The traveling con artist known as driveway pavers is cranking up in Iberville parish. They almost scammed my 86 year old uncle out of 10,000 dollars to pave his driveway with asphalt. They saw him working around our shop and used the old *we have some left over asphalt from a job right down the street* ploy on him. They said for 3000 dollars they could pave the driveway ( limestone Road now) and my uncle agreed to this. Next thing you know they conveniently run out and need more so the price goes to 6000 then 9000 and they even tried 10000. My uncle was railroaded into signing a sad excuse of a contract for 9 grand and this is where we got involved. I called the sheriffs office and told them about the scam the day it happened and just let them know they may be needed the next day. I then lined up some family members and made plans to meet the asphalt people the next morning. I could not sleep as I was worried the scammers would beat us to the job site so I was up at 4 am then on the road at 5 am. My brother and I met my cousin ( my uncles son) at our shop and waited for them to arrive. They had already done work on about 3/4 of the driveway which at first glance looked good, but in reality was a 1 to 2 inch asphalt layer laid over the limestone. I’m sure they used the best quality ingredients also. Well the *travelers* didn’t show til 8 am, as I guess they had a long day of scamming people. The first group that arrived were just hired help as the owners were retrieving new tires for a skid steer they left jacked up in out yard with all four tires removed. The workers knew the gig was up and started to get mouthy so I called the sheriffs office and they sent some deputies to the scene. They were ultra professional and let’s just say they helped resolve the issue. We agreed to pay them for the work they did to this point (3000) and for them to pick up the machinery on our property and leave. The deputies had to leave before the owners got there and so naturally when they arrived and saw no deputies they went right in to con artist mode. One played the good guy and one was the bad guy. The good guy was working the *we do good work and don’t want any trouble* routine while the other worked the *we got a 9000 dollar contract signed * routine. I basically told the guy either take the money (which I actually increased to 3500 on advice from my uncle) or we would see them in court. He was pissed, but took the money, as we knew and he knew, they didn’t stand a chance in a Iberville parish court. It was very embarrassing for my uncle who has run our family business for over 40 years to have this happen to him. We did our best to let him know that this happens to a lot of people. He comes from that era where most people were honest and hard working and what they told you was the truth. He learned a hard lesson, but was able to recover, but unfortunately there are other elderly people that I’m sure were scammed later this day. If you want to read about these people just look up asphalt scams on the internet as there is plenty of information to keep you amused.
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