ASPHALT WORKS

Let me start by saying Paul Serrette stole $2,300 from me. Took a 50% down payment check, cashed it and then didn't perform the work. I took him to small claims court and won, and he now legally owes me the $2,300. It all started in early September 2010 when Paul gave me a reasonable quote to rip up and replace my asphalt driveway. I signed a contract and gave him 50% down on the spot, since were were acquaintances due to our kids going to school together. The next day he was supposed to rip up the driveway. A worker showed up at 7:00 p.m. and tore up approximately 3 feet of driveway and left when it got dark. Fine, I thought, they'll be back tomorrow. Nope, nope, and nope. For more than a week it sat like that until it was finally torn up. Mind you, he told me he'd have the entire job done in 2 days. Over the course of the next month, while the driveway sat torn up and unusable, he fed me the following excuses why he wasn't there. His workers didn't show up His mom was sick and he had to travel to Florida His bobcat was in the shop It was raining too much (this was the same day a neighbor across the street had his driveway paved) His truck broke down and dumped the asphalt that he was bringing to my house all over the road Again, his truck broke down The asphalt plant was unexpectedly closed You see where this is going, right? It eventually came to a head, and resulted in a shouting phone call on which he promised it would be done by 5:00 p.m. the following day or he would refund me the $2,300. I made him e-mail that promise to me. He never showed, and when I called him at 4:00 p.m. to ask where he was, he said, "You know what, I quit this job. I'll have the $2,300 for you on Monday when my accountant gets back in town." Ha! At that point I never heard from him again. I took him to court, figuratively, because he was a no show there too. The judge ruled in my favor and he by law owes me the $2,300. He has not paid it, so I will now deliver the judgement to the sheriff who can physically haul him to court to answer for this theft. I ended up having to pay another asphalt company more than $4,000 to complete the job. So what was orginally a $4,600 quote ended up costing me $6,300+.