Carole Simmons of Aurora said last month someone came to her door and said they were working in the area and wanted to know if she wanted her driveway paved. “Our road was in desperate need of completion, so we thought why not go with these people if they’re here in the area laying roads,” Simmons said. While the contractors were friendly at first, once the job was done, they demanded $5,000 in cash right away and said they would then come back to clean up a large pile of asphalt debris on their front lawn. “We asked them if they were going to come back and clean up the mess in our front yard and they said yes, but they never came back,” Simmons said. The asphalt debris is extremely heavy and Simmons has no way to dispose of it. “We don’t have any more money for someone to remove it, so we have to break it up and I’ll have to take it to the dump. I’m 60 years old, so I’m not happy about it,” Simmons said. A paving company also went door to door in Pickering and Huu Nuyen also contracted a company to do his road. But when the road was completed, Nouyen complained about the quality of the work, and the company immediately took off, leaving a huge pile of asphalt debris in his front yard. Nuygen’s neighbor Mike Burchell contacted CTV News concerned about Nuyen’s predicament and contacted others on his street who also had issues with the cobblers going door-to-door. “What I’m seeing here is really unfair, it’s just unethical. This is an innocent man who paid them in full,” Burchell said. Both Simmons and Nuyen tried to contact the paving companies to get them to come back and remove the asphalt debris, but in both cases the addresses on their contracts were fake and their calls went unanswered. The Barrie Police Service said some paving companies that go door-to-door use names that look like legitimate and reputable paving companies, but have no established place of business and work as “night” operators. Barrie Police have issued an alert regarding paving scams in the Barrie area after being contacted by several victims and a local business who said a contractor was using a business name that closely resembled their company name. “The public needs to know that these cobblestone scams are happening. This is not just in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), but it’s also happening in the north, east and west of the GTA,” said Peter Leon, with Barrie Police Communications. Leon added “we need to hold these people accountable and if we can, we will charge them with fraud because what we are dealing with are fraudsters.” Simmons said it’s unfortunate because bad operators ruin the reputation of paving companies that work hard and do a good job. “I really think they’re hurting the industry,” he said. Always be careful of anyone who comes to your house trying to pave your way or for any service. Don’t be pushy, check references, don’t pay upfront and remember you don’t have to talk to salespeople who come to your door.
