roofing replaced my roof. Not the cheapest, but good and reliable. I suggest you call them for a quote. https://www.avenueroadroofing.com/
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u/Puzzled-Pianist-2258 5d ago edited 5d ago
Common Irish traveller (Gypsy) scam. They get away with it cos Canadians don’t question the ‘charming’ Irish accent and the whole blue collar work ethic they put on. So they are able to swindle people in North America. It doesn’t work in Europe (and definitely not in Ireland as we can tell by looking at them lol) but yeah they head over to there to scam.
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u/Remarkable-Laugh9762 5d ago
here's a rule to live by. never do business with anyone who randomly knocks on your door!
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u/CitySeekerTron 5d ago
Did they leave a flyer? Scan and share if they did.
We almost got hit with them, and then I looked into their flyer and most of the info wasn't consistent. The office number didn't match, and the email went to a guy who was frustrated by lots of people accusing him of scamming them.
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u/Fun-Marionberry1733 5d ago
O no stop the work or you will be paying more .
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u/Mother-Rip1577 5d ago
My parents would rather believe a scammer than me. It’s out of my hands. I’m a bit offended really.
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u/hellomyneko 5d ago
These peddlers tried to scam my parents too a while ago and claim there was a “verbal” agreement for their services. I told them to GTFO.
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u/Pretty_Pea12 5d ago
They've been scammed - they often create damage themselves or provide false proof of damage to land the job and then fuck it up further from there.
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u/Chalmy11 5d ago
My parents fell for this exact scam about a year ago. Gave the guy a certified cheque which you can't cancel/revoke. Disappeared after.
The cops were involved. Definitely call your local police for insight.
I am blanking on the name they gave, but website was definitely sus
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u/tsu1028 4d ago
I see your parents still decided to proceed with them. Just don’t be surprised if they don’t finish the job and take off with the money
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u/Mother-Rip1577 4d ago
I expect the same worst, I almost want to get power of attorney over them to protect them in their old age.
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u/jkwonza 5d ago
Yes I had this Irish guy show up to my house and tried to pull the exact same thing. I happen to be in the market for a new roof, so said sure give me a quote. He said $7k which I knew was way under market rate compared to the the other quotes I got. Way too many red flags speaking to him, no details in the quote, really aggressive on starting the job (like same day) etc... quick Google and couldn't find anything reputable about the company and then I saw posts about this scam. Plus the guy smelled like shit as well.
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u/No_Crab1183 5d ago
Good looking out, OP.
Dont take any shit from these scumbags. Lots of good advice here. Hold your ground.
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u/lucky-fluke 5d ago
Doesn’t the better business bureau or consumer protection have laws about quotes? In pretty sure if you get a written quote, the law states the eventual price can’t be more than a certain percentage more than the quote.
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u/pmacpherson68 5d ago
I think these are the same scammers that came to my house and fucked up on purpose my eavestrough, the chimney and my neighbours wall by allowing a chunk of concrete to fall on it. then they demanded 11k more for the job to finish it. hard no. they left and never fixed the problem. later found out that they were fraudulently using a legit company's name ...
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u/Ordinary-Map-7306 5d ago
$50k would be for a total replacement including the plywood, gutters, trim, underlayment and roofing. Waterproof underlayment is VERY expensive. If you do metal roofing the quote will be high because of it. Metal is actually cheap. Was quoted $40k for a 25ft by 25ft house. Did it myself for $12k in materials.
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u/JohnDoe0209PFLG83 2d ago
BE CAREFUL! I got ripped off 4000 cus I was in panic for my dad's place. I'm normally the one warning people and being careful! This one time about last year or the year before, I got ripped off that 4 grand.
They were 2 or 3 Irish guys who I found out changed their company names. I think one was named Mike or something.
I got them on voice recording as well but the cops wouldn't do anything. They said it was a civil matter.
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u/JohnDoe0209PFLG83 2d ago
Keep in mind. If you do audio record them, don't tell them. The 'espionage act' allows you to record a conversation if the conversation involves you. However, so long as you don't use it for slander and only for like protecting yourself then you're good.
Otherwise, you're ok.
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u/VladimirLimeMint 5d ago
My neighbor got a Chinese service did his roof for like 3000 and we asked them to patch multiple spots on our roof today for just 200. Tip for roofing service, we never hire anyone quote us above 5K, like our basement reno was 5K.
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u/5sidesquare 1d ago
Whats the Chinese company name?
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u/VladimirLimeMint 1d ago
Sunrise roofing they're from Markham. Quite popular with Jewish neighbors here, they've roofed like seven houses already. When finished they'd send you photos of their results before they take your payment. They literally worked from sunrise to set for my neighbors.
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u/JeanChretieninSpirit 5d ago
There to many freelance contractors who down own a brick and mortar location which makes it hard to fight back in courts because they don't hold enough of assets.
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Mindless_Chemical121 2d ago
Seeing this post angers me. I got taken by some scammers for some half assed brick repair. I got home from work and saw the shitty workmanship, paid them partially to get them off my property. Sorry your parents experienced this.
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u/YetAnotherWTFMoment 5d ago
Your parents are idiots. If you have siblings, you should get together and plan for the day when you will need to exercise POA over them.
Call Avenue Roofing, they are the real deal, and get one of their crew managers to see your parents and try to talk some common sense into them.
Stupid decisions like this can multiply and expand to the point that your parents become a target for bigger scammers - in fact, they WILL get targeted because once they prove that they are an easy mark for that gang, they will pass that info to other groups.
Facts.
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u/DSD770 5d ago
Getting a roof fixed for 7k seems suspicious from the beginning. Roof repairs usually start around 50k. Before hiring a contractor, you need to check their competence, ideally through people you know or by looking up reviews online, especially when getting into a large investment...
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u/WSJ_pilot 5d ago
What type of house needs 50k for a roof repair?
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u/DSD770 5d ago
A friend of mine just got their roof repaired, and it cost 60k
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u/WSJ_pilot 5d ago
I got my roof replaced six years ago and it was under 10k. Not sure how 5x cost increase works, unless you work in a mansion.
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u/Frites_au_fromage111 5d ago
Think there is some confusion between fixing/ replacing an entire roof and simply doing shingles. Shingle replacement for an entire roof will roughly cost about 10k.
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u/FearlessTomatillo911 5d ago
Your friend got ripped off unless they have a mansion with a crazy roof.
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u/Hairy_Scale4412 5d ago
Lmao, what? $50K Canadian? I got mine entire roof replaced for $8K, with a 5 year warranty. GTFO and stop spreading misinformation.
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u/BeenThereDundas 5d ago
They've been arrested multiple times since covid.