Lisa puts up a hidden camera in her house and catches the repairman in the act.
You may know how hard it is to find the right repair company when something breaks in your home if you own a house or an apartment. It’s really stressful because the wrong company might not do a good job or even steal your money.
Of course, most businesses and contractors are honest, but some charge a lot of money for work that they don’t do right.
To help stop this, Inside Edition reporter Lisa Guerrero decided to put in hidden cameras to catch some dishonest repairmen in the act.
Lisa said she was a homeowner and called two companies that clean air ducts for real. Both companies had deals going on, and one would clean her ventilation system for just $29. Lisa thought it was likely too good to be true, though.
Lisa had professionals look at the pipes before the repairmen got there. They found that they were just dirty and that a simple clean would do.
The team put up hidden cameras all over the house, even in the attic, just to be sure.
As soon as the first repairman got there, he began checking the ventilation system. But the hidden cameras showed that he looked through the owner’s things more than he checked the air ducts.
The guy sat down with Lisa after his inspection and told her that it would cost more than he thought at first. He told her there was a lot of dust and that he would have to clean it all up. There are now seven hundred dollars!
But Lisa and the experts had watched the video of his “inspection” and knew that he hadn’t even looked in all the places he said were dusty.
Lisa went up to the guy and asked him straight out if he was trying to scam her. The man ran out the front door after avoiding a few questions.
Then another shady repairman looked at the ventilation system and gave Lisa an even bigger bill. She chose to let him finish his work this time to see what he would do.
Watch this video to see the repairmen “at work,” and then see how they feel when Lisa talks to them about it:
I’m so mad about this! Repairmen who aren’t honest hurt the reputations of honest people all over the world, in part because they steal from homeowners.
Always learn more about a business before hiring it, and look online for reviews from past clients. Ask someone else to look into the work if you think you’ve been scammed. Also, call the police if it looks like the repair person didn’t do the work they said they would.