I am writing on behalf of my sister who is so sick over this she can't help herself. This is a copy of the letter she sent to the BBB and the Attorney general, so far she has gotten no help and this has been going on since Dec. 2007. I do have her permission to act on her behalf.
I called Hallmark of New Jersey because the roof on my garage was caving in on my classic car so I needed the garage fixed immediately. Upon entering the house, I was asked how much the house worth and then asked if we were going to do something about the porch. I was taken back by this question but said yes The porch does need work. Then we went out to look at the garage. I said I did not know why the roof was coming down or what needed to be done but I said I need it fixed. He told me what needed to be done to the garage and added cement work in front of the garage and steps (that really did not need to be replaced) as well. We went back inside and he started writing up a contract and had me play a DVD about his company at the same time. He said that they were having a big sale. He finished with the contract and told us the price and asked how we would pay and that his company will finance. He asked what we would be putting as a down payment and My dad said finance the whole thing. But he said we should give him a good faith deposit of $4500. My father is 81 and I am his caregiver and his daughter. I told this man I did not own this house and he said well you will. I said I will never own this house. He asked who owns the house I told him my dad and my mother (deceased) names are on the deed. He said he needed a death certificate. I went to find the certificate but could not. When I returned he already had my dad signing the contract. I wrote the check and he gave us two yellow pieces of paper that was the contract for the work on the garage, cement work, the porch, and new electrical panel with 150 amp. Service which amounted to $69,500. He NEVER gave us a notice of cancellation or informed us verbally that we had the right to cancel. While this was all going on I saw a bathroom on the DVD and we talked about getting a bathroom (because My dad was having trouble with the steps) and a kitchen. But we did not contract for them, we said we would think about it. The next day I called to cancel because I thought the price was to high and he said his men would be there tomorrow and he already had the financing for everything including the kitchen and bathroom. I asked him if his prices were competitive and he said yes. Because of the DVD and the fact that he told me he's been in business for 40 years, I thought I would get quality work at a fair price. I thought the work was going to be expedited. I agreed to allow him to do the work since my father and I had discussed the kitchen and bathroom. I thought I would get choices on everything that went into the jobs as well as a breakdown of costs per job and a work schedule. I did not. We signed the contract for everything on 12/16 but he had me date it 12/09. He said the money man would be here the next day. When the money man showed up, he had mortgage settlement papers (although it makes sense to me now) we had no idea that "FINANCING" would be a mortgage. The word "mortgage" was never mentioned. I didn't even think it was possible for me to take a mortgage on this house because I do not own this house and I have 5 living siblings. I felt pressured to sign the papers because they already started the work and I thought I would be sued for breach of contract. I was overwhelmed by all of this. I could have gotten other financing on my own at a lower percentage rate.
This man intimidated me with his bullying personality. I thought my father and I were going to have a meeting with a man from Hallmark who called me and said he was the project manager to discuss the breakdown of costs and scheduling for each job. This meeting never happened. When I called the project manager, he said that the owner had taken personal charge of the project. When I asked the owner to itemize the work, he said he would, but to date has not. He just told me I got a package deal for 130,000 even though most of the cement work was taken out and other much less expensive work was added. I asked him what the value of the work taken out was and he said he would crunch some numbers and never told me. He will not tell me how much anything costs. I do know what the appliances were because I was able, after I had the cheapest appliances canceled & after an argument & to pick my own appliances that I AM PAYING FOR! The price of the kitchen and bath was $60,500 and I have FLAKE BOARD counters&the cheapest possible maybe $300 total that they cut into the brand new sheet rock to install (I probably could have done a better job), a kitchen sink that cost about $100 and cheap vinyl flooring. He will not tell me how much anything costs. And I do not know the value of any of the work and he will not tell me. He said he did not have to tell me how much every screw costs &I did not ask him for that detailed an itemization but I think even if I did, he should be able to tell me.
Most of the work requires permits. He got one for the electrical work but no others. The township came in and shut the job down. The building inspectors were flabbergasted that NO OTHER PERMITS WERE PULLED! Before the job was shut down, the owner had told me that the township was holding up the cement work (that remained in the contract) because they did not issue the permits. When the cement was scheduled to be poured, I figured the permits had come through. Before the job was shut down, I received a certified letter about not having permits. I told the owner about this and he told me he handled it. I checked with the township and was told it was not really taken care of! I called the owner about this and he reprimanded me for daring to get involved. He said that HE WOULD "HANDLE" THE BUILDING INSPECTOR!
A part of the work was a new basement door.instead of getting a custom fit door, they cut the beams in the basement. They brought a damaged door for the opening but installed it anyway. The building inspectors were absolutely shocked when they saw that the "HOUSE WAS FIT TO THE DOOR INSTEAD OF THE DOOR BEING FIT TO THE HOUSE."
There are a great many more things that I should report but this is very hard. The job that he was called to the house to do was completed but not fixed. The garage is still leaking in the exact place where it was before. The cause of the problem was not addressed and this roof will come down the same as the other one did if not repaired again.
I also called the mortgage lender GE Money Bank and requested a copy of the loan application. The whole process (of which I have never had a mortgage}seemed to be handled illegally. I did not know this was a mortgage because we never filled out any application for a mortgage or signed an application. I was sent a copy of the application from GE Money Bank, Kettering, Ohio (866-376-0276}. It was marked in the corner received 12/10/07 by mail but was signed on 12/17/07 at the settlement which took place at my residence. This mortgage was not applied for by me. Al applied for the mortgage with an application that was not signed and it was approved with no signature. He also applied for work that we had not yet contracted to in this application {kitchen and Bathroom}.
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