After researching wind generators and solar panels, we elected to go with the wind generator for alternative power. Hank Zevallos of Home Wind Power talked a good talk. He was fighting city hall every day for the rights of homeowners to use alternative energy. He was working diligently to get Federal and State energy credits for homeowners. He would take care of everything. He loved putting up generators. He was full of hot air.
We gave him $15,000. On Nov. 15 to start our generator build. It was one problem after another. First he complained he couldn't find the information he needed for property line clearance and permits. Then he complained he needed a Topo map and could we find one for him? (Hello, isn't that your job) His excuse was that he didn't need this for Kern county but since we were in LA county there was different criteria. Then he needed a GPS reading of our property, and could we do that for him too? Oh, and while we were at it could we take pictures of the site for him too? Then we would have to put together a list of all our neighbors for him to take to the permit office with him when he applied for the planning permit.
We thought he was going to do all of this. He said he would take care of everything. Well, so far all he has done is take the money and ask us to do his job.By now we are heading into Dec. And still nothing has been done. When we questioned Hank about the planning permit he always had an excuse as to why he couldn't make it to Los Angeles to file for it.
We started calling Bergey Wind Power Co. To see if they had even received the order yet for our generator. They said No Check, No Order. We called then every other day and got the same answer. We would call Hank and ask what was taking so long to place the order with Bergey and he said he was trying to find answers to his permit questions before he placed the order.
Getting smart we decided to look Hank up on the Contractors State license board web site. There was a contractors license number at the bottom of our contract. Surprise, Surprise... It isn't even his license. When we called him on this he said he uses his electrician's license number for his business. This license is insufficient to cover any liability, etc. For this size job. And there is no workmans comp insurance attached to this license. License #882257 belongs to Robert T. Jones of Tehachapi.
So basically Hank lied to us when we signed the contract. He said he was licensed, bonded and had workers comp insurance.
Finally it is Jan. And we are really starting to worry. Jan. 9th we cancelled the order and requested Hank to return our money within 10 days. We called Bergey to ask if they could refund our money asap so Hank could refund it to us. Another surprise, the check that Hank finally did send to them, Bergey says was insufficient funds so they never received the money. Yet, Bergey ordered the tower to be built and okayed the anchors to be shipped to us... All on an insufficient funds check? Somebody is lying.
It is Feb. 1. We still don't have our money back. Hank is refusing our calls. I guess our next step is to contact our District Attorney, the Calif. Energy Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, and the Contractors State Licensing Board. Maybe even a couple of news channels. The media needs to know and make the public aware of these scams. We will be contacting the local Tehachapi paper and maybe even put up flyers to warn future potential victims of Hank and Home Wind Power.
It has been almost 30 days since we cancelled this contract. We have made another payment on our Heloc for something we didn't get.
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