Contractor Roy Friedman Standard Oil of Connecticut, Inc. Another Shell Game: The Contractor Shuffle Bridgeport Connecticut

In my 55+ years I thought I had seen it all. After all, I had lived from Maine to Florida. Traveled to a dozen  foreign countries in Europe, the Middle East and Central America. My Dad ran a business in the Fort Apache Section of the Bronx. And, I had been a project manager in NYC commercial construction, complete with No-Show Jobs, Phantom Timecards, and whatever else people a whole lot older than me had dreamed up.

 But, despite all these firsthand life-forming experiences, this twist on the old shell game (remember those hustlers standing in front of the NYC subway steps ?) took me totally by surprise. I want to share this quick story with all of you, to give you a heads-up about some really bad people right here in Fairfield County and to help you to be ultra vigilant the next time you call a contractor.

 Way back in 2008 my wife and I decided to get a new heating system for our 52 year old house. The current one was more than 20 years old and was costing us a small fortune in oil bills. We asked around and came up with the names of 4-5 HVAC Fairfield County contractors. Some close friends in the heating and oil business in New Haven, and family in Bridgeport pointed us to Roy Friedman of Standard Oil. This guy had quite a pitch – son of immigrant Poles who started hauling coal in 1913, now the largest family-owned oil company in CT and the sponsor of a pink truck to raise awareness for breast cancer. Wow a contractor with a big heart !

 Fast forward to 2010. By then the true character came out. They had long ago been paid for the heating and air conditioning system, and we settled into the humdrum of oil deliveries and service plans. But, when the system started making lots of low-pitched rumbling noise and developed vibrations so severe that they could be felt thru the couch in the Living Room, they seemed to forget where our house was.  So, by the second half of 2011 when they sent over another contractor who gave an estimate of almost $12,000 to fix the system, we said “Whoa”. But, neither the contractor nor Friedman would explain to us the problems that required us to spend that kind of money. The manufacturer told us that we should get a professional engineer to give an independent assessment. Voila, in less than 2 months she figured the whole thing out. (Yes, sometimes it takes a woman.)

 We were ready for the usual denials and empty promises and Team Friedman did not disappoint. We heard things like “The system worked fine for 2 years, so we must have done a good installation.” And, of course we’ll fix anything IF ....” Of course, the problems never got fixed by them.

 Things really got interesting once we got to Court. That’s where you can ask your contractor for papers and documents and stuff they hadn’t given before. And, its how we first pieced together the game we now call “The Contractor Shuffle”. Here’s what we found:

 There are two important things to know about the CT Consumer Protection Law. First, a mechanical contractor has to put his license number on all stationery, cards, trucks and contracts. Our contract had Roy Friedman’s number on it (and, only his number, as its his company.) Second, only a licensed contractor can “engage in, practice or offer to perform services”.

 From a Freedom of Information Act Inquiry (remember this pesky little law?), in 2015 we learned that Friedman’s license had expired on 8/31/2005 and was only reinstated on 2/24/2009, about 42 months later.

 Let’s quickly go back to 2008.

 Of course, Friedman wasn’t going to let a little thing like an expired license stand in the way of a $15,000 heating system sale and a new oil customer. So, here’s how he handled our sale and installation:

First, he got a permit expeditor named Michael Coates, to file for the Westport permit application;

Then, he had the permit made out with the active license number for Gregory Gilbertson, the company’s service manager, not his expired number;

and,

 Finally, he delegated the installation work to a guy named Robert Dutch, an Independent Contractor from Monroe.  And, of course, he kept all of this hidden from the customer.

 What a picture.

 So, let’s recap: I’ve got a contract with Friedman’s expired license number on it; the certification to the town, that all state and local laws will be followed, was signed by a man from New Haven with an expired home improvement contractor license;  the mechanical permit application lied about the work being performed and therefore, the required electrical, plumbing and chimney permits were never taken out; and, almost five years after we started complaining about the problems, in June 2015,  Team Friedman decided to let us in on another secret – the system was actually installed by a guy whose active licenses and own insurance substituted for Friedman’s.

 The $64,000 Question is “Who’s to Blame” ? Is it Roy Friedman, who’s company and license number is on the contract, and the guy who received the money ? Or, Michael Coates, who’s name and signature confirmed to the Town of Westport that all laws will be followed ? Or, Gregory Gilbertson, who’s license number is on the Westport permit? Or, Robert Dutch, the licensed and insured contractor who was substituted at the last minute and came to work the last day of the installation ?                            

Unfortunately, the answer seems to be dependent on who you ask ? There are those who say that it’s Friedman, as it’s his company’s name on the contract. But, don’t forget that his license was expired. Code officials look to the permit application, as that person executed a legal document. And we’ve heard from more than one contractor that the only thing that matters is that the person actually doing the work had a valid license.

BTW – If you want to really see this stuff for yourself, go to Google and search for - “Standard Oil of Connecticut v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act, CV125029769S”, then to Appellate Case Lookup at  http://appellateinquiry.jud.ct.gov/ , search by Docket Number, and enter 36724. You’ll find Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 pretty interesting reading.