Saturday, May 30, 2015

ARIZONA'S GOVERNOR DUCEY DOES NOTHING ABOUT LAWBREAKING CONTRACTOR


MARK AND CAROL FAIRALL
The Real Faces of Elder Abuse
May 30, 2015

We are an elderly couple that was abused and defrauded by the bad contractor Robert Freund. Arizona does nothing to stop the contractor fraud, help us get the justice we deserve, and protect us from his criminal activities. 

See our correspondence with 
Arizona's governor Ducey: 

FAIRALL LETTER TO THE ARIZONA GOVERNOR ABOUT THE BROKEN REGISTRAR OF CONTRACTORS (ROC) AND
BAD CONTRACTOR ROBERT FREUND
05/23/2015

March 23, 2015

The Honorable Doug Ducey
Governor, State of Arizona
1700 W. Washington
Suite 504
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2812

To The Honorable Doug Ducey:

This letter is written to inform you that the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) is failing to protect the public with its incompetence, dismal performances, and illegal deceptions. I wrote former Governor Jan Brewer on July 14, 2014, without any responsive efforts by her administration to correct the ROC problems. Since then, I have been denied access to Public Documents on my failed complaints by the ROC for the past eight months. The ROC is covering up their mistakes with excessive delays attempting to exceed the Contractor Statute of Limitations Law. The ROC wrongfully declined my January 17, 2014 complaints against Palmer’s Plumbing (PP), ROC complaint #2014-250, and Palmer’s Kitchen, Bath, and Beyond (PKBB), ROC complaint #2014-251.

The ROC’s decline reason was that I failed to allow the contractor his rights to correct his poor workmanship but that is totally untrue. Where are our homeowners’ rights for reimbursement of our bad contractor’s poor workmanship losses? Where are our homeowners’ rights to protect ourselves and have the law enforcement stop the illegal attacks from a vengeful and desperate contractor?

I have finally received 142 pages of incomplete documents and one recorded interview of the bad contractor, Robert Freund, by the ROC’s Inspector, Stephen Lawton. The documents prove that I gave the bad contractor every opportunity to fix his construction problems but that the contractor refused to work under supervision. This is a quote written by me which is in the ROC documentation dated August 08, 2013 email to the contractor stating: “You are barred from being in our house without supervision.”  The contractor refused to be supervised to repair his poor workmanship. Instead, the contractor made threats of harming us and our house, demanded $7,000 cash, and refused to return my house key and alarm fob.  This illegal contractor action resulted in my filing the Police Report #13-151570 on August 08, 2013. Since then I have suffered intentional work sabotage, daily stalking, property damages, and even attempted murder. The Arizona Attorney General has done nothing on our two formal complaints to protect us and the public from this bad and dangerous contractor.

The ROC Inspector, Stephen Lawton, was only employed by the state for one month before my ROC complaints were filed. My investigation shows that Mr. Lawton was fired from his Youngtown Building Inspector job because of his poor performance. Our bad contractor’s, Robert Freund, office is located in Youngtown and the recorded interview shows they have a tight history together. Mr. Lawton only had one interview with our bad contractor on February 26, 2014, but he made up his mind to close my ROC complaints at that time according to his job notes. The ROC’s Stephen Lawton failed to do any real investigation and delayed by formerly declining me on June 30, 2014. 

Mr. Lawton is incompetent because he:

1.  Wrongfully waived the contractor’s obligation to be at my ROC home inspection. I agreed to have the contractor at the ROC home inspection with my February 09, 2014 email stating: “We will abide by state law requirements but we demand that we are protected with an armed policeman at the time of inspection.” This was omitted from the ROC records (Attachment A: Fairall’s 02/09/2014 email to ROC’s Stephen Lawton – Abiding by state law).

2.   Failed to obtain written answers from the contractor concerning my 65 points on my ROC complaints.

3.  Failed to discuss with the contractor in the interview about the threats and personal property thefts by his employee, Derrick King, reported in my Police Report filed on August 08, 2013. The Police Report #13-151570 documentation was in the ROC documents. The ROC Inspector, Stephen Lawton, was sent the May 10, 2014 email documenting the granted May 09, 2014 Injunctions against Harassment issued against Robert Freund #CC2014-080145000 and Derrick King #CC2014-08018660, but this was not a part of the ROC documentation (Attachment B:  Fairall’s 05/10/2014 email to ROC’s Stephen Lawton plus copies of Injunctions against Harassment – Freund & King).  
4. Failed to follow up on the information discovered in the interview as to how the contractor could do plumbing work without a valid contractor’s license (Attachment C: Fairall’s 02/15/2015 Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaint #10450121 about Palmer’s Plumbing dba Benjamin Franklin Plumbing – No Response BBB letter – Grade C+).

5.  Failed to follow up on the information discovered in the interview as to why no Mold Remediation Certificate was obtained and why the contractor hired an unlicensed and untrained subcontractor, Carpet Glo, to remove the mold from my home (Attachment D: Fairall’s 03/22/2015 BBB complaint #10543349 about Carpet Glow).

6.  Failed to follow up on the information discovered in the interview as to why the contractor used the unlicensed cabinet maker, Leroy’s Custom Cabinets.

7. Failed to timely complete the investigation by waiting an additional four months from his original decision to decline my complaint when he issued a formal decline after doing nothing. Stephen Lawton failed to contact the contractor when the first house inspection was canceled, had date errors in numerous documents, and did an extremely poor job properly detailing the ROC investigation.

8.   Failed to produce public documents on my complaints as promised in August, 2014.

9.  Failed to understand that the contractor contacted our mutually used Insurance Adjuster, Brown & O’Haver, stating that my home repair was completed on August 07, 2013. (Attachment E: Fairall’s 03/22/2015 BBB complaint #10543366 about Brown & O’Haver) .My bad contractor actually admitted in the ROC interview that the job was not done on August 8, 2013. This action caused State Farm insurance to the stop paying my hotel bill resulting in my paying an extra $1,152.99 for the eight days needed to get my home habitable, which is part of the ROC documentation. This all was documented by the State Farm Insurance Letter dated October 31, 2013 (Attachment F: 10/31/2013 State Farm Letter – Why insurance coverage ended for my hotel stay on 08/06/2013).  

I documented most of all of the poor workmanship with time/dated pictures. Time was of the essence since I was paying $144 per day for the hotel expenses.  I was forced to use a new contractor because my bad contractor refused to work under supervision to make my house habitable.

10. Due to the Youngtown connection between my contractor, Robert Freund, and my ROC Inspector, I suspect the ROC Inspector was bribed to not do a proper investigation in accordance with the ROC policies. I was told by ROC’s Stephen Lawton about his relationship with Robert Freund, which was overheard by my hired guard, Jacob Mueller, retired policeman and private investigator, at my ROC home inspection and which was not attended by my contractor. Stephen Lawton should have his ROC job terminated for incompetence and suspected graft.

The ROC Chief of Staff, Tyler Palmer, was rude and condescending while refusing to listen as to why the ROC declines were invalid. ROC’s Tyler Palmer failed to produce the requested Public Documents until the Ombudsman became involved on October 19, 2014. I just received the public documents on March 20, 2015, which was eight months after I verbally requested them many times and submitted two formal requests.

The 2013 audit of the ROC by the Arizona Audit General, Debbie Davenport, shows the dismal job done by Tyler Palmer with 20% of the records duplicated or missing plus 40,000 ROC records which had inaccurate information. The ROC agreed and accepted her findings that the ROC was failing to protect Arizona homeowners. The ROC failed to timely update its website which would have shown that my contractor’s licenses were either Inactive or Suspended at the time I hired him in May, 2013.  The ROC set me up to fail by: not updating its website, failing to properly investigate my complaints, and withholding public information. William Mundell, ROC Director, has been replaced. Tyler Palmer should have his ROC job terminated for incompetence and misconduct. 

SUMMATION:  I Demand my ROC complaints opened and the payment of the maximum $30,000 Recovery Fund due to the house damages and loss of value caused by unlicensed contractors.   I Demand the amount allowed by law for state corruption and lies which doubles the value of my losses, which would be a total of $60.000.  If these terms are not met, legal action may be taken. I Demand that the ROC revoke Robert Freund’s contractor licenses because he has committed thirteen violations of ARS-1154 Grounds for Revocation of License (Attachment G:  ARS 32-1154 & 13 Noted Grounds for Revocation of Contractor’s License). I Demand that Robert Freund and Derrick King be incarcerated for their criminal activities.

The contractor’s 420-day old baseless lawsuit for $3,800 is going to a jury trial on May 01, 2015. I have already paid the contractor $13,700.14 for substandard work which was completed by unlicensed subcontractors that do not meet building and safety codes. I understand the national press will be at the trial because it is news as to how the Arizona Agencies and Departments fails to protect the citizens of the state.

Governor Ducey: I believe you will properly resolve this travesty of justice and take the proper steps to get the Justice I deserve. I believe you will better protect Arizonans from this egregious example of Elder Abuse and Fraud.

Sincerely,
Mark and Carol Fairall
13202 W. Bonanza Dr.
Sun City West, AZ 85375
(623) 910-9232

Attachments: 
A. Fairall’s 02/09/2014 email to ROC’s Lawton – Abiding by state law
B. Fairall’s 05/10/2014 email to ROC’s Lawton – Injunctions against Harassment – Freund & King
C. Fairall’s 02/15/2015 BBB Complaint #10450121 against Palmer’s Plumbing dba Benjamin Franklin Plumbing  
    No response BBB Letter – Grade C+
D. Fairall’s 03/22/2015 BBB Complaint #10543349 against Carpet Glo
E. Fairall’s 03/22/2015 BBB Complaint #10543366 against Brown & O’Haver Public Adjusters
F. State Farm’s 10/31/2013 letter – Why Insurance coverage ended for my hotel stay on 08/06/2013
G. ARS 32-1154 – 13 Noted Grounds for Revocation of Contractor’s License



cc:   Michelle Reagan – Arizona Secretary of State
        Jeff Fleetham – ROC Director
        Rick Gray – Arizona Lawmaker
        Phil Lovas – Arizona Lawmaker
        David Livingston – Arizona Lawmaker
        Victoria Steele – Arizona Lawmaker
        Peter Eisler – USA TODAY Reporter

EMERGENCY EMAIL TO GOVERNOR DUCEY 
FOR ACTION TODAY - 05/28/2015

I urged to reopen ROC complaints #2014-250 against Palmers Plumbing and #2014-251 against Palmers Kitchen Bath & Beyond. The two year Statute of limitations ends today 05/28/2015 for ROC complaint #2014-250 – Fairall v. Palmers Plumbing Services.

This is supported by the fact that the bad contractor, Robert Freund, failed to show up at the Pretrial on his lawsuit he filed on 05/27/2015. The judge was angry about the 17 months of delays and the rude no-show. Judge Williams threw the lawsuit out as a Default and awarded me my lawsuit costs. See attached Injunctions approved. This judgment award to pay us our lawsuit costs decision by the judge will make news because of our hard efforts to defend ourselves from a frivolous lawsuit while the contractor played the court and legal system. Our lawsuit award will be between $1,800 and $15,000.

This is supported by Robert Freund's internet gloating to the BBB and Ripoff.com where he lies by stating:

1.  That he finished on time on the project.
2.  That he and his Qualified party inspected the job.
3.  That my dispute was only to avoid paying money owed him
4.  No damages to the Fairall house existed.
5.  The ROC complaint was closed because it was invalid.
6.  No threats and property damages were done.
7.  That he only operated one month without a Qualified Party.
8.  That Fairall's complaints are "pure fantasy."
9.  That he excels in customer service.
10. That he has heard nothing about the Fairall complaint from the AG, ROC, and Governor Office since 2014.

See the Robert Freund's false answers that he filed with the BBB and RIPOFF.COM. See the FTC complaint filed for Freund's false advertising. See the BBB No Rating and Alert given to Palmers Plumbing. See our answer to the Ripoff.com Facebook and call to action to call the Governor.

I urged the ROC to reopen complaints #2014-250 and #2014-251 because they were closed for the wrong reasons because we did give Robert Freund the opportunity to repair the poor workmanship but it was refused and answered with criminal activities requiring police reports. This is documented in the ROC's file of my 08/07/2013 emails with Freund. I did call on 08/08/2013 and asked the ROC to do an emergency inspection because we were stuck in a hotel after the contractor had our insurance company stop paying for it and the contractor refused to fix the problems. I was told by the ROC to document with time/dated pictures with a third party the poor workmanship and to make the house livable. The reason was because the ROC could not do an inspection for three months. We have complied with the law and instructions but the ROC wrongfully dismissed our complaints without a real investigation while waiving normal ROC procedures (contractor to attend the house inspection and require the contractor to provide a written response) by the one month on the ROC job inspector, Stephen Lawton. 

Please immediately stop this bad contractor from his: false advertising, threatening seniors, misusing the legal system, and scamming the elderly with bad workmanship. Please contact Robert Freund and stop his lies on the internet and his gloating that he has scammed everyone including the state.  

EMAIL FROM THE ARIZONA GOVERNOR
05/28/2015

Date:
Thursday, May 28, 2015 4:56 PM  
From:
Engage <engage@az.gov>
To:
Mark and Carol Fairall <azmfairall@cox.net>
Subject:
RE: Assistance - Senior Issues


Mr. Fairall, 

The Governor's Office is in receipt of your email communications.

We regret reading of your complaint filed with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors and can appreciate your disappointment in the outcome and your pursuit of this matter.  

We understand you wish to reopen your complaint. Upon investigation, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) investigators found that in the four months between the termination of the contract and filing an ROC complaint, a second contractor was hired to complete the project that the initial contractor began. In accordance with Arizona Revised Statutes, the ROC declined issuance of a citation against the contractor as noted by the declination letter (attached) and the timeline below.

Specifically, Arizona Revised Statutes 32-1155(C)(1) and (2) prohibit the ROC from issuing a citation when, “1. The contractor is not provided an opportunity to inspect the work within fifteen days after receiving a written notice from the registrar” and “2. The contractor’s work has been subject to neglect, modification or abnormal use.”  (Emphasis added)

While you may find the agency’s decision unfortunate, the Governor has no legal authority to reconsider or overturn this decision.  The Registrar’s determination does not preclude the ability to seek relief in a civil court of competent jurisdiction. We suggest you seek legal counsel for assistance with this process. You may wish to contact the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education as free or reduced cost legal services may be available.  As a courtesy, we have included contact information for the Foundation below:

Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education
4201 N. 24th Street, Suite 210
Phoenix, Arizona 85016-6288
Phone: 602-340-7366
Toll Free: 1-866-637-5341

We regret we are unable to offer any further suggestions or assistance.

Sincerely,

DOUGLAS A. DUCEY
GOVERNOR
STATE OF ARIZONA
/s/
Governor's Office
Constituent Services

FAIRALL EMAIL RESPONSE TO
GOVERNOR DUCEY’S DECLINE
05/29/2015

May 29, 2015

Douglas Ducey:

This email is written in response to the email declining of the reopening of our ROC complaints #2014-250 and #2014-251.  Your decline for help is wrong but not unexpected. Anything to save money.

The contractor was supposed to be at the ROC inspection and we hired a private investigator to be present to protect us. However, the ROC inspector, Stephan Lawton, waived the contractor's obligation to be at our house inspection. (Emphasis added)  The ROC told us to take time/dated pictures since we were stuck paying a hotel room bill when the contractor refused to repair the problems under supervision. The ROC could not do an inspection for three months in August 2013. We followed the ROC's directions because we had no alternative because of the contractor's failure to satisfactory complete the home repair under supervision. (Emphasis added)

Our 2013 ROC problems are not surprising because the Arizona Auditor found many problems at the ROC and that it was failing to protect the public the same year. Where are our rights to protect ourselves when we are threatened and have intentional property damages by the contractor?  Not much has changed at the ROC with the new director, Jeff Fleetham.

So you are aware the ROC failed to update it website properly in 2013. Palmers Plumbing Services (ROC complaint #2014-250) had no Qualified Party for nine months. That plumbing company was just graded NO RATING and has an ALERT by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). It is still illegally operating without a contractor's license.

Palmers Kitchen Bath & Beyond (ROC complaint #2014-251) had no Qualified Party for five months in 2013 which was not reflected on the ROC website. With the new complaints about the general contracting company's false advertising, poor workmanship, and bad business operations it is expected that the BBB grade will soon also be a NO RATING GRADE and an ALERT. The contractor Robert Freund should have his contractor's license revoked to protect the public. We still live in fear because the stalkings and property damages continues. He continues to abuse and defraud the elderly.

Sadly, Arizona is now pro-business and ignores the consumer's problems and rights. I was on several other Governor's committees to attract new businesses to Arizona. The past Governor's attitudes were much different in the 80's and 90's.  It is no wonder Arizona's economy is lagging behind the rest of the nation because the quality of life is declining.

I will make every effort to change the laws to better protect homeowners like other states have in effect, which helps them grow the population faster than Arizona's present performance. Although the ROC's Statute of Limitations is only two years the crime of Elder Abuse and Fraud is five years. I am still considering legal action. This is not over.

Thank you for your consideration and quick reply.

Mark Fairall
Sun City West, AZ
(623) 910-9232

DOCUMENTATION


ROBERT FREUND


DERRICK KING

ROBERT FREUND'S CONTRACTOR
LICENSES PROBLEMS
















BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU COMPLAINTS 
Poor workmanship at Fairall house
Attempted Murder













False Advertising 

PORA has not referred PKBB for years
due to excessive poor workmanship complaints. 

THE GRAND SEASON prints the false advertising monthly
 because it wants the $1,500 scam money paid by PKBB. 



THE CONTRACTORS HAVE MORE RIGHTS 
THAN THE HOMEOWNER.

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE.


According to the ROC, Arizona Homeowners have 
no rights, contrary to the CASTLE LAW, to protect themselves 
from dangerous contractors that threaten them with harm. 




PRESS COVERAGE

Local Newspaper's, Sun City West INDEPENDENT, 
Headline News on 01/14/2015. Confirming the 
FALSE ADVERTISING that DUPED us. 

Thanks to the ROC and Governor 
the SCAM CONTINUES!




FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (FTC) 
COMPLAINT #61657922 HAS BEEN FILED 
TO STOP PKBB'S  FALSE ADVERTISING AND INTERNET SCAM.






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