Mark and Carol Fairall
The Real Faces of Elder Abuse
May 24, 2015
BROKEN
ARIZONA REGISTRAR OF CONTRACTORS ALLOWS ELDER ABUSING CONTRACTOR TO STAY IN
BUSINESS
I write the internet posting from experience
because I have dealt with the ROC in the past when it was effectively
operating. In 1988, I had a termite problem because the home builder failed to
treat the ground prior to pouring the cement slab. The ROC was effective in
obtaining a sizable settlement. I was a bank VP for many years and loaned to
contractors and home builders. I am familiar with construction laws. At that
time the ROC was pro-homeowner and followed the laws to protect the public. I
was also a board member of the Arizona Better Business Bureau and the ROC was
well respected for upholding consumer rights. That is not the case now!
ARIZONA CONTRACTOR FRAUD INCREASES
The recent news report
by Jason
Barry CBS-5 AZ has verified at the Registrar of Contractors (ROC) that
there are more shady contractors ripping off homeowners. So far in 2015, the
ROC has stated there is a 5 to 6-percent increase of contractor crimes.
According to the ROC, Arizona homeowners have lost $3 million to unlicensed
contractors the first five months of 2015. The article shows the list of the
most wanted unlicensed contractors. The Jason Barry news story can be seen at:
 |
| Robert Freund |
The ROC does nothing
about Robert Freund (Palmers Plumbing and Palmers Kitchen Bath & Beyond) which
does $10 million a years in sales in his plumbing company and general
contracting company. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has dropped Palmers
Plumbing (PP) to a NO GRADE and ALERT since the company has not had a
licensed contractor since 2012 and it lost the right to do business as Ben
Franklin Plumbing. PP failed to respond to a BBB complaint for poor
workmanship.
The BBB has dropped Palmers Kitchen Bath & Beyond (PKBB) to
a C GRADE. Now PKBB is facing another BBB complaint for false advertising
because it states in its ads that PORA refers the company but that is a lie.
PORA stopped referring PKBB years ago due to excessive workmanship complaints.
Formal complaints have
been filed with the Arizona Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission, and FBI
Internet Fraud (IC3) for the false internet advertising scam which is
misleading elderly homeowners.
PKBB just lost a
lawsuit it filed against us when it failed to show-up in court prior to the
trial for a disputed $3,800 debt after we paid $13,700 for bad home repair
workmanship.
We proved the disputed debt was not owed because of:
 |
| Derrick King |
2. Our receiving many threats and attacks from the contractor requiring Injunctions against Harassment,
3. The contractor's bad business practices of not paying the subcontractors and not obtaining required building permits for years, and
4. The misuse of the legal system with forged evidence and many baseless lawsuits.
On 04/27/2015, the
Court dismissed this lawsuit and granted the recovery of our legal expenses
spent to fight the frivolous seventeen month baseless lawsuit. Sadly, the ROC
has done nothing to protect us and other homeowners from the bad and dangerous
contractor Robert Freund. The Court has granted
the extension of our Injunctions against Harassment on 05/08/2015 (Robert
Freund and his employee Derrick King) because of threats, theft, attempted
extortion and suspected attempted murder. The court ordered the new protective
orders because the property damages and stalking continues. We
live in fear!
THE DOCUMENTED DECLINE OF
THE REGISTRAR OF THE ROC
In
2013, the Arizona Auditor General, Debra Davenport completed an audit of the
ROC and found terrible problems. The report received press coverage “Report:
AZ Registrar of Contractors NOT Protecting Public”, which can be seen
at:
The ROC is responsible for the licensing and policing
40,000 contractors. The audit found the ROC was not protecting the public.
Specifically, the audit found:
1. Complaints to the ROC were closed too soon or
incorrectly.
2. The process to investigate and resolve ROC complaints was too long.
3. Many bad contractors were not properly disciplined.
4. The ROC had extremely poor record keeping with 20% of its records missing or duplicated plus 40,000 ROC records were inaccurate.
2. The process to investigate and resolve ROC complaints was too long.
3. Many bad contractors were not properly disciplined.
4. The ROC had extremely poor record keeping with 20% of its records missing or duplicated plus 40,000 ROC records were inaccurate.
The ROC Audit also addressed the problem of the state
lawmakers draining the ROC Recovery Funds to the state General Fund. This
delayed payments to Arizona Homeowners until the trust was refunded. This is
shocking because those are Trust Monies paid by the contractors and it is not
the state's money. In reality it is theft which hurt the defrauded Arizona
homeowners.
The misuse of the ROC Recovery Funds by the state
lawmakers sent a clear message to the ROC to avoid any payment of monies to
homeowners. The ROC and state leadership would rather use the Recovery Fund
monies to illegally pay the state's expenses than what it was meant. The ROC
Recovery Fund was meant to help Arizona owners recover bad contractor construction
home repair losses.
This was the time period where the ROC failed to properly
update its internet website. The website incorrectly showed that Palmers
Plumbing and Palmers Kitchen Bath and Beyond were properly licensed and had
qualified parties (state approved contractors). That was not the case because
both of Robert Freund's plumbing and general contracting companies had no
qualified parties at the time of hiring in the summer of 2013. The picture is the current listings of Freund's licenses.
The ROC set us up to fail with wrong information that
still today it is not taking any responsibility. The ROC gave bogus reasons for
its decline of our complaints (#2014-250 and #2014-251) and is attempting to
continue to cover-up its failings.
All communications concerning the wrongful closing of our
bad contractor complaints by the ROC to the state lawmakers, state leaders, and
Governors have been ignored and not answered.
The full
2013 Arizona Audit of the ROC can be read at:
ARIZONA ROC - BAD LEADERSHIP, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, AND FUTURE
MONEY PROBLEMS
The ROC goes after unlicensed contractors more than bad
licensed contractors in order to get fines. If the ROC closes a licensed
contractor it loses its ongoing bad contractor licensing fees. The ROC is
funded by contractor's fees and fines.
The ROC does not bite the hand that feeds it by
aggressive revoking the licenses of bad licensed contractors. This is a huge
conflict of interest to look the other way and not
properly protect the public in order to maintain the contractor fee revenue
stream to survive. The ROC's annual expenses is over $12 million a year but it
takes in less than $10 million from contractors. The ROC has been able to
survive because of reserves but that is gone in 2015. The ROC is facing a huge budget crises in 2016 because the reserves are
gone.
Sadly,
the ROC is run by poor political appointees that do not have the best
credentials and experience to provide good management. In Arizona the method of
doing business for state agencies is favoritism, cronyism, and nepotism.
 |
| ROC BUDGET PROBLEMS - NO RESERVES & STAGNANT REVENUES |
THE ARIZONA ROC IS A FAILURE
 |
| William Mundell |
The ROC's performance has plummeted because Governors
have appointed political favored friends as ROC Directors. William Mundell was
just replaced because he destroyed the ROC. Governor Brewer appointed Mundell
in 2009 even though he had no construction experience. Mundell was a Republican
state lawmaker, a pro tem judge, and a member on the Corporation Commission.
The 2013, Arizona audit of the ROC showed 20% of the records were missing or
duplicated plus 40,000 records were inaccurate. Mundell should have been fired
in 2013 not 2015.
 |
| Jeff Fleetham |
The new ROC Director, Jeff Fleetham, was appointed by Governor
Ducey because he was a Republican Party loyalist. Fleetham worked for his
brother's construction company, ran a dispute resolution firm, and was an ROC
inspector. I have reports how Jeff Fleetham failed homeowners on their bad
contractor losses. Jeff Fleetham obeys the state lawmakers' wishes to not pay
homeowners from the Recovery Fund in order for the state to steal those Trust
funds to pay for state expenses. Fleetham was a leader in the National
Federation of Independent Businesses Association (NFIB) and helped 42
Republican lawmakers get elected in 2014 (that is nearly 50% of the 90 state
lawmakers). It is no wonder I don't hear from him on my failed ROC complaints.
See Fleetham documentation at:
 |
| Tyler Palmer |
The ROC Chief of Staff, Tyler Palmer, is a lawyer and has
refused to listen why the ROC's decline of my complaints #2014-250 and
#2014-251 was for bogus reasons. The ROC is still trying to cover-up the
problem that it failed to update its websites which mislead me into hiring a
contractor that was not properly licensed. This all occurred in 2013 when the
audit was going on and the ROC was in total disarray. Palmer should be been
fired because he was Mundell's Chief of Staff.
Still today, the ROC is not taking any responsibility for
our bad contractor. We have suffered the losses of $13,700 paid to him plus
over the over $100,000 in repair costs/house damages, loss of our house value,
baseless lawsuit expenses, and the damages to our health.
I had ROC inspector, Stephen Lawton, and he bungle my ROC
investigation by not having the contractor attend the house inspection or even
respond to the 60 problems and violations in my complaints. Lawton has a cozy
relationship with my bad contractor because they are both from Youngtown.
Lawton had only been on the job one month before he broke ROC policies. Lawton
was fired from his Youngtown building inspector job for poor work and he should
be fired from the ROC.
The ROC declined me because I failed to allow the
contractor the right to fix the problems. The contractor told the ROC that I
robbed him of his contractor's rights. That is not true because I have emails
stating to fix the problems under supervision but Freund declined that and
criminal activity ensued requiring police action.
The ROC told me to document the problems with time/dated
pictures with a third party since the ROC could not do an immediate inspection
for three months. Freund had called my insurance company and they had stopped
paying our hotel expense so time was of the essence. Now the ROC has broken
that promise with the decline.
Robert Freund does nothing but lie to the Court, ROC, and
Better Business Bureau (BBB). His 05/21/2015 response to my BBB complaint
states:
"We
finished the project on time and all work was inspected by myself and also my
Superintendent. Mr. Fairall elected not to pay the remaining balance on the
project, even after repeated phone call. With no resolution I decided to take
him to court for the nonpayment of the final balance."
Those were all lies because the job was not done which
was verified by the ROC in a taped interview. Robert Freund's lawsuit ended
against us on 04/27/2015 when he failed to appear in court to the Pretrial
Conference. I believe my 400+ pages of evidence and 22 witnesses ready for
trial convinced him he would lose the trial. The judge awarded us a default
judgment with the payment of our costs.
It is hard to lie against the documented truth. However,
the ROC seems to be able to ignore the truth and stall long enough until my
Statute of Limitations expires on 05/28/2015. Where is justice in the Arizona
badlands?
I have been forced to go to the feds for help since
Arizona is not protecting us and Arizona homeowners from the bad and dangerous
contractor Robert Freund.
SUMMARY
 |
| Gov. Doug Ducey |
We have written Governor Doug Ducey for help. Arizona is
in trouble because the state lawmakers’ emphasis is budget cutting from the
vulnerable and to close the session early. It is up to the Governor to improve
Arizonans’ Quality of Life.
A few years ago I wrote the ARIZONA REPUBLIC newspaper and it posted my new five “C’s” for
Arizona, they were:
1. Cantankerous
2. Callous
3.
4. Corruption
5. Cesspool
“Elder abuse and senior financial exploitation
crimes are dramatically rising in Arizona.
According to the 2014 annual activity report,
the Arizona Adult Protective Service reported a sharp increase of adult
mistreatment investigations. Last year, 11,599 vulnerable adult mistreatment
complaints were investigated. That is a historic high for the program, with a
79 percent increase since 2010.
It is shocking that due to budget cutbacks it
takes a minimum of 30 days for the state to start an elder abuse investigation.
All too often the abused senior dies prior to completion of the investigation
and the abuser is not held accountable for the crimes.
For Arizona to become the nation's leading
retirement destination, the rapidly growing elder abuse and senior fraud
problems must be addressed and stopped. Arizona needs better senior protection
laws, stronger law enforcement concerning crimes against the elderly, and a
swifter application of elder justice by state agencies.”
— Mark and Carol
Fairall, Sun City West
Complaints to Arizona Attorney General
02/10/2014 - 01/20/2015
Still Waiting for an Investigation.
 |
| Fairall Complaint to BBB about PKBB |
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| Freund's answer to BBB complaint |
 |
Fairall Response to BBB about Freund's Lies |
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