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legalmedicinegroup

Beware Longwood, Florda Gracewood Enterprises, Inc and Al Phaneuf

legalmedicinegroup
14 years ago

Al Phaneuf lied to me and caused me the damages and loss of 5 days after verbally agreeing to do some finishing work on my condo after inspecting the premises twice on 09/11/09 then renegging on 09/15/09 after assuring me work would start on 09/14/09 that work would start the next day. However, without even the common courtesy of a call, Al Phaneuf, responded to my call on the day of commencement of work because he didnt like that I sent him a 09/14/09 a formal proposal in writing to describe that the contracted work.

Al Phaneuf is not a man of his word and not a man of integrity. He has failed to do what he agreed to do and hurt my family without any remorse at all. Al Phaneuf should not be trusted and any consideration of using him should be with the most carefully drafted contract with client protections against his demonstrated duplicity.

Beware of Al Phaneuf and Gracewood Enterprises, Inc because they lied to us and hurt us and they will do the same to you!

Comments (15)

  • mike_kaiser_gw
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Let me see if I have this right, the contractor in question comes to your home on 9/11 and (I presume) you two agree on the scope of work and a price. On the 9/14, again presumably, out of the blue you sent him some sort of contract or proposal. The contractor takes umbrage and decides he would prefer not to have you as a client.

    I'll grant you that he should have notified you in a timely matter that he wasn't interested in the work. In the future, things will go a lot more smoothly if you bring up the matter of a contract at the first meeting.

  • ron6519
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    legalmedicinegroup said:
    "Al Phaneuf lied to me and caused me the damages and loss of 5 days after verbally agreeing to do some finishing work on my condo..."
    I tend to think Al identified, "crazy", and kept on walking.
    At least that's the conclusion I came to reading the post.
    What damages did this man cause you?
    Ron

  • Mike_mikemontana_net
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    i know Al Phaneuf personally since 1971 when i was a teenager. he is not the man you say he is,sorry. In fact Al and his wife Sue dedicated their lives to young people spending almost their entire life savings on youth. I am now 57 and one thing i can say is that if it was not for him my life would be in shambles. he used to have 150 kids in his house every Thursday night! he received nothing for it, not the kind of man who would do something that you said.There are always 2 sides to every story and you should have posted his response to your allegations to be fair.

  • sdello
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Poor Al. He seems to have some crazies on his side too. Maybe these two can hash out there debate in private at the looney bin.

    These posts are two years apart and the "defense" has no real relevance to anything.

    Very entertaining though.

  • BrianJun
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I hired Al for some work awhile ago. I've never had a worse experience. If you've known him for awhile you know he has a wildly irrational temper. He was supposed to fix a leak in my wall. After it rained and water was still coming through I called him expecting apologies and assuring me he would be right out again to fix it. Instead he swore at me and hung up the phone. The only way to get him to correct problem (and his crew had plenty of problems in their work) is to threaten involving the BBB. He never fixed the problem and I was just out the money. He seems fine when you meet him but seriously he's a really irrational guy if you say the wrong thing. Maybe he does good work but half of his crew did a horrible job at my house.

  • renovator8
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Why bring these trivial issues to the forum? Do you think we don't have enough important issues to deal with?

    Spite is ugly and shameful.

  • graywings123
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Because GardenWeb posts come up on the first page of google.com searches. Anyone googling Al's name will see this thread.

  • alex8896
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I wish I would have read these first. Recently we hired Gracewood Enterprises (AL Phaneuf) for some general wood work around a window in our home. The home is currently under contract so we’ve been doing different fix up jobs on behalf of the new homeowners. I've never had a worse experience dealing with an individual. I really don’t know where to begin explaining his incompetence, his inability to produce receipts, the unacceptable product and a proposal (Not a contract) that AL Phaneuf charged $400 more than authorized to a credit card.
    Well the ineptitude started after AL Phaneuf quoted a job where he would be repairing some wood rot and trim around a living room window. After his reassurance of keeping the window resemblance similar to the adjacent windows and completing a quality job he asked for a check for $500 up front for materials (Our first mistake where he is still unable to provide receipts). He was given the check, left and then never returned to observe, check on his staff or approve the completed product. Upon completion by his staff the window looked nothing like the others and the bottom portion which use to open was covered and now inoperable. Without viewing the many before and after pictures it’s difficult to explain how horrible, with no similarity this looked. AL Phaneuf never checked on the job, attempt to remedy the mess or work anything out to make the job presentable. AL Phaneuf main concern was to get the remainder of his money and move on. With that said after the $500 up front (Did I say that was our first mistake) and a proposal that said $900 AL Phaneuf charged $1300 to the credit card without permission for the additional $400. After a conference call with AL Phaneuf and the credit card company the unauthorized $400 was disputed and AL Phaneuf was unable to walk off with that too. AL Phaneuf then showed up unannounced at the house (unlike when his staff was working or to check the completed version) demanding $1000. We don’t know where the $1000 number came from and he was told the credit card company was in the process of disbursing him the $900 and we had no control of when that would happen. Again he was asked for receipts for the $500 up front where he said “I have them” and then indicated the $500 was a deposit. AL Phaneuf keeps changing his confusing story as this would have only left $400 plus materials. When it was suggested that this is not what was discussed or on the proposal he became verbally aggressive demanding money and was asked to leave. The local law enforcement agency was made aware of the situation where they suggested calling if he returns back to the property and a trespass warrant could be executed on AL Phaneuf.
    After dealing with all this we then needed to have the job by Gracewood enterprises completely redone as it now would not pass the home inspection. Our family went on to hire a competent contractor who pointed out how the wood rot was still present and just covered up to conceal it; daylight was also visible through unsealed openings in the frame (pictures were taken before and after by the real estate agent). It was also in the opinion of the competent contractor and only an opinion that at very most $200 in wood was used (maybe this is why we still haven’t received receipts). I would just like people to know Gracewood Enterprises and Al Phaneuf did an atrocious job at our home, he was very disrespectful, angry and oblivious of the difference between a job proposal and an actual signed contract.

  • snoonyb
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is HILARIOUS;

    alex8896 (My Page) on Thu, May 23, 13 at 9:46
    "Recently we hired Gracewood Enterprises (AL Phaneuf) for some general wood work around a window in our home."

    Apparently, you have lived in your own little vacuum for most of your life and are completely unaware, or selectively ignorant, of the ad-nausium information with reference to home the improvement industry.

    "The home is currently under contract so we’ve been doing different fix up jobs on behalf of the new homeowners."

    So, you have a "sales proposal" with identified deficiencies that "a responsible homeowner" would have identified and repaired prior to the marketing.
    Instead, you got caught, and decided, being wide awake and looking straight ahead, to hire the cheapest person you could find.
    So, now you are complaining and attempting to transfer your responsibility to others,AAANNNNNDDD can't do the math.
    Hooray for you!

  • Joseph Farruggia
    7 years ago

    Is there a way to give ZERO stars? This man preys on the elderly. He gave an $4000 proposal to my 82-year-old father who lives in Heathrow, FL. My father has lost a bit of his mental capacity and signed the proposal. which has PROPOSAL written in large type on the front of it. He called back the next day to "start the job". When I told him we wanted to do some due diligence he lied, by telling me that the proposal was "a contract". That my father was on the hook for the entire 4k and tried to pressure my parents. I can't belive that people do this to seniors. Using lies and scare tactics to scam money from the elderly are the lowest life forms. DO NOT USE!!!

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    7 years ago

    According to the Florida licensing portal, Al Phaneuf/Gracewood Enterprises is not licensed in the state of Florida, therefore his "contract" with your parents is unenforceable by him, however, it is not unenforceable by you according to Florida law.

  • Joseph Farruggia
    7 years ago

    Thank you, Joseph! What do you mean by enforceable my me? I wouldn't want him to do the work, i simply want people to be wary of him. His proposal also states that he is licenced and insured. Probably just more fraud.

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    7 years ago

    Had you hired this guy and owed him money, even if he did a fine job you are under no legal obligation to pay him. My telling you to drink herbal tea for your toothache may work, but that doesn't give me the right to collect as a dentist.


    If you had hired him and you owed him money, you could still make him complete his contract and still not pay him.

  • Vith
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    He is a handyman, and clearly a shady one. This goes into that discussion in the other thread joe, it all has to do with who you are willing to risk hiring. This is a guy that gives others a bad name.

    It appears Florida bars handymen from writing contracts, and also they cannot advertise services that fall under contracting. They are also supposed to get a "home office occupation license as a handyman" whatever that means. That license still does not allow them to write contracts and they only have a small list of things they are allowed to do.

    http://www.longwoodfl.org/filestorage/102/155/183/handyman_notice.pdf

    It is stupid that BBB rates him as A+ but there are 4 complaints to them in the last 3 years not including this one. And that is only the people who were smart enough to complain to BBB. Apparently he could care less unless you complain to BBB, then he might try to resolve it just to keep his rating. Keep in mind people complaining to the BBB would be their last resort, so it is obvious he blows people off routinely.

    Why would he be rated A+ with that many complaints. Shows you how much a BBB rating is worth looking at...

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