‘My heart sank,’
roofing customer says

Contracting complaints
grow amid Hawaii's
hot housing market

More than three years after a Honolulu roofing contractor closed shop and skipped town, Sharon Abe's roof still leaks.

Abe, who owns a 42-year-old house in the Kaimuki/Palolo area, said she contacted the local Better Business Bureau and the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs before hiring Interlock Industries Inc. to put a $25,000 steel roof, backed by a lifetime guarantee, on her aging home.

"I thought I did my homework, but it wasn't enough," Abe said. The unique offer of a lifetime warranty prompted her to hire the company. But the roof beams in Abe's laundry room began turning black from moisture last summer, and the company couldn't be located to honor its warranty, she said.

"When they said that the (phone) number wasn't working I was like, 'What? Oh no, don't tell me.' My heart sank," Abe said. "I probably could have gotten two roofs for the price that I paid."

This scenario is becoming more and more common as Hawaii homeowners cash in on home equity to fix up their homes and new construction grows, said Anne Deschene, president of the local Better Business Bureau.

"Contracting is in the top four of our complaint categories," Deschene said, adding that when it comes to bargaining for expensive home repairs, common sense often escapes otherwise savvy customers. The BBB handled 18 roofing complaints in 2004, she said.

"If the company has a good rapport with customers and offers what seems to be a good guarantee, a lot of people will say, 'I'm in,'" Deschene said. "Common sense kind of escapes them when they hear something that sounds that good."

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The state recently ordered Interlock Industries and Mark Wenzel, the company's responsible managing employee, to pay $205,000 in fines and revoked their licenses, but Abe and some 2,700 customers, who hired the contractor between 1997 and 2001, were left high and dry. Some have such serious workmanship complaints that other contractors have shied away, Abe said.

"It's hard even to get other contractors to come and take a look at it -- when you say it's an Interlock roof, they say, 'I don't think so,'" Abe said. Her only recourse to recoup her losses has been to join other Interlock customers in a class-action lawsuit filed by Kailua-based attorney Buck Ashford last November.

In 2001, the state Regulated Industries Complaints Office, which enforces the state's licensing laws for certain professions, began inquiring about Interlock after receiving several complaints from customers. Investigators said Interlock and Wenzel did not respond to most inquiries. The state concluded that ordering it to pay restitution would have been too difficult to enforce, said Jo Ann Uchida, RICO's complaints and enforcement officer.

"In this particular case, we didn't ask for restitution because it would have made the whole process take a lot longer," Uchida said. "We wanted to ensure that they stopped operating as quickly as possible so we suspended their license and levied a hefty fine."

Wenzel, who is based in the company's British Columbia headquarters in Canada, did not return calls.

While collecting the fine against Interlock could prove difficult since the company has left Hawaii, Uchida said the state will "do everything that we can to try and make them comply with the order." If Interlock fails to pay its fine or tries to solicit further Hawaii business, RICO could levy additional sanctions or take the case to circuit court, Uchida said.

In the end, the best protection for customers is prevention, Uchida said.

"Contractors that offer lifetime guarantees are supposed to have a bond as a primary back up," Uchida said. Homeowners need to use the DCCA and the Better Business Bureau to do their due diligence.

Susan Sugino, a Wailuku, Maui, homeowner who spent nearly $30,000 on an Interlock roof that had to later be repaired by another contractor, said the experience has taught her the importance of checking out a company before signing a contract.

"If I had done that, I would have known that they had many complaints against them," Sugino said. "The thing is, I knew about the consumer protection services and did not contact them. (That was) stupid!"

Interlock, which sells and installs aluminum roofing and associated materials, has been hit by complaints and investigations in several states, including Hawaii. The local BBB file notes that the company appears to be out of business and that customers have complained of disconnected phone numbers and returned mail, Deschene said.

While Interlock got a satisfactory record from the Better Business Bureaus of Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Alaska, reports from other locations have detailed complaints spanning the last three years. The BBB of Mid-Western & Central Ontario has processed six complaints against Interlock for guarantee/warranty issues, product quality issues and customer services issues. The BBB of Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont also recorded 12 complaints, but noted that all have been resolved.

The BBB of Oregon and Western Washington has documented complaints against the company's Beaverton, Ore., and Everett, Wash., offices, including some that were unresolved.