I want to make sure no one else gets screwed by this contractor. His name is Tommy Coddington. Although he says he is a division of Coddington Contractors this too seems to be a sham please read on.
Normally we are very educated consumers but this guy was slick. He said all the right things, produced all the right paperwork and started out the job well enough to earn our trust and our cash. Shame on us for not being more careful, but he is a master at his trade. Please note his talents are NOT in contracting, they are lying, manipulating and cheating. Lucky for him he caught us when we had no power or internet and were a bit traumatized by Sandy. We have since found other very similar accounts of his behavior.
Tommy talks a great game and managed to earn our trust right out of the gate. He showed up for the first two days of work and did get some accomplished. Of course in the process he caused additional damage which he also promised to fix. For weeks on end he made repeated promises of dates to come finish his work. Needless to say, he never showed. Now he has stopped answering messages altogether whether it be text, email or phone.
The tale however, has taken even more twists. Aside from taking the money and running there are several things that are even more bothersome:
1. Tommy used subcontractors to do what work was done here. It seems as though he has shorted them and told them its because we shorted him. We have (unfortunately) paid him every cent we contracted for. This is simple enough to prove, we have the contracts and the bank statements. He also told them to stay away from us that we were suing him. This was weeks ago when we were actually impressed enough to give him referrals!
2. It appears that unbeknownst to his brother Michael, Tommy is using Michaels company name and license number. This has to be illegal. From what we can tell he does not appear to be licensed himself.
3. Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that Tommy sat here, in my home, at my dining room table, not once but several times telling us what an honest guy he was, trying to build long term work relationships (which we were on board with) all for the sake of his diabetic son. Despicable. What an example he is setting.
We have since had to hire multiple people, people we trust, to finish the work. Oh how we wish we hadnt been snowed by Tommys promise to do the work right away. To me this is more about morals and ethics than money however. Now with time to research, we found a Bamboozled article in the Star Ledger with a nearly identical story about Tommy and a painting contract, negative comments on usacomplaints.com, 5 complaints to the BBB and an article in the Courier News.
I implore you all to help me stop this man from taking advantage of others!
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