The Real Faces of Elder Abuse: August 2014

JUSTICE DOES NOT EXIST IN THE

ARIZONA BADLANDS

Robert Freund filed a Baseless "Junk" Lawsuit against us on December 12, 2013, for $3,800.00 plus legal fees after making three prior different amount monetary demands.

We paid Mr. Freund nearly $14,000 to repair an under-slab kitchen water leak and rebuild the kitchen cabinets. We discovered over 60 problems of poor workmanship and intentional contractor sabotage (a crimped waterline). After our Beach of Contract email, we also experience two telephone threats of violence from Robert Freund's employee, Derrick King, plus he refused to return our house key and alarm fob unless he was paid $7,000.00 cash. A Police Report was filed on August 08, 2013. This contractor contract dispute escalated in more criminal activities. Injunctions Against Harassment were granted against Robert Freund and Derrick King.

The Court has denied all Motions to Dismiss this Baseless Lawsuit. The Court ignores the Rules of Law for the filing of the Plaintiff's Pleading within the proper time schedules. Robert Freund misuses the Court as a collection agency to harass and defraud the elderly for payment of unearned monies.

Our Public Adjuster failed to follow the contract we signed and closed out the claim without a "final walk-though" and without our approval. Our Public Adjuster showed favoritism to Robert Freund because they were working on a claim on his house and he refers many clients to them. Our Public Adjuster canceled our contract and all debts to them. Our Public Adjuster cost us thousands of dollars in hotel fees and repair costs.

We have reported this whole Contractor story on three Internet Postings:

July 25, 2014 - Arizona Registrar of Contractors is Failing Arizona Homeowners

August 02, 2014 - Arizona Official's Enable Bad Contractor, Robert Freund, to Abuse and Defraud the Elderly

August 11, 2014 - Palmer's Kitchen, Bath, and Beyond Scams the Elderly While Arizona Officials DO NOTHING

DO NOT USE PALMER'S KITCHEN, BATH, & BEYOND LLC or PALMER'S PLUMBING DBA BEN FRANKLIN PLUMBING

We have suffered telephone threats, attempted extortion, a baseless lawsuit, intentional criminal sabotage (a crimped waterline), and criminal damages to our property (cut electrical lines to sprinkler system, disabled motion detector lights, and attempted murder with the nailing and slashing of all of our four car tires) after we fired the contractor Robert Freund for Breach of Contract on August 08, 2013.

Judge Gerald Williams approved Injunctions against Harassments against Robert Freund (owner of the contractor companies) and his employee Derrick King on May 09, 2014. Judge Williams said the criminal activities against us "went to pattern" after Derrick King, who has a violent criminal record, threatened us twice on the phone on August 08, 2013, demanding $7,000 cash and refusing to return our house keys and alarm fob. Mr. King stated he would do anything to collect the remaining balance and that we did not want to know the severity of his threats. This attack happened even after Freund's contractor companies were paid $13,700.14 for delayed substandard home repairs that did not meet building codes. Three Police Reports have been filed in the past year for telephone threats and criminal damages.

Derrick King - Picture taken at the 02/21/2014 stalking

Robert Freund - Picture taken at the 02/21/2014 stalking

Our losses are:

1. $30,000 for the repair of the substandard home repair work,

2. $10,000 for a security camera system/payment of security guards/lawsuit expenses/medical bills,

3. $20,000 for the 10% loss of value to our house because the mold was not properly removed, and

4. Damages to our health because this stress caused my wife, Carol, to have a stroke and I am having increased seizures.

Arizona Officials Do Nothing

We filed Complaints #2014-250 and #2014-251 against Robert Freund's plumbing company and home repair company on January 17, 2014 with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) listing with pictures of over 60 incidents of poor workmanship and sabotage. Our ROC Inspector, Stephen Lawton, barred Robert Freund from our home because of the threats and criminal damages. The Police told us we had the right to protect ourselves and not allow the bad/dangerous contractor into our home because we feared for our lives with the Arizona Castle Law.

It took five and a half months to receive the ROC's dismissal of our complaints on June 30, 2014, because we failed to allow the contractor his rights to inspect our home and repair the problems. This was very odd because the contractor had no rights because at the time of our home repair his plumbing licensed had expired and was not renewed plus he had no required Qualified Party (a state approve licensed contractor) for his home repair company. Robert Freund was operating as an Unlicensed Contractor the whole time of our home repair job, May 28, 2013 to August 08, 2013, and had no contractor legal rights.

The ROC is being run by William Mundell, a former state lawmaker, who is allowing the Arizona Legislature to drain the Contractor Recovery Fund since he was appointed by Governor Brewer in 2009. The 2013 audit by the Arizona State Auditor, Debbie Davenport, stated that the ROC is failing because of: the slowness of complaint processing, the wrongfully closing complaints, the poor follow through on required contractor home repairs, no verification that required contractor payments to the homeowners were ever made, the failure to escalate discipline against repeat contractor violators, and that homeowners are not getting the relief they are entitled by law from the Contractor Recovery Fund that has insufficient funds to pay the approved claims.

The ROC failed us by failing to timely update its website concerning the problems of Robert Freund's contracting companies' licenses. The ROC failed us by wrongfully closing our contractor complaints on Robert Freund's Unlicensed Contractor Companies.

The ROC declined us the day before the ROC's policy change to eliminate the "15-day Window for Corrective Complaints" which allowed the contractor to repair the their problems. On July 01, 2014, the ROC went to a "Directive System" which posts all contractor poor workmanship issues publically for two years in order to warn Arizonans about bad contractors.

This is critical to us because Robert Freund failed to contain the mold removal, exposed and contaminated our entire house to mold, and failed to obtain the required Mold Removal Certificate from the mold specialist as required by law. That is probably because Robert Freund does not pay his subcontractors because we received many desperate calls for help from them.

Below is a picture of one of the two ROC Decline Letters to us dated June 30, 2014:

All emails, letters, and phone calls have been ignored by ROC's William Mundell, ROC's Stephen Lawton, and Governor Brewer.

We filed a complaint #14-01841 with the Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne on February 10, 2014, listing five laws Robert Freund is breaking. Tom Horne has done nothing.

Our ignored letter dated July 14, 2014, to Governor Brewer lists five state laws and six contractor law violations that calls for the IMMEDIATE REVOCATION of all Robert Freund's contractor licenses. That letter and information was posted to the Internet on July 25, 2014, as: "Arizona Registrar of Contractors is Failing Arizona Homeowners."

http://therealfacesofelderabuse.blogspot.com/2014/07/arizona-registrar-of-contrators-is.html?spref=fb

Homeowner Associations in the Sun Cities

are taking Action

Both the Homeowners Associations in the Sun Cities Area, SCHOA and PORA, no longer recommend Robert Freund's plumbing company and home repair company for the past several years because they have received too many complaints due to poor workmanship. The ROC has many complaints filed and being filed against Palmer's Kitchen, Bath and, Beyond LLC and Palmer's Plumbing dba Ben Franklin Plumbing.

Sadly, the Arizona Officials are enabling this bad and dangerous contractor, Robert Freund, to continue to abuse and defraud the elderly by not stopping his criminal activities.

Some Pictures of Our Damages