Police: Beware of Home Improvement Scams

Times are tough and for many people, that means looking for ways to save money and cut costs in every area including home repairs. Local police and the state Department of Consumer Protection are asking local residents to protect themselves by doing their homework.

Two Southington residents received that message loud and clear this summer after police said a local man acting as a home improvement contractor came to agreements to conduct work and received payments, then cut off contact with his customers and never did the construction work he had been hired for.

Officers arrested Bernard Wagner, of 413 W. Center St. in Southington, last week on charges including six counts of false representation of a home improvement contractor and two counts of second-degree larceny. He has been arraigned on the charges and remains in custody in lieu of two $5,000 bonds, according to court records.

“Wagner took three payments each from two separate victims,” said Sgt. Lowell DePalma.

Wagner, 35, had met with women homeowners in June and presented himself as a licensed contractor willing to do work. In one case, DePalma said he was offering to install pillars in the front of a home along Ridgewood Road and in the second, he agreed to conduct sink and driveway repair.

In both cases, police said he took money from the victims in three separate payments then cut off conduct without ever completing the work. He never produced papers to prove he was a licensed or insured contractor and was not registered with the state, DePalma said.

Details on how the women had met Wagner were not immediately available.

With tighter budgets and working in a tough economy, it can seem like a good idea to shop around and take the lowest price on home repairs, according to a press release from the state Department of Consumer Protection, but suggest that residents do so only after “doing their homework.”

“Unsuspecting consumers get taken for several hundred dollars or more,” former state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell said in the release. “These scammers are notorious for striking quickly and then disappearing, only to surface days later somewhere else.”

The department said the best way people can protect themselves is to ask for licensing information and references from each contractor offering to do the work.

Such references are also available online through the state Department of Consumer Protection and can be accessed by clicking on the link provided.

DePalma said although Southington has been fortunate not to see any noticeable spikes in the number of home improvement scam cases in recent years, there is always a concern that perpetrators will prey on unsuspecting homeowners.

If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is, DePalma said.

“The best way to start shopping for a contractor is to ask for references. It will go a long way,” DePalma said. “As what work they’ve done here in town. Almost all contractors who are licensed and insured have laundry list and many places will have books to show you what they did or references of people who had work done.”