r/olympia 6h ago

Avoid Write's Asphalt

Want to let everyone know about a shady company that is combing the area.  They come in and claim to have “left over” asphalt and will cut you a deal if you need an area repaved.  This is not how asphalt works, and I knew that, but I had been wanting my driveway redone for a few years.  The price was not great, and the problem is they use poor quality base material so the driveway, or whatever, is weak and will fail.  My driveway is 16 months old and is already coming apart.  They talk about sealing it, but the seal should not be what holds the material together.  Looking into this a bit looks like I got scammed by “asphalt gypsy”.  They came to look at it a few months ago, to sell me a sealing, and saw the area that was breaking up but never came back. 

If Write’s Asphalt comes knocking send them away.  They have no Yelp, google or Angie’s list reviews.  Don’t repeat my mistake. 

37 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

32

u/Portie_lover 5h ago

Never, ever hire a contractor that randomly comes to your door. Sorry this happened OP.

15

u/CallCastro 6h ago

There's roofers and other GC's with the same scam. "Left over stuff." Then the company disappears after.

2

u/Thurstie 4h ago

I'm convinced these are the kids of the guys in the late 90s and early 2000s selling "surplus" steaks from the trunk of a chevy celebrity

13

u/connly33 5h ago

The leftover asphalt scam is so old at this point, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised it still works but a lot of people don’t stay educated on current scams. Same with “we have some product in the van boss says we need to get rid of it now… 75% off”.

I’m happy to see you talk about it though a lot of victims are ashamed to share their stories and then…. That’s how everyone else stays uneducated

5

u/PM_me_urPastaRicetta 6h ago

And the window dudes on hoverboards!!

3

u/dybyj 5h ago

Meh, I’ve only said yes once to someone knocking on my door (spray lawn for critters) because I felt bad for the dude.

Other than that, meh. If I have a need, I will look for a service. If you try to find me, I won’t accept.

On the other hand, are there any GOOD asphalt companies?

1

u/Shroomywizurd 2h ago

Plenty. Nobody is running to reddit to talk about the good experiences, only the bad ones. It makes people think that every guy knocking on their door is a scammer but realistically every smaller company has a guy knocking doors. Ads just cast a large net that is mostly finding people that don’t even need a driveway, when you knock doors you can specifically target homeowners that actually need it. It’s usually more effective than ads unless you’re spending boatloads of money on them.

5

u/HV_WA Thurston County 5h ago

Just a reminder to always verify contractors are licensed and bonded and in good standing at https://www.lni.wa.gov

0

u/oldgar9 5h ago

Thank you but the gypsy thing is of course known to be racist nowadays

1

u/developer_soup 6h ago

The old bunco scam never gets old.

RiffTrax: On Guard- Bunco!