Momax Builders Ripoff Stealing Money From Customers Northbrook Illinois

Taken from the Daily Southtown on Thursday January 27th

MoMax president in police custody

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Staff writerMoMax president Fred Resnick, wanted by police on charges of defrauding home improvement clients throughout the Chicago area, was taken into police custody Wednesday evening, police said.

Officers went to Racine County, Wis., to pick up Resnick and bring the builder back on an arrest warrant, said Sgt. Tom Sullivan, of the Hoffman Estates police, which requested the warrant.

After criminal charges were filed Thursday, Resnick allegedly swallowed rat poison and was recuperating in a Racine hospital.

Resnick was charged with felony forgery and theft by deception.

He and his building company also were sued last week by the office of Attorney General Lisa Madigan for bilking more than a dozen homeowners out of about $500,000. The suit is seeking restitution for those who claimed Resnick took their money and then never completed their contracted home renovations.

His insurance agent is Mike Schultz of Schultz Insurance in Mundelein.

I also had a bad experience with Momax Builders and I might be able to file an insurance claim for some damage done to my home. Fred Resnick never provided me with a copy of his insurance provider. I can reach anyone over there anymore. Who is it and what city are they located in. I think they are in Mundelein IL? Could you post the Momax insurance information and I will then call information for that phone number. Thank you

When Fred came out sign our contract. We had metioned what about the building permis and told us since there was no strucal change which was odd. If any one sarts a class action suit against Fred and Momax let me know or if you have a lawyer that would like to take this case on aslo. If have filed complaint with Cook County State Attorney's office and also have contacted chanel 5.

Fred never provided us with anything (i.e. sworn statement with a list of his suppliers, prices paid and/or a list of who would be providing the work) expect promises he couldn't keep and one lie after another. He kept on insisting that he had all of these long term employees, but as I said before, the only employee that I can find of his is is receptionist.

I contacted the Village of Arlington Heights and told them they had our permission to release our contact information to anyone who calls and requests it. The clerk said in order for them to release our information, they would have to receive a Freedom of Information Act Request (which they should be able to fax you) and request copies of any applications submitted in the last 3 months were Momax is listed as the general contractor.

I was able to contact Meghan in Evergreen Park through her Village so we have spoken several times via phone and email. She has filed with both the Attorney General and the State's Attorney offices and has also sent emails to the investigative teams at NBC, ABC and CBS (if you go on their web sites, there is a link directly to their investigative reporters). I think the more people they receive emails from the more likely they are to investigate.

I still have not received copies of the other complaints filed against Momax and Fred Resnick with the Attorney General's office, but they should come in the mail today (12/17).

We were never given the consumer rights packet (which included the certificate of insurance) so I had to obtain a copy from a friend.

Anyway, as you already reported, the policy was cancelled on October 27th, 2004. Quite interesting, given that Fred was in my home on November 7th, making arrangements for his workmen to resume work on the 10th.

Stanley was present as well, and neither informed us that the policy was invalid. In addition, the insurance agent verified that Fred's policy DOES NOT COVER SUBCONTRACTORS.

The insurance office said Fred's subs were supposed to have their own policies. I'd be shocked if the guys that worked on our place had a policy of their own. We never thought to ask at the beginning, when we were shown a copy of the insurance certificate in a Momax binder, as we believed everyone working for Momax was an employee.

So all Momax's marketing about their wonderful 2 million dollar insurance coverage is just bogus, as it doesn't cover any of the guys who are actually in your home!

Performing home improvement without the proper minimum insurance coverage is a violation of the Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act.
Any news from your end?

I just read your comment under Brian's complaint. Fred actually thinks he is entitled to keep $10,000 of your deposit? By what absurd line of reasoning does he think he is entitled to the money? Did he ever provide you with a contractor's sworn statement detailing who would be providing the work and materials and for how much?

By law, he is not entitled to one penny from you if he hasn't provided that - and that's just for starters... Failure to obtain permits and inability to demonstrate that he has ordered the essential materials to complete your project is a violation of the Home Repair Fraud Act in Illinois - see legislation 815 ILCS 515/ Home Repair Fraud Act - you can find it online.

I suspect there are plenty of violations there. I'm not an expert, but I have spent the last 2 months reading all the law regarding deceptive business practices, consumer fraud, home repair fraud, etc. I don't know how all of these things pan out in practice but at least in theory there are some serious issues there...

Fred did not provide a contractor's statement or lien waivers to a friend of mine (who also was told Momax doesn't use subcontractors).

My friend's kitchen cabinets were finally installed in November (after Fred lied about when they were ordered) by my friend didn't want to make the payment that was due at the time because he had not been given the contractor's statement or lien waivers.

Fred got nasty and threatened to place a lien on HIM. When he was told that he needed to provide proof that the cabinets had been paid for, Fred told him he'd bought the cabinets on a 60 day account and didn't have to pay for them yet.

He then sent him a ridiculous, phony lien waiver that HE (not the subs and suppliers) signed. He doesn't have the right to waive other people's lien rights. The ONLY time I have ever seen him send anything in writing was a letter to my friend demanding the money and threating on lien on him.

I called Arlington Heights today to start tracking you down but haven't received a call back. Our attorney is also working on it so hopefully we'll connect soon.

Sometimes the state's Attorneys General office will go after contractors who take money but don't do the job, moreso than if the builder did the job but did it defectively. Pooling your info, as victims of this crook, can be very helpful. Also check out www.hadd.com (Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings) I hope your state makes complaints public info because in states where it's kept under wraps, numerous consumers can be ripped off by the same company/person, all who researched the builder but could find nothing. That's how my state is...complaints are secret, and it thwarts consumers' efforts to find out who's reliable, in time.

Just wanted Teresa, Brian, and Meghan to know that I am reviewing this site daily. It really helps to know we're all in the same situation. I am working on a way to be able to find/contact all of you (via our attorney) so we can exchange details that cannot be posted on such a public forum. But I am VERY greatful for the existence of the ripoff report website - at least we all know of each other's existence!

Hello,
My wife and I have also fallen victim to Fred Resnick of Momax. Our home is in shambles and we are trying to get the financing to finish it. I have left a message with another person (Jennifer? maybe.). We are in the initial stages of filing a lawsuit now. Your info up to date has really helped. I posted a report to help the cause. We will update it within the next day or so. Let me know if you have found out how to get more info on the others (email would be great) so that we can discuss this further.

The last time we spoke to Fred was on November 24th and we indicated to him that we were not going to listen to anymore of his lies and would be meeting with our attorney and asked for the name of his. My husband spoke to Fred's attorney several times last week and he is supposed to be getting back to us tomorrow (12/6). We've indicated to Fred's attorney that the only resolution to this matter is for Fred to return our $20,000.00. As Fred lives in a $1,000,000 home in Highland Park, this shouldn't be a problem for him.

We have filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office and per your suggestion have also been in contact with the Cook County State's Attorney. We like you will also not rest until Fred returns our money. Someone has also suggested to us that we get in touch with every news station/new paper that does investigative reporting and see if they would be interested in doing a story on Fred Resnick and Momax Builders. I'm sure there would be several people who would have interesting stories to share. There was an article in the November 25, 2004 issue of the Pioneer Press on Home Repair Fraud.

Three of the checks were deposited into his personal account with Corus Bank and the other check he wrote to Yellow Square (a constuction company located on West Superior Street in Chicago).

The only one that Fred mentioned specifically would be working on our job, would be Richard the foreman who came to our house with Fred. We assumed from what Fred told us, that Richard worked directly for Momax. Fred's web site states that he has "over 100 employees with 20 working directly out of the main office" so obviously that would make the customer believe that the majority of the workers would be employees of Momax.

There were two other complaints against Fred on this site. One complaint was from a woman in Lincolnwood and the other a man in Park Ridge. We tried locating those people based on the information on their complaints, but were not successful.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I sent in a request for copies of all complaints filed against Momax (there have been 6 since 2001).

Chicago/Willow Springs can you give us an update? Has Fred returned your money? We are still in the process of trying to get our money back and are in contact with Fred's attorney and government agencies.

We signed a contract with Fred and gave him our deposit and since getting our money, he has done nothing - he hasn't even secured our permits from the village. He came to our house and convinced us to sign with him (he was referred to us by a neighbor) and when we signed the contract he stated that they would begin work as soon as the permits were approved, which would have been the 3rd week of Oct. It took him over 3 weeks to file for the permits and he only did that after we continually called him to find out why he hadn't done anything.

We have since found out from the village that he didn't complete the application for permits and didn't submit all of the correct documentation and that is why our permits were not approved. The village called him and he didn't return their phone calls. When Fred didn't return our calls, we found out where he lived and started calling his house so you might want to try that.

Fred has had our money for over 2 months and basically is getting an interest free loan while we're stuck paying a home equity loan.

Teresa
Arlington Heights, IllinoisU.S.A.