Ottawa homeowners lose thousands to absent contractor
A number of Ottawa homeowners want swift action after they allege a man they hired to perform major heating and cooling work took their money months ago without completing or—in some cases—even starting the jobs.
"He did half the job, left in the middle of it, installed a hot water heater that was not to code and stopped working after a couple of days," Dan Cockerham said.
Cockerham hired Mahmoud El Sharafah and his company Comfort Level One Heating and Cooling earlier this year. He says after months of excuses, he's going through small claims court to try to get money back.
This week, Cockerham met up with strangers he met online who had similar experiences at the Ottawa police station. They had filed reports but wanted to go in person to try to speed up the response.
"It's extremely frustrating. I'm angry, I'm pissed, I feel violated," said Rawa Maadarani who hired El Sharafah in June for a new furnace, air conditioner, water heater and duct work.
"I lost $9,800 to this man. He never returned, he never brought any equipment, he kept putting me off for the assessments and, basically, I lost it. He gave me a cheque finally on Monday but he said, 'Don't cash it because I have no funds in there.'"
El Sharafah has not been charged. CTV News tried to get in touch with him several times—at a business address listed online and at home. He did not respond to phone calls or emails.
Websites like Homestars and the Better Business Bureau show several complaints from former customers across the province.
"All of his aliases came up, all of these different company names going back to Toronto in the last 10 years or so and I started getting contacted by people from the review that I posted almost every day," Cockerham said.
Ottawa police won't comment on this specific case, but say they investigate complaints as they come in.
"We get between 6,000 to 7,000 files a year and we only have so many people who can investigate those files," said Staff Sgt. Cameron Graham of the fraud unit. "It takes much longer than we would like and it takes much longer than people would like for us to get to those files but unfortunately we have to take them one at a time."
Some tips for consumers from the Better Business Bureau include getting multiple estimates, checking references, avoiding paying cash, and not paying more than a third of the project's total amount for a deposit.
Cockerham and Maadarani say they want answers and their money.
"Usually you know I'm pretty diligent, I do my research but this time I guess I wasn't paying attention," Maadarani said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.