A Toronto woman who hired a roofing company to inspect her gutters said she couldn’t believe her roof was in such bad shape that it required repairs costing more than $57,000.
“I was overwhelmed because it was a lot of money,” said Maria, who was identified only by her first name to CTV News Toronto.
Maria contacted CTV News while the roofers were still at her home because she was concerned she would be overpaid for the roofing work.
She was initially quoted $17,500, then asked to pay $28,000 up front, and finally told the total cost would be $57,500.
When CTV News showed up at her home, roofers were on the roof of her house, but they said they didn’t speak English.
The repairs only covered about half of the roof of Maria’s semi-detached house.
When Maria went to the bank to withdraw money, she said she was concerned about the large withdrawals she was making to pay for the repairs.
“The cashier even questioned the fact that the check was made out to a private individual and not to the company,” Maria said.
Maria signed the contract with Citywide Roofing and Chimneys, which, according to the contract, is located on the 11th floor at 20 Bay Street in downtown Toronto.
While CTV News was at Maria’s home, a man claiming to be John Crow from the roofing company called Maria and said the high estimate for the roofing work was a mistake and he had accidentally overcharged her by about $40,000.
“I explained to her that it was a misunderstanding. I will give her another contract and she will get her money back,” Crow told CTV News.
Crow said he would reduce the cost of the roofing work by nearly $38,000 and refund Maria $9,000 of the $28,000 she had already paid up front.
“I explained to her that it was a complete misunderstanding and that I was giving her $9,000 back before we were done,” Crow said. “I’m giving her $9,000 back because the mistake made it $19,000 (total for the roof).”
Maria is still worried about her roof, but is relieved that the price has been reduced.
Citywide Roofing and Chimneys said it would refund Maria the $9,000 on Monday, August 19, but did not do so. Then it said it would refund the money on Tuesday, but still did not.
Maria said the company now promises to refund the $9,000 by Friday.
Maria says she needs the money back and wants to be more careful when choosing contractors in the future.
