Erie Construction, Co., Erie Construction Midwest, Ripoff - Elderly Mother Scammed for Vinyl Siding Dayton, Toledo, Akron, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Port Huron, Traverse City, Clinton Township (MI) Ohio, Michigan, Indiana

First off let me start by saying i feel sorry for any one i sold any thing to via this company. If i had the time and money and list of all my customers while working with this company i would call them and apologize.

Well here is my imput to Erie construction as a company. First they lie lie lie lie lie and lie some more. There best salesman from the Dayton office lies so much that its becoming his every day life for every thing he does. The #1 lie they have is that all products are manufactured by Erie which is not true in the slightest. All the bathroom stuff comes from a distributor that also works with Improve It (another joke home improvement company) i believe its bath creations but i could be wrong all i know it isnt a Erie product.

All the roofing comes from another company as well as there is a few companys that are currently selling the same metal roofing and the fiberglass shingles are just slightly above bottom of the barrel shingles , also bought from a distributor. The whole gutter system is a Giant joke i mean they charge like 5x the price and hire some other company to do the work that you could hire the same company to do it for 5x cheaper. The siding is the same story bought from some one else. Its not bad siding just way over priced. The one and only thing Erie sells that may actually be made for just Erie or by Erie is there windows but i do beileve some other company is now making those to. Several yrs ago the windows used to say Erie on them and now they dont so chances are there also being bought from some where else. All kitchen products come from the name you see on the sample pieces they show you. Its a small company in another state that makes and sells the products they offer in that town and sells Erie the products when a order is placed from a Erie customer.

Second lie is the entire sales pitch. Thats all it is , a sales pitch they dont want to be your friend, they dont want to know your actual backround or any thing like that , its just a attempt to get the customer to like them to make it harder for the customer to say no when they drop some astronomical crazy high price on you. The office head manager will tell you to sell to a dying person , his justification for doing so well there going to need a new bathroom etc while there dying wont they.

Third lie . They will tell you that they have there own personally trained non sub contracted contractors , which is a giant lie. Half of the time the contractor will mess up and tell the customer that they could do the job for 4-5 times cheaper because they dont work for erie and are just hired to do the job. There is about 4-5 if that true Erie contracted contractors. Also i seen another persons response saying your not just paying for the product , your paying for good service , well stay clear of Erie then cause your not going to get good service. If your lucky to have one of the few contractors that actually know what there doing at least you will get your job installed correctly , but i wouldnt bet 1/3 of the money your going to pay on that.

Fourth lie. The Warrantys are bogus. There dream warrantys , if you can dream it then its covered in the warranty. In real life its not covered no matter what the issue is. When your hired on as a Erie saleman they give you a PC list (previous customers) well in this previous customer list it has all the people who got scammed into buying from Erie. Well as a Erie rep your supposed to call and sell at least 1 pc every month , which is very hard to do as if you try to call any of them you will instantly get hung up on or yelled at for the constant phone calls from Erie or the issues there having with there purchase and Erie doing nothing to fix the matter. Truth is if all the unhappy Erie customers were to get on here or the BBB then they would of been shut down a long time ago but most of it goes unreported.

Fifth lie. The pricing and discounts. Now this may be common in all sales to some degree but the way Erie goes about it is just wrong. If you buy from Erie they will tell you there is previous customer discount , but there isnt. If you had a problem with a previous install they will make up some type of discount but there really isnt one , just a scheme to rope you in and out of more of your money. They lie about products saving you money and will also say there is guarnteed savings which there isnt. Truth is your going to get the same old pitch and same old discounts as long as you keep saying no. The greedy saleman will go as far as 35% off the actual price in the pricebook , not the price they told you as most saleman jack up the price by 15-20 percent over the pricebook cost so there first discount looks amazing. Sometimes it will look like your getting the project done for 50% off but your not.

Well im gonna try wrapping this up as i could go on for several hours about all the bad about this company , but i dont think that is needed. All in all its just a terrible ran business only looking to pad there wallets and make the whole home improvements by a company look bad. Some one mentioned Window World for $199 installed and called it junk windows well that my readers just isnt true. Look online , read the reviews check the BBB they have a great ratings on both. Windows shouldnt cost no where near $1000 per one installed. BTW i do not work for any home improvement company at the time being and probally never will again after the taste Erie has left in my mouth. Erie is a one stop close company for a reason , because if you give any one a chance to do the research they should be doing before committing to such a large amount of money you will not like what you see.

To start, I do not work for Erie, but I do work for a similar company. This being said, my experience in this field as a sales rep should shed some light on a few of the said issues.

Paying $12k+ for siding on that size of a home isn't ridiculous or overpriced. If you're doing research on price (and price alone), you might find that to be the case.  Think of it this way. Would expect to buy a Kia for $17k? If so, do you get upset when BMW tries to charge you $35k? They are both sedans with similar gas guzzling abilities. They both have GPS and power windows and locks. I don't get it. Why is BMW so much more expensive?! Since the answer to this is rhetorical, I'll leave it to you to be able to move with me to the expanded topic....

...Not all siding, windows, doors, etc are manufactured the same, or use the same materials. Very simply, you pay more for higher grade materials. However, it doesn't stop there. When a company puts a true lifetime warranty on a product, they have to charge for future liability. You DON'T get this for free. It's built into the price. Also, the installation isn't free either, and when you get American Siding Institute, AMAA or AWDI certified installation crews (subcontracted or not), you're getting some of the best crews in the industry.

There are 3 levels of quality in the home improvement industry. Very simply they are: Builders Grade, Home Owners Grade, and Investment Grade. Any guess as to how they are priced? That's right, builders grade is the cheap stuff, and it goes up from there. Builders grade materials will typically fall apart or have problems in as little as 1 year, but may last up to 5. Home owners will last from 8-12, and investment grade, 20+.

So let's go back to why I say that $12k isn't overpriced. Think of future cash flows. AKA, what is the cost of ownership. Let's say you buy a cheap builders grade siding, and you let your neighbor install it. You might get the job done for $5k, but you got basic PVC with low wind ratings and R-rating insulation value. Remember that this is builders grade, and could likely give you problems in as little as 1 year. You're rolling the dice to get 5 years on it.

Here's a scenario you might run into with your purchase. Your neighbor probably won't warranty it at all. If he does, getting ahold of that person will be difficult, and he may put a higher priority on other things in place of taking care of your warranty issues if they pop up. The only way to get in touch with him is by his cell phone, and there's no way to take him to court if he doesn't own up on a verbal warranty. Therefore, you're likely going to have to repair or replace your siding again. So what if you have to replace it ALL again? Are you going to spend another $5k? I hope not, because you probably don't want to have the same problems draining your bank account. So maybe this time you decide to go with an investment grade product, but now it's a couple years later and prices have gone up. Now it's $13,500. So let's add that up. You've just spent $18,500 on siding, when you could've just spent $12,500.

Not only did you save money by getting it done right the first time, but you never spend maintenance costs, because the warranty takes care of that for you. Also, you're getting a significantly higher R-value (generally a 2.5 to a 3 versus a 1.5), and you'll save a ton more on your heating and cooling bills, not to mention adding life span to your furnace and air conditioner. That's why they call it investment grade, because investments pay you back over time. 1) You should recoup 60-76% of your investment the day it's installed in home equity. 2) You only need 30-40% returned in evegy savings to break even. Let's say you save $75 per month on utilities with this. That means in 10 years, you'll save $9000 (and that's a low figure assuming the cost of energy rises).  So let's redo the math here. You spend $12,500. You receive the low end of 60% return in equity, which is $7500. Then you save as little as $50 per month, or $6k over 10 years. That puts $1000 back in your pocket. Now your furnace and A/C would normally have died in 6 years, but you've stretched their life to 8, so you might not have to replace those too many times in your life. So that's good. I'll let you calculate the savings there.  Lastly, if anything happens to your siding from here, you're not going to have to pay a dime to have it repaired or replaced. Your warranty covers that. What's that in savings? Yup, tack that on too!

As for the comment about getting some of your money back on the loan, here's where the misscommunication is. There are energy credits available. I believe right now it's up to $500. Used to be $1200. That ended in 2009 I believe. Also, the equity build up in your home. What he was suggesting is paying cash for the project after it's complete with an equity loan. With increased value in the home, you should qualify for an even lower APR on a home equity line of credit or loan.

To address the other issues regarding sales tacktics. It's not uncommon to spend hours in a home. The reason we do is to inform the customer of this information, because without it, people tend to shop on price and price alone. With this information, you would be more informed, and more likely to make the smart choice in buying higher quality. Just because your'e buying higher quality, doesn't mean you're being conned into buying something you don't need. If you bought junk builders grade now, you might feel stupid. We're helping you from not being or feeling stupid.

 It's very sad though. Some people think that sales reps are trying to sell them something they don't need, but these people are too dumb to know any better. They think everything coming out of their mouth is a lie, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Ever seen Window Worlds ad for $199 for a double hung window installed? HA!! You think anyone buys that crap? Maybe for a dog house. Maybe it's because of those ads that make people think that $1000 for a window is absurd. Um, no. $199 for a window is absurd. $1000 is what you should be spending.

I am currently in the market to purchase new windows in my home. My nieghbor had recently put triple pane windows installed in their home by Erie. I went over to see how they looked and what they thought about them. They were thrilled, Quote"The whole experience was good." they liked there salesman, i asked them the price. $11,299 for 15 windows. Wow. At first i thought that was a lot. They same way you are crying about 12,000 for siding for grandmother. I know nothing about windows.. so actually how the hell do i know if that is a lot. I decided to more research than i care to admit. What i learned was interesting.. That price for a triple pane window installed is really good. I also learned that the Erie window does not use aluminum spacing systems in between the glass, meaning the gas fill will stay in there, unlike metal glass systems. I have no sympathy for your situation, a feel you have no right to bad mouth a company on the internet for this situation with your grandmother. Who are you to say what is right and wrong for her. Looking at that house, siding would probably have been one the best things she has ever spent her money on. Obliviously looking at condition of that yard, you have not lifted a finger to help her. Your story tries to blame sales reps. for going into a house they were invited to by the homeowner, (who is your grandmother, not you)and doing their job. The reason that house is loosing so much value is you need to do home-improvements as needed to build value. Same reason i am putting windows in my home with Erie. I feel unless you were going to the oblivious home improvements that your grandmother's  house needs, you did a serious disservice for your family, and the people you shouldn't be blaming is Erie or it's employees. If her house had brand new siding on it i could see you being upset. Age doesnt mean ignorance, good job protecting your inheritence.

I work there and know exactly what happens... Erie Construction might have some satisfied customers....Some people might be pretty dumb about buying a 30,000$ roof that they don't need.  We sub-contract and some of the contractors might do a good job, but most the customers I talk to are PISSED.... Rick Meyer is a crook as known in his case with the OHIO SUPREME COURT, ask him how he lost his license to practice law....FRAUD.... Erie construction hired him probably because Erie is full of Fraudulent people and they love hustling the average consumer.....  Well, his real name is "Richard Allen Meyer,jr"  google it.....DO NOT GO TO ERIE CONSTRUCTION

Erie has infested and are still preying on Tipp city!!! They were at my parents house last week - I told my mom be weary when they call you back.

They stopped at my house more than 2 years ago. Said they could do it all...new siding, new windows, gutters ect.

I was in school at the time. I am a widow with a child and struggling through school. I told them I was not interested. Yes they spent 3 hours trying to convince me!!! Lots of personal questions!! When do I get out of school, how and when my husband passed on(I think its to catch you off guard!)

I explained in many ways that I didnt have the money and I didnt want their services. I did say that if I ever thought about doing some work I would think of them.....I guess this gave them a foot in the door. Because I recieved phone calls and house visits for almost 2 years every week from @ 4 different people in their office with the vandalia phone number.At one pointthey sent someone to do an estimate for me.....I told them no I dont want it!! I was glad I was home that day!!When I did answer (most went to answering machine) I always told them No....and not any time soon. Earlier this year finally I told them not to call back or I would report them.

They do not take no for an answer easily..............

My mom told them about my problems with them and they got nasty with her and hung up on her.....thank God - she wont have to deal with them!!

But we have alot of elderly neighbors and I worry about them!!!

There is going to come a day when every Company that is involved doing IN HOME SALES is going to find they are not welcome in homes. This is because of the just rude and militaristic approach that these companies take.

This Company especially

As an ex-employee, I am writing this to warn others to beware of this horrible company. I have read all the rebuttals and a lot of them have valid points. Listening to current employees is a waste of time. It is the human condition to defend that which their livelihood depends on, even if it is bilking the elderly out of their life savings. I worked for Erie for a short period of time, and quit because I could not fathom going into work for this company for one more second.

First off, if you respond to an ad in the paper (in the toledo blade it is a western theme Wanted Poster), you will be called by numerous telemarketers numerous times, sometimes multiple times a day. Little sidenote here, I knew I was quitting and had about 3 days of work left before I had to start my current job, and in those three days I basically just called people and agreed with their gripes. One older gentleman told me straight up "You need to get yourself away from that company", to which I responded "Well, I already quit, got something 1000x better lined up, and I feel for you too, because these calls probably will not stop anytime soon"

See, these particular guys like that one I mentioned are the ones with half a brain. But Erie has no use for them.

Here is a word to the wise for anyone considering buying a roof. These roofs, on average cost well over $10,000. f**king ridiculous!!! You can get a hard working American from your own hometown to do it for under $5k -and don't even rebut with any bullshit that it will be a shoddy job. The d****ebag salesmen working for Erie don't know jack about roofing, much less how to treat honest American consumers. Speaking about shoddy jobs, Erie claims they do not subcontract their jobs out. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT!!! Over a dozen people I spoke with told me that after the popped-collared axe-body-spray-smell-emitting salesmen closed the deal, they were followed by teenage mexican workers doing unsafe work and then not showing up to do a follow up.

While I was scheduling appointments for people actually interested in getting their roofs done - 90% of the time the d****ebag salesmen wouldn't even show up to the appointment. They wouldn't even call. Some people were naive enough to reschedule a couple times only to be stood up again. More than a dozen people told me of salesmen just driving by their houses and not even stopping by because they believed their house to be not expensive enough. I felt sorry for the people that did end up having the salesmen stop by because most were rude and racist.

The entire time I worked there, about 5 months, I talked to well over 10,000 people. Of those select few that actually had purchased a roof, most had complaints about them - leaks, no follow up appt, etc.

Consumers Beware: this company is not for you. They use shady sales tactics and even shadier contract language. Do your local economy a favor and hire your friend or your neighbor roofer to do the great job that thousands of roofers across this country can do - for 75% the price!

With all due respect for Ripoffalert.com and other consumer advocacy websites: Why do a lot of consumers end up here after a bad experience instead of coming here before they sign a contract or make a purchase?

James is correct on a few of his points. Any company that provides goods and/or services is bound to have complaints, which usually are misunderstandings between seller and consumer. Misunderstandings are ALWAYS the lack of the seller communicating properly to the consumer, period!! ALWAYS!!! Sometimes this is from lack of experience, sometimes its intentionally misleading consumers to earn commission.

So, complaints will happen because we're all human. The real test of a company is the manner in which they resolve complaints.

James makes a point when he mentions that another family member was present when the sales people arrived, but for some bizarre reason, did not attend the presentation nor assist their mother with the purchase knowing of her infirmities. Shame on you!!

James, forgive me, but your presentation here is not helping your case that much. First, your grammar, spelling, and punctuation are probably at a 7th grade level. This leaves me with the impression that if you're the company advocate, I understand where the communication gap is.

James, you also give some misleading information. Such as: "the loan is tax deductable."
Only the interest is tax deductible, which only reduces taxable income; so in reality, the consumer only gets back a very small amount of the purchase, and only if they itemize. Your statement is intentionally misleading and lends itself to the lack of credibility of you and your company. And why mention "over 80,000 satisfied customers" which obviously can't be validated? Is this more misleading information? Or is it typical high pressure sales tactics?

James is correct in that they are a member of the BBB. This is rather self serving in that any company that PAYS for BBB membership "is a standing member of the Better Business Bureau". James, when you throw that kind of information out there, you better check yourself out on their website: (((Redacted))) More specifically, (((Redacted)))
Erie Construction receives a B- rating, which on the surface may not seem bad, but the reason the BBB rates the company so low is for their lack of response in settling complaints. And yes, as a consumer, B- is a low rating as far as I'm concerned, for this type of purchase. Here's why...

James is correct when he states that the BBB registered complaints, for the most part, have been resolved. Look up the stats at the BBB site. My problem with Erie is that the majority of the 152 complaints filed in the past 36 months with the BBB, are for contract issues, guarantee or warranty issues, and sales practice issues. Remember, these are company controllable issues that should never have taken place to begin with!

James, here's the real concern: Your company has a lackluster rating from the BBB, but this is only due to the people that took the time to report you to the BBB. My experience tells me that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Statistics within the industry is that only 25% of unhappy consumers report their problems to the BBB or take similar action after unsatisfactorily trying to resolve the problem with the company, so in reality you probably had closer to 500-600 complaints in the past 36 months. This doesn't count the complaints that were resolved and create satisfied customers as you mention. This is only the customers that got no satisfaction to their complaints.

Dear consumer: This is a red flag! Do your homework first!

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Erie Construction has had over 80,000 satisfied customers,and with any company,you are going to have a few complaints. We're only human. Also,these kinds of websites are fine,but are you really getting all the facts you need? I mean,I could write that I'm a millionaire,would you believe me just because I wrote that on this website,or would you need more facts?

This is why Erie Constuction is a standing member of the Better Business Bureau,if you referance there,you will see that any complaints that has been made against our company has been resolved. We are not out to cheat anybody,we would not still be in business if we did. We have been in business for fifty years,again,to have as few complaints in fifty years is a pretty good record,wouldn't you agree?

Again,thank you for your time

I am an employee of Erie Construction, and I would like to take a little time and go through this "complaint". First off, all of are leads are confirmed, meaning, the appointments are arranged by the homeowner with our people, and then called, and confirmed by our office. Then it states that the mother was aproached by two nice men to talk with her about siding,if the complainets wife knew of the mothers condition,what was the reason she didn't go inside? (I'm just asking.) We are only salesmen. When we go to homes where the customers are elderly we always ask if another family member is available to help with the decision. always.

As far as too much money, we use 100% upvc, not recycled pvc,plus many other features and benifits with using our product. Money back for refinancing, yes, the loan is tax deductable, and anytime you make a home improvement,your home is worth more money as a whole through appreciation. Asking for cash, and financing, yes, some people like to put mony down so there loan payments are within there budget. The condition of the home inside, each office goes into many, many homes in a weeks time, you should see some of the homes we go into.

Canceling the contract. We do not count the day the contract was signed. Also, we only count business days, so if the contract was signed on a Saturday, she would have had until midnight Wednesday of the following week to cancel.

Why would you need to copy and paste on our website for this, I'm a little confused on that one. Our website is used to inform the public of our product, and if interested, they can E-Mail us on what product they would like us to contact them on.

By writing this, I do not mean to degrade,or insult the complainet, far from it, I only mean to give the other side of the story.

Thank you

Word of mouth is a good way to help people avoid them, but I think your story should be on TV to really get the word out. From what they did to me and from the several stories I've read and heard about, they should not still be in business. They don't deserve to be a part of the Better Business Bureau. It makes them sound like they are a better company because of it. I can not understand how businesses ran like this can stay around for so long. I've heard from several ex-employees that this is how they're trained, so Erie can not just blame it on a few of their employees. If your story was heard on TV, I'm sure that there would be several other individuals that would call up the TV station to report their stories too.

Not to beat a dead horse but finding out more of what my Mother was offered by this company made me write an additional update.



When she told us they told her "nobody would finance her" as mentioned by the gentleman in Toledo who used to work for them, I found out it wasn't just to refinance the siding she already had cash for it in full, which she handed them. Turns out one of the gentleman at her house were their mortgage guy. The refinancing idea they were handing here was not just for the siding, but on her house.



Not only were they overcharging this old diabetic woman for siding, asking her to call her bank to see how much she had in it, taking $12,582.00 for a house that is 1009 square feet, but was going to refinance her mortgage to get her money back. These meant they would have ripped her off on siding and OWN her home! She would have given them the cost upfront, paid too much and then be making payments on her home to THEM!



My parents had purchased this house in 1957. I believe they had taken two mortgages out on it, but it was paid for and is one of their assets. My Father is in a nursing home and my Mother lives alone with my mentally handicapped 40 year old brother. The nursing home costs quite a bit even with the little help she gets from Social Security. She has been late on payments to the nursing home to the point that they have threatened to discharge my Father who cannot walk and has had several strokes.





This was discussed in detail with the Midwest Sales people in their two visits, one lasting over three hours, and yet they still pursued to empty her bank account, give her back the amount of already outlandish priced vinyl siding and was moving in to owning her home. She even told them about her diabetes and insulin use and how she had not been able to purchase her medications, (which are many; including the insulin, blood pressure medicine, cholesterol medicine and nearly five others), while she waited for Humana Services to get her on a prescription plan. Which were solely due to our actions that assisted her in getting assistance. If we hadn't interrupted their last visit my Mother would have been raped financially by this company for vinyl siding.



It is difficult enough for elderly people to make it after retirement but to add the circumstances that my parents are facing makes it especially difficult. These representatives of Midwest Construction heard all the details from my Mother and still pursued to scam her thoroughly. I realize that people need to be very careful with scams coming from every direction but to have these guys look her in the eyes and still proceed to rip her off is alarmingly shocking. Even though the deal did not go through, thank God, I am determined to alert everyone about this company that by all rights, (even checking the Better Business Bureau), seems to be a legitimate company. These are tactics I would expect from a fly by night organization, not one that by all appearances seems to be a large and dependable group.

I worked for Erie Construction for a short while, and yes, this type of thing is everyday practice. ESPECIALLY if the potential customer has cash. A big thing is that many of the people they're able to sucker can't get financed anyway, so they can't get paid even if they close them. If someone has CASH, they'll do just about anything to get the deal, knowing it'll pay out for sure.



They are a sales company, not a construction company. They don't make their money providing good products, service, etc. Their thing is to sell people windows, siding, doors, etc. at more than twice there actual value with strong sales techniques. No question about it.

Luckily, we did get the check(s) cancelled, even on a Sunday. After asking my Mother more about how all this came about and a call to one of the salesmen revealed even more about this company.

My Mother told us that she would get her money back. We weren't sure if she meant because of the home value increasing or exactly what she meant by that, so pressing her she told us that although she was paying for the siding upfront, (NOTE: Never pay for home improvements upfront, work out payments as the job gets done), they told her they would refinance her siding through their own financing company. So, not only would she have paid an outlandish price for the vinyl siding, but then turn around and pay interest fees on something she paid for in full. When we called the cell number they had left with her and told her that she was cancelling, the guy got pretty tough mouthed and said that she had went past her three day contract date, (she hadn't, the copy showed her signing on Saturday), and kept reinforcing that it was up to his company how they would handle it. When asked why they, (his co-worker and him), had the gall to ask how much she had in the bank, he denied ever asking her that. Turns out not only was my cousin there at the time, they told her to call the bank and sat while she did so. They bold-faced lied to us thinking that since we weren't there at the time we would not know the truth. We finished out conversation with him and his company better not contact my Mother or hassle her or we would get a hold of the Better Business Bureau, the local TV station and the police. Luckily, we haven't heard anything else from the company and my Mother hasn't had any hassling visits or calls. I hope it stays that way.



As a company that seems to be pretty legitimate, I cannot believe the sales practices that they have and the lies and deceit they use. But, the company can always say that they cannot be responsible for how "some" of their sales people go about selling their products, even if they are trained that way.



I am glad that we found RipOff Report.com before my Mother lost $12,582.00 on vinyl siding she could get for x5 the amount.

If you do not send a "WRITTEN CANCELLATION" to them with in the 3 days, they continue to try to tie you into the contract. Make sure to cancel the check if you haven't already. I filed a report with the Better Business Bureau and they then backed down and allowed me to cancel. For the whole story, visit my Ripoffreport page, http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff175924.htm They will make you think you have to pay, but you should still be able to get out of it. Just don't give in. They tried to lower the cost to "be nice" but it's still way more then it should be. Keep your story posted on here to continue to warn others. Good luck.