My wife was approached by a man at our door saying he had extra asphalt and was willing to unload it really cheap if she was interested. My wife and I have always wanted the lower portion of out driveway blacktopped so we asked him how much would it cost for the area we wanted done. He quoted $25/yard which we responded we don't know how to figure that out quickly can you please give us a solid number, he then said he could do the work for about $1250.
We agreed to the price and he had his crew there within an hour and started. My wife went out when they were about half way done and he said things were going well and that they were at about $2200 at the moment. My wife told him that is not what was agreed upon at the begining and he stopped his crew immediatley. He then measured what he had already put down and did the math right in front of my wife and said it would be $2200 for what they had done and if we wanted the rest done then it would run about $3800.
My wife then told him we do not have that much and to stop work. He ended up "settling" for $1700 which we had to write a check for and have since put a stop payment on that check and filed a police report with out district. Please do not do any work with this company and he does go under several different names.
I also have tons of weed growth coming through the asphalt- for months and months I’ve reached out- once they said they’d come like ok and never came- the rest of the time they don’t respond
They tried this with us, in MI but we investigated them while they were still on the property, unfortunately I don't think we got away totally unscathed, we will know in a few months if it falls apart. I looked them up while they were outside, talking with my husband and I fed him information in real time via text while he was talking to Ed. They had to actually pour 3 inches as they had stated they would because my husband watched them the entire time, after I warned him about their reviews so there wasn't a chance of them only doing a thin layer (which is likely what they were planning). Since we already had a solid base which is about 2 ft. thick of packed stone & aggregate already I am hoping it won't fall apart come summer.
They started working before we had settled on terms or signed the "contract". When we pushed for a written agreement "Ed Smith" provided the least detailed single piece of paper I had ever seen. Terms were not clear but my husband did get him to add their phone number and that no deposit or payment would be due until after the job was complete and that they add some kind of warranty as Ed told us there would be "Guaranteed for one year" but no other details. What is it guaranteed to do, not levitate off the ground? No address or number were printed on it, those were hand filled in.
Interestingly enough they gave us the website listed above, but claimed not to be the same "E&J BlackTop" that has the negative reviews in Ohio. If you do the math the # of jobs they claimed to have done would mean they had to complete OVER 1,000 JOBS A DAY for 7 days a week for the past 18 years they are claiming to have been in business. Their "Contract" doesn't have the address of the business on it, we asked for it, they tried to pass off a UPS PO Box as a physical location but we told them we need an actual location before they can get any money, we need to know what their LLC is under as they have "E&J Black Top, LLC" on their business cards but no "LLC" on their "contract" and I could not find any E&J Black Top, LLC" in the business entity search either by Owner/agent name or by the actual business name. We need proof of insurance/bonding, proof of workman's comp. ins., contractor's license (required for excavation but not for asphalt in MI, & website includes excavation as one of the services they offer). We had been clear about needing to vet them from the beginning but they have to date still not provide any proof of who they are. I took pics of the license plate that was on their trailer and it was from Louisiana despite their assertion they have been a MI company since 2001. Their actual vehicles (2 grey new trucks which were not the vehicles being used to tow the trailer, their actual vehicles) were lacking license plates.
They have damaged our landscaping with their vehicles and the job itself, while at this time does seem to be 3 inches thick, was poorly done. The crowning was not correct, water pools (which is not good), the edges are not sharp and they tried to hide this by sweeping the gravel they removed from our driveway when they graded it up to the edges. Once we dug that away we could see the very messy and crumbly edges. They didn't finish the job and stated whey would return to complete it in 3 days. It rained and snowed the days in between as well as the day they returned. We agreed it does not appear the job could be completed until spring. That is when they started hitting us up for money for what they had done (remember they started before we had come to terms so we weren't happy about that). They will not get a dime from us and if they return to our property we will be calling the police, who we've already contacted to explain the situation to. Maybe then we can get their actual contact information. If that occurs I will post.The good thing is any contract entered into under false or misleading statements (ie fraud) are not enforceable so good luck to them in getting paid for their very poorly completed job with what is likely recycled, not new asphalt as claimed and for damaging our landscaping. I haven't even gone into the debris they left behind on our lawn in addition to the lovely and multiple ruts left in our yard.
E&J Blacktop Reviews
My wife was approached by a man at our door saying he had extra asphalt and was willing to unload it really cheap if she was interested. My wife and I have always wanted the lower portion of out driveway blacktopped so we asked him how much would it cost for the area we wanted done. He quoted $25/yard which we responded we don't know how to figure that out quickly can you please give us a solid number, he then said he could do the work for about $1250.
We agreed to the price and he had his crew there within an hour and started. My wife went out when they were about half way done and he said things were going well and that they were at about $2200 at the moment. My wife told him that is not what was agreed upon at the begining and he stopped his crew immediatley. He then measured what he had already put down and did the math right in front of my wife and said it would be $2200 for what they had done and if we wanted the rest done then it would run about $3800.
My wife then told him we do not have that much and to stop work. He ended up "settling" for $1700 which we had to write a check for and have since put a stop payment on that check and filed a police report with out district. Please do not do any work with this company and he does go under several different names.
Not recommended by me
Same thing happened to us
I also have tons of weed growth coming through the asphalt- for months and months I’ve reached out- once they said they’d come like ok and never came- the rest of the time they don’t respond
They are in MI with a new Ph. #615-894-2017
They tried this with us, in MI but we investigated them while they were still on the property, unfortunately I don't think we got away totally unscathed, we will know in a few months if it falls apart. I looked them up while they were outside, talking with my husband and I fed him information in real time via text while he was talking to Ed. They had to actually pour 3 inches as they had stated they would because my husband watched them the entire time, after I warned him about their reviews so there wasn't a chance of them only doing a thin layer (which is likely what they were planning). Since we already had a solid base which is about 2 ft. thick of packed stone & aggregate already I am hoping it won't fall apart come summer.
They started working before we had settled on terms or signed the "contract". When we pushed for a written agreement "Ed Smith" provided the least detailed single piece of paper I had ever seen. Terms were not clear but my husband did get him to add their phone number and that no deposit or payment would be due until after the job was complete and that they add some kind of warranty as Ed told us there would be "Guaranteed for one year" but no other details. What is it guaranteed to do, not levitate off the ground? No address or number were printed on it, those were hand filled in.
Interestingly enough they gave us the website listed above, but claimed not to be the same "E&J BlackTop" that has the negative reviews in Ohio. If you do the math the # of jobs they claimed to have done would mean they had to complete OVER 1,000 JOBS A DAY for 7 days a week for the past 18 years they are claiming to have been in business. Their "Contract" doesn't have the address of the business on it, we asked for it, they tried to pass off a UPS PO Box as a physical location but we told them we need an actual location before they can get any money, we need to know what their LLC is under as they have "E&J Black Top, LLC" on their business cards but no "LLC" on their "contract" and I could not find any E&J Black Top, LLC" in the business entity search either by Owner/agent name or by the actual business name. We need proof of insurance/bonding, proof of workman's comp. ins., contractor's license (required for excavation but not for asphalt in MI, & website includes excavation as one of the services they offer). We had been clear about needing to vet them from the beginning but they have to date still not provide any proof of who they are. I took pics of the license plate that was on their trailer and it was from Louisiana despite their assertion they have been a MI company since 2001. Their actual vehicles (2 grey new trucks which were not the vehicles being used to tow the trailer, their actual vehicles) were lacking license plates.
They have damaged our landscaping with their vehicles and the job itself, while at this time does seem to be 3 inches thick, was poorly done. The crowning was not correct, water pools (which is not good), the edges are not sharp and they tried to hide this by sweeping the gravel they removed from our driveway when they graded it up to the edges. Once we dug that away we could see the very messy and crumbly edges. They didn't finish the job and stated whey would return to complete it in 3 days. It rained and snowed the days in between as well as the day they returned. We agreed it does not appear the job could be completed until spring. That is when they started hitting us up for money for what they had done (remember they started before we had come to terms so we weren't happy about that). They will not get a dime from us and if they return to our property we will be calling the police, who we've already contacted to explain the situation to. Maybe then we can get their actual contact information. If that occurs I will post.The good thing is any contract entered into under false or misleading statements (ie fraud) are not enforceable so good luck to them in getting paid for their very poorly completed job with what is likely recycled, not new asphalt as claimed and for damaging our landscaping. I haven't even gone into the debris they left behind on our lawn in addition to the lovely and multiple ruts left in our yard.