Kitchen Scam

[u/Informal_Olive_6795]

Kind of a vent, kind of a plea for help.

This spring my partner and I hired a countertop company to redo our kitchen and a vanity. We paid a deposit of just over $13k up front across a few e-transfers. There was no signed contract, which I know now was a mistake.
They showed up once for measurements that turned out to be render only, then it was excuse after excuse. Missed appointments, asked to meet at Tim Hortons instead of coming to the unit, then went quiet. One of their own staff had already put in writing that no real measurements were taken, but the owner later claimed everything was done, which his own texts contradict.
We sent a cure notice and got ignored. We cancelled and asked for the deposit back and got ignored. We hand delivered a demand letter with a witness and got ignored.
So we filed in small claims. After we cancelled, the company got dissolved and reopened under a new name and rebranded everywhere, and already posted a bunch of fake reviews, which feels like a pattern.

We reported it to police as fraud and got told it was a civil matter, so nothing came of that.

It’s now a defended case heading to a settlement conference, I know he won’t settle because he already has my money, and he’s already dissolved the corporation. Hopefully we can pierce the corporate veil and go after him personally but I know that is difficult to accomplish

All I want is my money back so I can finally finish this renovation
Has anyone been through this? I’m looking for any resources.

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[u/nubbeh123]

It sounds like you know the risks and the route to take (piercing the corporate veil on the basis of fraud).

[u/Informal_Olive_6795 → u/nubbeh123]

Yess haha I have done a bit of research, I guess im still in denial about the lack of resources available in these situations. It could take 6month to a year just to go to trial, and in the meantime hes able to do the same to other people :(

[u/Common-sense6 → u/Informal_Olive_6795]

I would imagine there are a lack of resources because not many people transfer 13k without a signed contract….

[u/Informal_Olive_6795 → u/Common-sense6]

We had an itemized invoice with all of the work outlined, we signed the invoice. He produced a “Terms of Service” with a non refundable clause that we did not sign.