American Shingles Still in the News

American Shingle & Siding sent workers to neighborhoods across the Charlotte area with a shiny promise: a new roof at no cost to you.

George Bostick of south Charlotte - like several thousand homeowners in 10 states - paid the company upfront with a check from his insurance company for hail damage. 

That was early May. American Shingle called later that month to postpone the roofing work. Another postponement came in June. 

Three months since he handed over his $5,500 insurance check, and despite calls and letters to the company's headquarters, Bostick hasn't gotten the work he paid for or a refund. 

"I didn't check them out," says Bostick, a 66-year-old independent trucker. "And that was a no-no."

The N.C. attorney general's office is investigating American Shingle, which is headquartered in the Atlanta area but advertises offices in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, as well as Greenville, S.C., Columbia and eight other states. The attorney general's consumer protection division has 54 consumer complaints similar to Bostick's, a spokesperson said Thursday. 

Atlanta's Better Business Bureau had registered more than 200 and gives the company its lowest rating, an "F." 

Tom Bartholomy of Charlotte's Better Business Bureau says this is the hardest hit to consumers by a roofing vendor that he has seen in 28 years with the organization. His office has just 12 formal complaints but more than 2,000 calls about the company since it started work in Charlotte last December.

The Observer's calls to American Shingle & Siding Inc.'s offices in the Atlanta area and Charlotte on Thursday got the same recorded message, saying the company was experiencing heavy call volume and asking the caller to wait or call back later. The message repeated for several minutes.

The Charlotte office in an office park off Westinghouse Boulevard is empty, WCNC-TV reported. The landlord says employees packed up without a word. 

A Georgia television station reported this week that American Shingle CEO Carlton Dunko said in an interview that the company got caught in a cash flow shortage. American Shingle has about 3,500 customers nationwide waiting for new roofs, and Dunko estimated he has checks from between 50 and 70 customers that he plans to return, the station reported. 

American Shingle followed a model that descends on neighborhoods hit by hailstorms: The company promised to help secure insurance money for damaged roofs. And it asked homeowners to sign a contract to let their company do the work. 

But there were warning signs. Officials of the Better Business Bureau were bothered by complaints about American Shingle's advertising. 

"They were leaving flyers that said, 'You have hail damage.' That was from a visual inspection on the ground, where you can't tell," Bartholomy said. There were also reports of salesmen showing up with a free pizza and this pitch: Enjoy it while we inspect your roof. 

Bostick said several roofing companies appeared in his neighborhood after a hailstorm this spring. He thought many were too pushy, but the American Shingle sales rep was likable and low-key. 

He "assured us he could get us insurance money to replace our roof at no cost to us," Bostick said.

The salesman promised to send an estimator to meet with the insurance representative and go up on the roof to get an estimate for replacing it, Bostick said. "The insurance company would send us a check and we'd turn it over to them. In return, we'd have to guarantee they would get the job." 

Better Business Bureau guidelines says that's a mistake: A one-third deposit toward the total payment is standard. And consumers should get at least three estimates and learn more about the company they select., including how long it's been doing business in the area. 

Although a neighbor did get a refund from American Shingle, Bostick is still waiting.

His house did get a new roof. 

"I paid for it from my own pocket," he said. "So I'm out that money unless I get it back from American Shingle."

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/08/20/1632874/nc-attorney-general-probes-roof.html#ixzz0x9SVRESM