In spring and summer, there is an increased number of door-to-door salespeople knocking on your door. While there are many legitimate businesses out there, you may want to proceed with caution when a salesperson or contractor mentions a quick or inexpensive fix for your cracked driveway.
How do they trick you?
A typical paving scam starts with a supposed contractor knocking on doors offering a cheap, quick fix for a damaged driveway. The contractor may ask for a large deposit up-front. Just a few days or weeks after the job is completed, the homeowner finds out that the driveway starts cracking, sometimes leaving it in a worse shape than before the “repair” job. When the resident complains about the quality of work, the business promises to return to fix the driveway but never turns up. Sometimes the business is fake and the phone number gets disconnected as the homeowner attempts to follow up.
Door-to-door scams vs. bad business practices
While there are rules when it comes to legitimate door-to-door sales, scammers going door to door have no intention of following them. If you think you’ve encountered a scam, report it to your local police/RCMP and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
If you think you’re dealing with a legitimate business with some questionable business practices, we have information on how to spot the bad operators too.
Signs that the person at your door is a scammer
- You can’t find any information available about the business online. Or if you do, the site seems unprofessional, has spelling errors, and the contact information is missing.
- They are requesting cash only. This is a major red flag, especially when they ask for cash up-front.
- Pushy or aggressive sales practices. If you feel very pressured and uncomfortable, your gut may be telling you it’s a scam.
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About Consumer Protection BC
We are responsible for regulating specific industries and certain consumer transactions in British Columbia. If your concern is captured under the laws we enforce, we will use the tools at our disposal to assist you. If we can’t help you directly, we will be happy to provide you with as much information as possible. Depending on your concern, another organization may be the ones to speak to; other times, court or legal assistance may be the best option. Explore our website at www.consumerprotectionbc.ca.
Me and my mom got scammed by a company called AllSTONE Paving at the beginning of August this year. We live in Abbotsford
I got scamed by a company called PROSTAR PAVING. In Richmond BC
James and Ryan
Thick English accent
Left over ashphalt sealer
Terrible job
I feel terrible
I too was scammed by James from Prostar Paving here in North Bay, Ontario June 13th, 2023. Thick accent that I thought was maybe Irish. $15000 for a parking lot that looked great until it rained and it dissolved like a sand castle. Now we have a gravel parking lot. We have reported it to the police and RCMP
prostar paving owner ryan scammed 10,000.00 in victoria bc last summer and disapeared now not answering calls and changing names scammers
Got scammed by pro star paving they borrow ur trucks and don’t pay you after his name was Steve
Anybody know anything about BC ROADS PAVING? Two brothers with Australian accents.
Hi Rob, we have not heard of that business and a quick search on the internet and on the BBB site did not return any results. Having said that, we do not license or regulate paving companies in BC. If you are thinking of hiring a paving company, you can certainly make sure that their contracts are complaint with the BC laws. We have more information on contracts on this page of our website.
Hi Rob,
They’re here right now scamming us!
Hi, after reading the other comments i believe these two companies are the same, BC Roads Paving and Prostar. As we looked into BC Roads Paving when they opened up their business and it was just recent as August 2023. They’re English and not Australian as i talked with the brother, which he denies being the brother of the aggressive project coordinator/negotiator, Tom Bergmann. If you look at his business card and generic website they have 3 office addresses all in places that don’t really make sense for a paving company. They came by saying they had extra asphalt from another job and noticed we had a pothole in the front of our business that they could patch, they talked with my boss about doing a few in the back and that’s when the proceeded to pave our whole back lot and demanded almost 20,000 dollars which the original agreed upon price of 6,000, as we wanted them to do a small loading dock, which was not done. We have pictures, videos of him and his crew but the RCMP says this is a civil matter…
Hello and thank you for taking the time to write to us. As our name suggests, we work with BC consumers and are not able to intervene in the business to business transactions. Having said that, there seems to be a pattern of behaviour with this company. We are not able to directly assist you, but would you be able to still submit a complaint form so we may be able to look into this company? You can do so through our complaint assistance form on our website here. Thank you so much.
If you could share this information it would be a great help. There is an ongoing investigation into them here with the local police as they ripped off a number of homeowners. When police approached them with the Ministry of Labour they took off running into the bush and got away, Three of their employees were caught and were found out to be undocumented workers. The police are asking if we can get a photo or video. Please help if you can get these guys off the street taking defrauding people. HandyColby @ Yahoo.com
Hi,
i sent you an email with pictures.
A
James Moore from BC Roads Paving just visited my business and left a business card. I told him we were not interested, and he took off pretty quick. I am in the Cloverdale area.
BC Roads Paving is currently here in Kamloops and came to my business yesterday with the same scam, and told them not interested.
Also, down the street got hit by the same company BC Roads Paving and apparently they put a stop to their paving as they didn’t do what was requested. They demanded cash or a cheque and wouldn’t leave the property, finally left after company threatened to phone the police. Company mentioned that they issue pay invoices at the end of the month, and the leader apparently freaked out. Came back later with a few other guys and demanded payment. Company has now got the police involved.
BC Roads Paving (James and his crew) are here in the Yukon at the moment. I signed on to have my parking lot paved- terrible job. I paid via cheque, which they immediately took to the bank and certified- so I can’t cancel it. Beware!!