A number of Ottawa homeowners want to act quickly after they say a man they hired to do major heating and cooling work took their money months ago without completing or — in some cases — even starting the work.
"He did half the job, left it in the middle, installed a hot water heater that wasn't up to code, and after a few days it stopped working," Dan Cockerham said.
Cockerham hired Mahmoud El Sharafah and his company Comfort Level One Heating and Cooling earlier this year. After months of excuses, he says he's going through small claims court to try to get the money back.
This week, Cockerham met with strangers he met online who had similar experiences at an Ottawa police station. They filed a report but wanted to go in person to try to speed up the response.
"It's extremely frustrating. I'm angry, I'm angry, I feel hurt," said Rawa Maadarani, who hired El Sharafah in June for a new furnace, air conditioner, water heater and plumbing.
"I lost $9,800 to this man. He never came back, he never brought any equipment, he kept putting me off for tests and I basically lost it. He gave me a check on Monday but said, 'No cash because I don't have any funds there.' '"
El Sharafah was not charged. CTV News made several attempts to contact him — at the 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 his aliases came up, all these different company names came back to Toronto over the last 10 years, and people started contacting me from the review I was posting 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 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's taking a lot longer than we'd like and it's taking a lot longer than people would like 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 total project amount as a down payment.
Cockerham and Maadarani say they want answers and their money.
"Usually you know I'm pretty diligent, I do my research, but I guess I wasn't paying attention this time," Maadarani said.
