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Petrolia man warns of paving scam

March 2, 2023

A Petrolia man wants to warn his neighbours about a scam making the rounds in the region.

Wednesday night, a door-to-door salesman from a company based out of Etobicoke tried to convince Wade Metcalfe to take a special deal on paving.

“His claim was that he was working in the neighbourhood and had offered a discounted asphalting service as long as it was completed the following day. He offered at “discounted rates only for today” as long as a contract was signed right away.

“I googled this company and found that CTV had reported on a similar scam (as well as several other media outlets). The company would come in and not prep properly, leave a big mess, and do a terrible job demanding payment at the end of the day or up front based on contract terms.”

Metcalfe says some of the news reports talked about a man with an Irish accent, which the paver who approached him had.

“I’m not sure if anything illegal is being done here, but it’s certainly unethical and the community should be warned.

It does seem like false advertising because he said he was doing a bigger job in the area and that’s why he could offer at a discounted rate tomorrow, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all.”

The Better Business Bureau has dealt these types of home improvement issues for years with complaints of everything from shoddy workmanship to pre-paid jobs never being completed.

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