NEWARK
— Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
today announced the filing of a lawsuit
against three Union County home improvement
contracting companies alleging they engaged
in multiple violations of New Jersey’s
home improvement regulations, during the
course of advertising, selling and performing
home remodeling services.
New
Jersey’s six-count complaint, filed
in Union County Superior Court by Attorney
General Harvey and New Jersey Division
of Consumer Affairs Acting Director Kimberly
Ricketts, names as defendants: State Remodeling,
Inc. (d/b/a/ The Window Factory, the Window
Factory of New Jersey and www.stateremodeling.com)
and United Remodeling Group, Inc., both
of Union, as well as Neighborhood Preservation
Program, Inc., of Rahway.
The
defendants advertise and offer home improvement
services, such as siding installation,
window replacement and roof repair, through
various media including telemarketing,
direct mail and Web site listings. Each
company has either conducted business
from or maintains a business address at
95 Progress St., Union.
“For
most people, home ownership is the biggest
investment they will make in their lifetime,”
Attorney General Harvey said. “New
Jersey residents invest large sums in
home improvements, and they are entitled
to nothing short of a fair and honest
deal. We will continue to enforce our
consumer protection laws by bringing actions
against unscrupulous contractors who take
money from homeowners but don’t
perform the work they promise.”
“More
than 3,400 homeowners complained to Consumer
Affairs last year about problems they
were having with home improvement contractors,
making this the No. 1 area of complaints
for consumers,” Acting Director
Ricketts said. “When a homeowner
hires a contractor to do work around the
house, there’s a great deal of trust
on the part of the consumer that the contractor
will do what he or she has been hired
to do. When contractors fail to make good
on their promises and cheat the consumer,
they’ve not only violated the consumer’s
trust, they’ve also broken the law.”
The
suit alleges that in addition to violating
the State’s Consumer Fraud Act and
home improvement regulations, the defendants
violated the New Jersey Do
Not Call Law by making unsolicited
residential telemarketing calls to New
Jersey consumers without being registered
with Consumer Affairs and by calling people
whose telephone numbers are included on
the federal Do Not Call registry.
The
suit also alleges that the defendants,
among other things:
- misrepresented
in home improvement contracts that it
is the consumer’s responsibility
to notify the defendants if work has
not been started and/or completed within
the time period specified in the home
improvement contracts;
-
failed to begin or complete work on
the date or within the time period specified
in the home improvement contract;
-
failed to honor warranties on labor
services as provided in the consumers’
home improvement contracts;
-
failed to honor a three-day right of
recission, as provided in the consumers’
home improvement contracts; and
-
failed to provide consumers with refunds
for work that was never started and/or
completed;
The
suit alleges that the defendants operated
under the name Neighborhood Preservation
Program, Inc., and forwarded flyers to
consumers that contained statements implying
that they were a branch of or affiliated
with the New Jersey Department of Community
Affairs’ Division of Housing and
Community Resources, which administers
the Neighborhood Preservation Program.
The Division of Housing and Community
Resources’ program provides grants
to eligible municipalities which, in turn,
provide financial assistance to communities
and homeowners for home improvement and
preservation projects. The defendants
are not authorized by the Division of
Housing and Community Resources to reference
the Neighborhood Preservation Program
in any of their advertising.
Deputy
Attorney General Nicholas Armstrong of
the Division of Law is handling this case
for the State.
_ag-ph_update.gif)
