Incompetent/scammy Vegas plumber charges 88-year-old woman $28,000 to "fix a leak", makes her live in her garage for months during hot summer

Don't ever use Drew's Plumbing in Vegas. Actually, I guess you can't use them, because the city has shut them down.

The Nevada State Contractors Board has revoked the license of Drew's Plumbing after they charged $28,000 to "fix a plumbing leak", which left the woman's house torn up for months, and she was stuck living in a converted garage during the hot summer. The work was supposed to take a few weeks, but 9 months later, the house is torn up and still in shambles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsZoGN0FKLc



Here's the statement from the Nevada State Contractors Board:

Quote:

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An elderly Las Vegas woman has been living in her garage with her son and older dog for months following substandard and incomplete work by a local plumbing contractor, that left her home in disarray. Drews Plumbing, LLC’s contractor license was revoked on November 21 by an Order following an earlier Disciplinary Hearing of the Nevada State Contractors Board. In addition to the license revocation, Drews Plumbing been assessed $34,000 in fines, and ordered to pay investigative fees and costs.

“The actions of Jeffrey Drew and Drews Plumbing in taking thousands of dollars and then leaving an elderly woman’s home in shambles is both disturbing and egregious,” said NSCB Executive Officer Margi Grein.

“The victim is very frail and it is clear the inexcusable actions of Drews Plumbing, forcing her to sleep on her couch and live in a home without proper plumbing, have taken a toll on her and her family.”

NSCB Investigators found Jeffrey Drew, principal of Drews, had left an 88-year old Las Vegas woman with a mostly unlivable home for eight months while collecting over $28,000 from the victim through direct and third-party payments. In March of 2022, the licensed contractor was hired after providing an estimate of $18,000 to fix a leak in the victim’s home. Drews proceeded to demolish much of the home’s flooring and jackhammer trenches throughout most of the house to remove drainpipes. The victim and her sons were forced to move into a converted den in their garage during the repairs. A bathroom in the den has served as the only functioning water source inside the home.

“The Board will continue to take swift and punitive action against both unlicensed and licensed contractors alike who victimize our elderly population,” Grein continued.
“We hope the outcome of this case sends a clear message to the industry that we take our mission to protect the health and safety of the public seriously and will not tolerate fraudulent activities that endanger Nevadans.”

As a result of the Board’s investigation, 12 allegations of violations were found against Drews Plumbing and the contractor was served a Notice of Hearing. At the disciplinary hearing, the Board established over $28,000 had been spent by the victim and she was forced to refinance her home to cover the costs. The investigator who visited the home noted that beyond the den area where the victim and her son lived, the home was unlivable. Additionally, the victim and her son had to endure more than eight months (including during the heat of the summer) in a converted garage as her other ailing son, recovering from cancer, was forced to move elsewhere.

After reviewing the case, Administrative Law Judge Noah Allison found Drews guilty of 10 of the 12 allegations. Drews Plumbing’s license was revoked and the contractor was ordered to pay $34,000 in fines as well as the Board’s investigative fees and costs. As the victim contracted with a licensed contractor, she will have the opportunity to seek financial remediation through Nevada’s Residential Recovery Fund.

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The owner of the company, Jeffrey Drew, claimed that he was unable to complete the work because the woman had been doing other remodeling in the house, and other work needed to be done by a contractor in order for him to complete his job. However, this sounds like bullshit. If he couldn't complete the work, why did he take her $28,000 in full? Keep in mind that she didn't have $28k laying around, and had to refinance her house to pay the guy, so it's not like she paid up front. She paid some up front, then some after the refinance.

To me this looks like a greedy plumbing company owner taking advantage of an elderly woman. Elderly people are victims of all kinds of scams, because it's assumed they either won't know better, will be too senile to understand, or won't be taken seriously when they complain.

Speaking of scamming the elderly...

A few years ago, a corporate cell phone store tried to scam my dad by lying to him and saying he "qualified" for a $99 iPad, when in reality that $99 came with activating another phone line for it for $35/month. He had just bought a new phone there, and they thought they had a gullible old man they could scam. Of course they didn't tell him that it came with monthly phone/data service, and the salesperson pocketed a nice commission for signing him up for another line of phone service. When he got the bill, he was going to call up and complain, but I told him to let me do it. While my dad is still extremely sharp, I told him that I had a plan to resolve this, and it would be more effective coming from a middle-aged person.

My plan was to come at them very aggressively, as the angry middle-aged son of the elderly victim.

I called the manager of the store. She was initially very dismissive, telling me that it was my dad's fault for not paying attention to what he was signing up for. She said we could return the iPad, but there would be a "restocking fee", plus he would not be entitled to a refund for the activation fee of the phone line or the first month of service.

I got really pissed, and told her that I was very familiar with this type of scam, and that her attitude was just pissing me off even more. I told her a bullshit story that I was friends with a reporter at the local paper, and that my cousin was an officer at the local police department. I said that this was their only chance to refund my dad in full -- both accepting the iPad back for a full refund and taking the charges off the bill -- or I'd have "several people here arrested for elder abuse and the news media covering it". I asked, "How would you like your face on the front of the newspaper for scamming elderly people at this store? Because I'll put hundreds of hours into making sure that happens, if you're going to deny what's going on here."

She panicked and told me that we could have a full refund for everything, and suddenly apologized profusely for her employee "not being clear about the contract".

This is actually a very common scam at cell phone stores, and while it victimizes all kinds of people, it is most targeted at young adults and the elderly.

I'm at the age I've gotten the "daddy, I had an accident, send me money" phone calls. I drag it out for 20 minutes - take notes, what did you say, etc. End it with, " dumb bitch, I don't have a son/daughter". Block caller.

He put the con actor in contractor. The problem with older people is they cannot follow sage wisdom because they cannot remember it like they once used to remember and they will always be victims because bad people will always target them.