Coast to Coast

Description of Work: We recently had an unfortunate and unprofessional experience with Coast to Coast General Contracting Co. owned by Kevin Vinicombe. The letterhead indicates that the address is 232 Boylston Street Shrewsbury, MA 01545 However, when I went to that address, I found no business by that name. Kevin Vinicombe operates as a General Contractor. We trusted him to do the work as outlined in his work/payment sheets. After taking several payments, some for work completed and others because he “needed” the payment in advance, he walked away from the job, leaving us in upheaval. He was paid for work that had yet to be completed. He did not return after saying that he would. We had to hire a plumber and another contractor to complete the work. Our plumber (Henry Pacific Plumbing, Marlboro, MA) noted that the work that Kevin Vinicombe had done did not meet code and had to be replaced. I've kept the plumbing (not meeting code) that he installed. It was also brought to our attention by another contractor, that Kevin had not acquired a permit. Our kitchen had to be replaced due to major water damage, and my husband and I did not realize that a permit was necessary, but another contractor told us that Kevin, a contractor, would/should have been aware of this. In retrospect, we fear that he was not forthright with us. He also requested several times that we pay him in cash. However, we did not. The friends of ours who recommended him during his work with them, began to experience the same treatment, i.e., not showing up when expected, taking payments to cover expenses that he said he had, and not being truthful about work completed, yet always asking for updated payments for work just begun and asking to be paid in cash. We fear that he is not licensed, and that he has a modus operandi that takes advantage of his customers’ good will. I fear that he will continue treating unsuspecting customers in this way. He has a way of engaging you and making you feel that he's discovered problems that he will of course address, and he makes you feel as though you are in good hands. However, as soon as we began to question him, or say that we could not give him any more money until he completes more of the work, he stoppped coming, and made all sorts of excuses. I have over 50 emails asking him to return and address unfinished work for which he was paid. He doesn't answer the phone or return emails for weeks. The other party (who has given me permission to reference) is Aram and Linda Arvanigian of North, Worcester, MA. He replaced their roof and did some other work for them. Linda confronted him and told him that he was unscrupulous, and that they wanted nothing further to do with him. I just can't let him get away with this, knowing that he will continue to do the same with others. He manages to get work, and overall, his "visible” workmanship is good. However, he does cut important corners and does not work according to code or take permits. I now wonder if he is licensed I learned this the hard way from my plumber and a licensed contractor! I'm afraid that he is a very good con artist. My husband and I do not want Kevin Vinicombe to be able to put other customers through the nightmare that we experienced with him. We paid Kevin Vinicombe over $15,000 thousand dollars for removing our old cabinets, and installing 4 cabinets, a temporary sink and a kitchen floor! He is unscrupulous and disregards the law and guidelines for contractors. Prior to our contacting him to work on our kitchen, we had replaced our roof. $18,900. In preparation for the coming winter and hoping to avoid ice dams, we had a local roofer come and examine our roof for heating strips. This is when we further learned that “whoever” installed our roof did a number of “visible” things rather “shoddily.” How would any customer know without actually going onto the roof and examining it (assuming that a homeowner would know how to evaluate a new roof. In any case, this is when we further learned that he cut corners there too. This is very disconcerting because we now do not know how much Grace ice and water protection there is under our shingles! We paid for him to take it up 6 feet from the edge, but now we just don’t know! We do have a written warranty from Coast to Coast, Kevin Vinnicombe that he would guarantee his work and check our roof annually. He has not met the agreement of his contract.