LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — A Lexington couple says a paving crew showed up at their home without being called, did shoddy work, then demanded far more money than originally quoted. Now, they want other Kentuckians to know about this common summertime scam.
Greg Morley and Sarah Haydon say their ordeal started in May when a crew showed up at their home unsolicited.
"He said, well, you might be in luck because we were on a job, and we had a water main break, and we have trucks that are loaded with asphalt that's close by," Morley explained to Sunrise Anchor Evelyn Schultz.
Morley said he was surprised by the quote he received, at two dollars a square foot.
But as the contractors got to work on their driveway, Morley and Haydon say something was not right. Not only was the work unprofessional and incomplete, they said the man in charge aggressively demanded payment for a sum much larger than initially quoted.
"And I went ahead and signed it, and then he put the numbers in," said Morely. "And he put $9 and I said, well, well, well, what's the $9? And he said, it's $9 a square foot, and I said, that's not, no, that's not what we said. We said $2. And he said, no, no, that's $9."
The couple said their encounter grew increasingly frightening, so Morley and Haydon ended up writing a check for $78,000, the amount on the invoice they received. They canceled the payment before the money was deposited.
While they aren't out any cash, the couple was shaken. They showed us that invoice, which did not have a company name. A phone number on the invoice belongs to an aviation business out of state.
"We like to think that we make good business deals, but they prey on people like us," Haydon told LEX News. "And as smart as you are and as business savvy as you are, you can get caught off guard by them."
The Better Business Bureau says this encounter checks all the boxes of an asphalt paving scam.
"Anybody who's standing there saying, we have leftover asphalt, we can start putting it down right now, is not doing the job right," said Heather Clary, spokesperson for BBB, Greater Kentucky Region.
Other red flags include:
- High-pressure sales pitches
- Out-of-state plates and vague company names
- No proof of insurance
Haydon filed a police report and has spent the last month digging into the man in charge of their driveway. She says she discovered he operates in multiple states under various company names and used an alias while on their property.
LEX News is not naming him because, as of now, he has not been charged with a crime related to this incident. We did call the number the man used to text Morley and Haydon to ask about this job. The man who answered disputed their version of events, said his attorney would contact us, and hung up the phone.
The couple said they will eventually need to repave the driveway, the right way. For now, they hope sharing their story can help others can avoid an expensive mistake.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it's not true," Haydon said.
Morley and Haydon brought this to the attention of the Fayette County Attorney's Office. LEX News contacted them, too, and they referred us to the Kentucky Attorney General's Office. So far, LEX News has not heard back.
If you believe you were scammed, the Better Business Bureau says to contact local police and report it to their online scam tracker.
