BURNEY & SONS

THIS IS THE LETTER I SENT TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, INC. I typed it for my Aunt Mae whom is a 77 year old widow.(I had to leave out a few detail because of the space BBB would not allow all I wanted to say) I hired Burney to do work on my house. He was supposed to remove the carpet and prepare the floors for the tile installation. The ceramic tile was to go in two small rooms and a hallway. May 3, 2011 Mr. Burney and me went to Lowes and found the tile I wanted. Lowes did not have enough for the full job. We went next to Home Depot to look for tile. I did not like any of the tile I had so I just picked a tile. (Because I could tell Mr. Burney was getting restless) I thought a lot about that tile choice the rest of that day. The next morning around 9:30pm I call Mr. Burney and canceled the order which was $6,700.00. He came by my house and said the contract was no good and he would have to write another. As of June 6, 2011, 12:25am I have not seen a contract nor have I heard from Mr. Ted Burney. It has been 21 days. He did a lot of talking and bragging on his self to get the job, now I get his answering machine. When I do get him on the phone, all I get is promises. As I was talking, he said "Oh, your rasing your voice at me", and he slam the phone down. I deserved some answers. He is very disrespectful. He claims he sent an electrician by my house, but I have not seen him. He knew I didn't want anyone doing work without a contract. My other problem is the charge of around $2,000.00 to price and paint the three small rooms and a hallway. (actually it was $2,435.00) I was so sure that Mr. Burney had written the things I wanted that I didn't read the contract. (He took my attention off the actually contract by telling me how beautiful my home was going to be. He said he was going to make me his advertising, my house was going to be his show place) About 2 or 3 day later he came to my house with a guy, he told him to start priming and paint the living room. I said NO! That is when I discovered that painting was added to my job with the extra money. Mr. Ted Burney told me that he was having my signature checked by his attorney Mike Connelly to see if I was some lady who lived on Cypress St. He has my $8,000!!! I need to be investigating him. I have never lived on Cypress and now I'm wondering how sound Mr. Burney mind is. He know that I once lived at 42nd in Broadway just around the corner from where he once lived. I want to know why he is checking my signature. I don't want him in my house. He has not done a single thing for my $8,000.00 and I want 100% of my money back and him to go away. I want to also say that since I have been trying to help my aunt get her money back, I've found other people whom has lost money behind hiring him. Losing money is and embarrassment. People would rather quietly take there loses and try and forget it. Mr. Burney had a A+ rating with the BBB because no one want to expose themselves. My aunt had become afraid of him and the other lady I found said her mom was afraid of him because she felt he was mean. The contractor I spoked to whom did work for him and never got paid I believe was just ashame and angry. All the joy drained from his face when call Ted Burney name. He didn't tell me how much he lost or what he had done for Mr. Burney but, since he didn't want to talk about it I left him alone. *****UPDATE***** Thanks to WHAS11 and The Better Business Bureau, Inc. my aunt got all of her money back. He held it for 3 months and we felt very blessed when the BBB called and told my aunt that they had a check for the full amount of $8,000.00 waiting for her. I had gave up hope. It was late in the day and that attorney he kept talking about didn't seem to know what was going on. Well, Mr. Burney came through on refunding her money; We have a happy end to this drama.