Jay and Sons Yard Cleaning Another Person Ripped Off by this Groupon Scam Artist Schenectady New York

I'm afraid that I, too was ripped off by this person.  I wish I had read previous reports before I paid him.  My story is very similar.  I saw his ad in Groupon and called him first to make sure he'd service my yard in Altamont before I purchased through Groupon.  He asked me to please deal with him directly and told me he'd give me the same deal.  

Josh, the owner (and sole employee) arrived at my house at the agreed upon date and time.  Similar to previous reports, he arrived in a small sedan, which should have raised a red flag, but I figured maybe he would bring a truck next time.  He was very personable and seemed very earnest.  He said he had three small children.  I really like to support small local business owners so I wanted to help him out.  I agreed to work with him directly so that he would not have to share the money with Groupon.

The estimate for mowing, weeding, clearing out one side of the house and mulching was $300.  He asked for 1/2 down and said he'd be back to do the work in three days, on Thursday.  I didn't have any $10 bills, so I gave him $160 cash.  He gave me a handwritten, yet vague receipt.

The next day when I arrived home from work I was happy to see he'd mowed one very small area of my front lawn and weeded one very small area as well.  I'd estimate he did about $30 worth of work.  This was encouraging since I didn't expect him until Thursday and it was only Tuesday. At this time, he told me a story about his 5-year old damaging his cell phone, so he said it wasnt working.

Thursday came - beautiful sunny day.  He didn't call or show.  All I had was a cell # and I remembered he said his phone was broken, so I looked on line for an alternate number.  When I googled his business, I saw the bad feedback and became very concerned. Also, there was no alternate phone number.  After calling and texting him, he finally responded and said he'd be over Saturday at 10:00 AM.

Well, it's Saturday afternoon.  He did not show up or call.  He has taken his website down and is not responding to my repeated texts or calls. He knows I'm a single parent, not a rich person and has evidently made off with my $160 too. So I'm stuck with this job and no money left to pay someone else.  I have filed a police report and also notified Groupon.

Scam artist.  Shame on him. Beware.