State Arrested Unregistered Contractors

[BillyRgn]

Anyone from Connecticut see the New Haven register Tuesday June 24 th in the business section ??? the state just finished there sting to catch contractors without a Home Improvement Contractor License (HIC). they got a unoccupied house in Plainville, posed as homeowners, called a ton of contractors for estimates on different things, and checked if they were licensed and insured, if they were, they checked to see if they were listing there HIC number like they are supposed to, and to make sure they were providing a written contract with the proper amount of time for cancellation, along with everything else you are supposed to be doing to be legitimate. They got 90 unregistered contractors and sales people and they are facing criminal charges, that carry penalties of up to one year in prison, and a fine up to $2,000.00. Another 44 home improvement professionals were found to be non compliant with other aspects of the states home improvement law and face administration review and possible sanctions from the Department of Consumer Protection. the state did not name the contractors arrested, but said they were from the towns of, Branford, Cheshire, East Haven, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, Shelton and Wallingford. the paper also says that the law requires that Home Improvement Contractors provide consumers with a clearly-worded written contract that includes a three day notice of cancellation, and that they include there Home Improvement Registration Numbers in there contracts, and in all there advertising. it also says that they did one last year in Ridgefield and arrested 150 contractors. now how bout that guys ?? imagine getting called to an estimate, and leaving in hand cuffs, because you will not pay the state $160 a year for your license, this does include landscapers !!. thank god i am fully legitimate. these guys, did not get tickets, the got arrested and taken down town. for those of you that are not legitimate, i would hope that this is enough of a wake up call to start doing things the right way. So lets here your thoughts on it guys, just imagine having to go to jail for a year and pay a fine of $2000.00 because you were to cheap to give a little back to uncle sam or pay for insurance. this is not a joke. this is the real deal, i'm sure other states do this to, and even the guys that are doing it legitimate, better make sure they have there paper work in order, so you don't lose your license, and the ability to operate a business, i'm sure you guys have some input to throw out there so lets here it. THIS IS THE REAL DEAL - YOU GET ARRESTED FOR NOT BEING LEGITIMATE AND CAN GO TO JAIL FOR DOING IT

[punt66]

My Thoughts: :cool2: :clapping: :dancing:
I pay so should they. You know there not paying there share of taxes either!

[jkason]

Here's the story from the website:

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=12186120C9DF9E50&p_docnum=1

[BillyRgn]

My Thoughts: :cool2: :clapping: :dancing:
I pay so should they. You know there not paying there share of taxes either!

my exact thoughts.

[Itzkcatz]

Good! It will stop the lowballers around here

[topsites]

Yeah but I wonder too just how finicky and funny it gets, if anyone around here wanted to conduct a sting they could nail anyone from legit to totally not, too... Which, we just received our annual business compendium from the county, asking for the input of every business owner... But I'm afraid to say anything, more so because I never know what can of worms that might open up next.

Yeah too many illegal operations, granted.
But say anything about it, then what happens?
What all will they check, how, by whose standards, on whose terms?

It's one story if they send invitations to a bunch of fugitives to pick up some prize
they won at some lottery they never played, and the guys show up :p

But it's quite another if it gets downright stupid.
Like that one time I went to my long-ago insco's web site?
And it asked on that web site, "Would you like to inquire about commercial vehicle coverage?"
And I did want to inquire at that time, so I did.
And then they dropped me, for asking how much would it cost.
Like that?

Now I know the kind of people who I stay far, far away from.

[punt66]

They dropped you because you didnt have commercial vehicle insurance on your commercial vehicle. You had their personal insurance. If you run legit there are no worries. I would be happy to give an estimate at one of those stings as long as they pay my time and fuel they wasted when they were done. Yea right. Thats the only part that would piss me off.

[MarcSmith]

I would be happy to give an estimate at one of those stings as long as they pay my time and fuel they wasted when they were done. Yea right. Thats the only part that would piss me off.Thats kind of like the drug dealer asking to keep the money for the drugs he sold in a sting operation....:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:

[punt66]

Thats kind of like the drug dealer asking to keep the money for the drugs he sold in a sting operation....:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:


No! Drug dealers are illegal. I am not.

[MarcSmith]

so are you going to ask the DOT guy for an address to send a bill to when they stop you for a random safety check? Or the pesticide guywhen the come by to to their annual inspections? This is no different. Just part of doing business.

I would imagine, that the folks who ran the sting operation, already had an idea of who was/wasn't legit, and they sent the request for proposal to those who they were unsure of.

Those who are legit, are usually proud of the fact, and I had no problems when questioned on that fact.

[topsites]

They dropped you because you didnt have commercial vehicle insurance on your commercial vehicle.

Yet another wise guy, hasn't a clue either while judging books by their cover.
Neither you nor them have any idea as to what vehicle was doing what, when, where, or how.
I've got three automobiles on a policy...
I suppose the fact that I own Bmw's means that if I ever decided to inquire about racing one or the other that this means I am already doing it, best drop this reckless driver of a guy. Why especially if I were to ask at the very insurance company that covers me, even more so if it was them who sprung the question in the first place!
And what if, seeing how they asked maybe I thought they finally are going to provide it.

Still I might have been all right with it, not really, but I was willing to let it go.

Except after it was all said and done and I was cooling off, month after month and for years after they kept calling me on my cellular and sending me advertising literature asking me to come back, why did you leave us, and more crap like that!

Now I suppose you're just another one of them, wondering contemptuously what is wrong with that, why, perfectly normal behavior. Not an inkling of a clue as to what constitutes decency, courtesy and respect, because it's all right to first trap your victims, then after you 'do' them go on back and smile in their face, say Hi! and ask them to come on back.

Yeah, right.
What kind of a moron would trap someone and nail them with perverted glee...
Then later keep asking that same person to come on back!?
And you know I am sure there are some who actually would, go on back.
But where do the guys in charge here get THEIR leg to stand on, acting like this?

When the very institutions we trust go behind our backs to trip us up, watch out!
You never know, it could be you next.
Be afraid, be very afraid.

[k911lowe]

glad i don't work on the east coast.i remember CT when i passed thru it on the way to Newport.every town had a toll booth.i think its just the money.thats all the govt ever wants.they must have a lot of cops it they go after illegal contractors.i bet the crime rate is smokin.

[Guzman Properties]

I wish they do that in NJ, it would surley get alot of the illegals around here.

On another note, why doesn't the state offer a "class" on "hot to abide by the rules" for contractors. They make enough money on the license fee, why not? Why don't they offer a seminar for contractors at a county college or something?

[topsites]

I did want to add...

I'm not disagreeing, too many chiefs and not enough indians, to make matters worse they're out there just quoting whatever sky-high ridiculous prices then delivering sub-standard services and products that don't live up to the name. This kind of hack is in fact ripping the customer off, then to make matters worse they're not paying their taxes and probably just blowing the money at the bar and so on... It's not where they spend the money per se either, it's just they're doing it wrong from the git go and one thing leads to another and it never ends with these folks.
And, I have no inherent problem with the state or anyone else pursuing this kind.

What I don't like is the entrapment and goading aspect, the fact they are going out of their way to tempt these folks to do it wrong, then when someone falls for the temptation they nail them... Because that isn't right either, two wrongs don't make it right.

It's like, they want to set up a roadblock to catch unlicensed drivers and DUI suspects, fine.
But don't CALL folks who have previously been caught at their home asking them to 'come on by and pick up your reward..." Knowing full and darn well there's little else most folks would do when faced by a 10 mile drive and a possible way to earn some reward.
No, I am sorry, not even if they suspect certain ones.
To go out of one's way to try and trip someone up, heck if they already suspected certain ones why not catch up to them at a legitimate location where they got themselves into it without further help from the authorities or the folks in charge... Set up an overnight watch station and monitor them and follow them around if you have to, but catch them like that!

So even if they shouldn't be doing some thing, don't go out of your way to make it so, that's just more of this 'planting a $20 dollar bill in my yard to check and see if the lawn guy is honest' garbage...
Because go on and plant a $20 in one of my yards and see what happens LOL!
Come to think of it please plant a $50, better yet make it a $100!
Because that money is gone and I ain't giving it back.

It just ain't right, now catch them fair and square,
not in this backhanded slick little deal kind of way.

[MarcSmith]

Top, I'm just opposite. if the need to set up a bait car to catch people stealing cars,, or have the hot police officer trying to catch people wanting hookers, or set up sting where they buy illigal drugs, DUI check points, ect then do it, if they need to call contractors and have them bid a job to see if they are doing it properly, have at it. We all ***** an moan about the government not doing enough to keep the illegal business owners out of business, and when they do something, I'll admit, a sneaky way, we can't then ***** about how they go about catching the scoflaws. So long as everything they do follows the letter of the law, Have at it.

Chances are, if the contractor is not doing thing properly in one aspect of their business, they are most likely cutting corners in other aspect as well., IE not pulling permit, not doing stuff up to code, paying workers under the table, ect... Being an Unlicensed business is the proverbial "tip-o-the-iceberg". If the ocossional legit business get inconvenienced buy providing a bid to someone who has no intention of purchasing their service, so be it. Id venture to say that we provide bids to countless people who are just fishing for prices or ideas and no intention of purchasing services.

[punt66]

Top, I'm just opposite. if the need to set up a bait car to catch people stealing cars,, or have the hot police officer trying to catch people wanting hookers, or set up sting where they buy illigal drugs, DUI check points, ect then do it, if they need to call contractors and have them bid a job to see if they are doing it properly, have at it. We all ***** an moan about the government not doing enough to keep the illegal business owners out of business, and when they do something, I'll admit, a sneaky way, we can't then ***** about how they go about catching the scoflaws. So long as everything they do follows the letter of the law, Have at it.

Chances are, if the contractor is not doing thing properly in one aspect of their business, they are most likely cutting corners in other aspect as well., IE not pulling permit, not doing stuff up to code, paying workers under the table, ect... Being an Unlicensed business is the proverbial "tip-o-the-iceberg". If the ocossional legit business get inconvenienced buy providing a bid to someone who has no intention of purchasing their service, so be it. Id venture to say that we provide bids to countless people who are just fishing for prices or ideas and no intention of purchasing services.

Completely agree. A legit business doesnt worry about a sting and in my opinion shouldnt be against it unless they are illegal. I say get rid of them. The lowballers will be much less.

[BillyRgn]

glad i don't work on the east coast.i remember CT when i passed thru it on the way to Newport.every town had a toll booth.i think its just the money.thats all the govt ever wants.they must have a lot of cops it they go after illegal contractors.i bet the crime rate is smokin.

you must have not been to newport in a while, connecticut removed all toll booths in the early to mid 80's because of a tractor trailer driver that fell asleep and crashed into a bunch of people and they died, so they knocked them all down, they there is the talk of bringing them back because we are millions in the hole

[punt66]

Well i say dump welfare

[punt66]

Sorry i submitted before i was done. Tolls are dangerous. I say dump welfare, force people to work and pay taxes like everybody else and we will be millions in the green.

[dougmartin2003]

how can they arrest someone, for just giving a bid, i can understand if they was already doing the work and still most places will just make your stop working until you get the right permits or whatever.

[punt66]

how can they arrest someone, for just giving a bid, i can understand if they was already doing the work and still most places will just make your stop working until you get the right permits or whatever.


Because its illegal to give a bid or contract if your not licensed. Its illegal to give an estimate if your estimate does not have your Lic # on it.