Paul Hale, Hale Fence Installations and Repair Service Magic Took the Money and Ran Internet

At this point, I dont know if Service Magic is a scam company or not. Im leaning toward them being a scam company. Heres the story. I hired a fence contractor shown as a professional contractor on Service Magics website. My specific reason for going with this contractor is because they were listed on Service Magics website and I hoped in going through them, I could avoid being scammed by all of those crooked contractors out there, and there are plenty. The reason for this is because they supposedly put the contractors they recommend through this 10 point screening process to determine their credentials, etc.

This contractor, Paul Hale owner of Hale Fence Installations and Repair gave me a bid of $4201.00 to complete the fencing project, which seemed fair enough. I gave Mr. Hale $2100.00 down, which was supposed to be used to order the product. After receiving the contract from Mr. Hale, I was informed by him that the product should arrive within 7-10 business days form the order date of 6/15/2010. Well as I sit here writing this complaint, no product has arrived. Furthermore, as I found out only today from the company Mr. Hale was supposed to place the order through, the order hasnt even been placed. After issuing a complaint to service magic, they did contact Mr. Hale by phone and on a 3-way conversation, he informed me that he would take care of the situation by driving up to Dallas to pick up the order himself. He said that it was only an error that the product wasnt ordered, only pricing quoted.

However, as I quoted previously, NO PRODUCT HAS BEEN ORDERED.

Additionally, since the situation has escalated to this point, Mr. Hale has not called me to discuss any outcome on this problem. I call him repeatedly and get NO RETURN PHONE CALL. But before getting my money, Mr. Hale was available by phone always, and very receptive to my questions, also if I didnt reach him initially, he would always call me
back right away.

When advising Service Magic of my finding today of no product being ordered, the Customer Service Rep, Jo, said I am putting all the information in your file. When I questioned her today about their responsibility in this situation, she informed me that they are an advertising company. This statement leads me to believe that this Rep.thinks that they have no responsibility in these situations. After further questioning, she did admit that they put people together to have work done, and that is certainly more than merely advertising. Also, when telling her that I expected something to be done immediately, she
informed me that this the information was only given to them a day ago.  Well it may be a day for them but its been over a month for me and this guys not calling me back, hasnt placed the order on my materials and has been given $2100 of my money. Now really, how patient should I be? As far as Im concerned, I shouldnt be in this position at all!!!!

So, what I say to do from this day forward is try to find out more about these people who are contractors. Dont trust the company and what they claim about the contractors they recommend. Obviously, Service Magic DOES NOT DO ALL THE SCREENING THEY CLAIM. Get your own references, pictures, etc. If you give them money, get something from them; DRIVERS LICENSE NUMBER, CERTIFICATION, SOMETHING SHOWING THIS PERSON IS WHO THEY SAY. BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN, SERVICE MAGIC DOESNT DO WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT CHECKING THESE PEOPLE OUT. DO A LITTLE EXPERIMENT, FIND OUT HOW THEY REALLY DO SCREEN, HAVE SOMEONE CONTACT THEM AS A CONTRACTOR, CATCH THEM OFF GUARD!!!