Southern Claims & Restoration Roofing Manipulated and extorted Insurance company to pay $19,000 for an $8700 roof - via kickbacks to adjuster or Insurance company. Terrell Texas

  These guys (Ken Nelson) from Southern Claims & Restoration Roofing in Terrell, Texas) roam the neighborhoods looking at roofs and telling people they need a new roof due to hail damage. They claim they are "General Contractors" and therefore they can replace your roof for "no" cost and provide you a nice monetary "Kickback!" It is a form of Insurance company extortion or kickbacks to the adjuster or to the Insurance company. It is also an attempt to persuade "low-information" or maybe "non-English speaking" people that they can get a "free" roof - and a monetary "kickback" also. They require that they (General Contractor/salesman) be there when the Insurance adjustor comes and manipulates/extorts/bribes the adjuster to provide an inflated adjustment to get more money out of your insurance company. He and the insurance adjuster produced a 20 page claim for $19,200 to simply replace my $8,700 roof. Please understand - my house is a $100K house in an older neighborhood and the roof that they put on would normally cost them no more than $7,000-$8,000 but they manipulated the adjuster to create a claim for $19,200. Out of the $19,200 they said they would pay me a $1,500 kickback (same as my deductible) and then demanded that I pay them $16,200 for replacing my roof. They could/would not even produce an Invoice but just demanded that I pay them the full $16,200 - without an invoice - just a "verbal" demand with a very large person that appeared at exactly the "right" time! No Invoice!! Would not even provide an Invoice but just demanded that I write the check!

Under duress I wrote them a check for $16,200 to get them to leave and to be sure the roof was completed that day. I stopped payment on the check and 2 days later gave them a cashier's check for $12,000 to get rid of them - and then they threatened me with a "Felony" and called me a "Felon." The owner - Ken Nelson - then comes to the house and demands that I pay them the entire $16,200 and threatens me again with a "Felony" and literally calls me a "Felon" for stopping payment on the check - just an extreme scare tactic to try to force me to pay - just like a loan "shark." Remember, their cost is around $7,000 for the roof - so the $12,000 cashier's check that I paid provided a $5,000 "profit" and "overhead" but they were still demanding that their "profit" and "overhead" should be an additional $11,000 on a $7,000-$8,000 roof. And "yes" I did get a call from the District Attorney's office inquiring about my being a "felon" - which they laughed off when I told them the story and send them proof of the $12,000 payment. I checked with several other reputable roofing companies in the area and they all said a maximum price for my roof using the same materials should cost no more than $8700 - including "profit" and "overhead." I have not paid the remaining balance but it was the only way that I could get an "Invoice" from them!

The salesman and company claim to be "good Christians" and are members of Covenant Church in Dallas. "Just out "scamming" and "extorting" people in the "Name of the Lord!" My neighbor had the exact same experience with them. Beware of "General Contractors" roaming the neighborhood offering to replace your roof for nothing and also give you a "Kickback!" It is an Insurance scam and a very questionable process of "extorting" your insurance company for funds that will greatly increase your policy rates in the coming days. I have presented the situation to my Insurance company, my state Representative - Ken Sheets - who is currently investing Insurance scams - and am in the process of contacting the Texas Attorney General, the Texas State Insurance Commission and Channel 4 Investigative Reporter - Becky Oliver. I will also contact other reputable roofing companies in the area to alert them to the scam. After the roof was finished - they placed 2 of the rotating ventilators right next to each other instead of in their proper locations eliminating any spaced benefit from having the ventilators. That is unacceptable and indicates that their roofers were either inexperienced or did not pay attention or the person in charge of managing the roof installation screwed up. The success of a good roof is having a person on the roof to provide management of the people working. That obviously did not happen. I am also suspicious that several plumbing vents are clogged with material. If they come to your door and tell you that they will give you a new roof and a "kickback" - Grab your wallet and RUN!!