Frank DeMaria, Home Improvement Consultant Spiking the job. Asked for upfront money but never delivered materials or contractors to build decks. Niskayuna, New York

On 05/26/09 we hired Mr. Frank DeMaria as a consultant who promised to organize labor, architect and materials for the construction of a front and back deck for our house. He asked for his fee, $2,500, plus an up front payment of $9,000 on 05/26/09 and 06/12/09, respectively, with the promise that the materials would be delivered the project started by 06/22/09. After 10 months and numerous excuses why the materials were not delivered and the project started, he came to our house on 04/09/10 with more promises and a request for an additional $3,000 that he said he was going to give the contractor as faith money the project would go ahead. By 05/25/10 we had not heard from Mr. DeMaria and we called and left a message to return our call. He did not return it. On o5/26/10 we left four messages for him to return our calls. On 05/27/10 he finally responded, at which time we asked if he wished to break the contract. He answered in the affirmative. He said he would send us a refund check in the amount of $12,000. Our initial outlay by that time had been $14,500. We verbally agreed to let him keep his $2,500 fee even though he had only completed less than a third of the consulting services he promised. Once again, we heard nothing from him nor saw nothing from him. On 08/11/10 we called him again and he promised he would send a letter of intent to refund our money. We did receive a letter from him on 08/28/10 in which he indicated he would send a payment to us by the third week in September and pay the balance within 60 days. We have not heard from him since and he has not returned our phone calls.