How to Avoid an Asphalt Paving Scam

Included page "clone:asphaltpaving" does not exist (create it now)

The transition to spring and summer not only brings with it warmer weather, it also lends itself to an uptick in asphalt paving scams. Driveway repair scams increase as the weather warms up and becomes milder, and it’s important to know how to avoid them.

The way it works is usually a “sales representative” (or someone just pretending to be a sales rep) visits your home and says they have leftover materials from another paving job and can offer you a great deal. They’ll say they noticed cracks in your driveway and can take care of them for a much discounted price.

Then they’ll get to the catch. The sales rep will say in order to get that great deal you’ll have to pay upfront. This is where customers run into trouble. Either the asphalt paver comes and completes the job but the quality of the work is very poor because only leftover materials were used and it was not adequate for covering all of the cracks or the paver will start the job, leave and never come back or simply just never show up at all to start after receiving your money.

Sometimes the initial contact information given by the sales rep is wrong or fake, so it can become hard for consumers to reach out once they realize something isn’t right. If you don’t receive a business card or don’t have an agreement in writing, it could be a sign that something is up.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, here are some other red flags for potential asphalt paving scams:

Leftovers: Very rarely do professional pavers have leftover asphalt or other materials because they know what is needed to complete each job. If a sales rep claims to have leftover materials, that’s fishy.

Pushiness: Many trustworthy pavers will give you an estimate that is valid for days or weeks. If a sales rep is being pushy and forcing you to make a decision, it could be a scam.

Cash only: Reputable paving companies and contractors accept checks and credit cards. Scammers want cash because it’s harder to trace. If the representative says it’s cash-only, say no thank you.

Out-of-state tags: Take a look at the license plate of the vehicle the sales rep is driving. If it’s from out of state but they offer you a local number to contact them on, it could be a sign that they’re out to get you.


Pages

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License