Raise your hand if your roof has ever leaked? Keep it up if you were worried about finding an honest roofer to fix the issue.
Sandor Gombos was in that predicament a few weeks ago but found a roofer that came recommended by a friend, “He told me to give this guy a call, he had dealt with him before,” said Gombos.
It looked like everything was working out great when the roofer showed up within a day and did the work, “It was just a few vent pipes, the rubber was rotting around them,” Gombos said.
Quoted a price on the phone around $90 he was shocked when he found out the final cost, “I asked him how much I owed, and he said $800, I just about passed out,” said Gombos.
Unsure what he could or should do Gombos wrote the roofer a check for the $800 he said the job cost, “I wish I said no,” said Gombos.
The entire ordeal was made worse when Gombos looked at the video from his security cameras and learned the roofer took just 23 minutes to install the vents, “I’m frustrated with myself,” said Gombos
He called his bank the next day to stop payment, but the check had already cleared. He then reached out to the roofer leaving three voicemails, “I never heard back,” said Gombos.
So Gombos reached out to WFMY News 2 for help. When we reached out to the roofer he told us the job took “about an hour and a half.” After asking him if he was certain and him saying yes, I told him about the video that showed him on the roof for 23 minutes.
After telling him we were doing a story about this he decided to call Gombos back, later telling us, “I asked him what he wanted and I’m giving it to him.”
Apparently concerned about the perception of charging someone $800 for a 23-minute job and $20 worth of parts, he agreed to write Gombos a refund check for $500, “You guys (News 2) did wonderfully, I didn’t expect anything, and I got everything in return so I’m extremely pleased,” said Gombos.
He also learned a valuable lesson, before hiring a roofer or anyone doing repairs, get a written estimate in writing before authorizing any work.
