BBB: Local Con Artist Poses As Repairman

The Better Business Bureau is warning Charlotte-area consumers to avoid a Kernersville man with a history of cheating customers.

Ronnie Allen Griffin has operated under several company names, offering handyman and contracting services. He has a criminal record dating back at least eight years. In November, he was convicted of fraud.

Eyewitness News reporter Mark Becker talked to one of Griffin’s victims.

Carol Redfern needed someone to repair her imported oven when it began spitting sparks.

After several local shops told Redfern’s husband they didn't service the brand of oven the couple owns, he went online and found a company called Adrian Services.

“It looks very professional,” Redfern said. “It really does.”

The company's Web site even had the Better Business Bureau seal of approval on it, and Redfern said the two men who showed up the next day seemed to know what they were doing.

“He said it was drawing too much power, so he said it needed a new transformer,” she said. “[That’s] what he wrote on the invoice.”

Griffin was so convincing that Redfern didn't think twice when he asked for $265 to order the part.

She wrote him a check on Oct. 30 and hasn’t heard from him since.

“This is not a contractor that's just made a mistake,” said Tom, Bartholomy, president of the Better Business Bureau. “This is a con artist that is just taking people's money -- basically stealing from them.”

Bartholomy said Griffin's companies have a 16-year history of broken promises and missing money that has earned them an F rating with the BBB.

Griffin has managed to stay in business by using almost 30 different company names.

“They do a very good job of selling their services [by] getting their money up front then never coming back,” Bartholomy said. “That's what they do time and time and time again.”

Eyewitness News reached Griffin by telephone, and he said he was in South Carolina.

Griffin said he would try to get Redfern’s money back to her, but he hasn’t done so yet.

“The money's gone,” Redfern said. “I just want to make sure no one else gets taken by the same person.”

In addition to warning consumers to stay away from Griffin and his many companies, the BBB is suing Griffin for using its seal on his Web site.

If you are unsure if the BBB seal on a Web site is legitimate, Bartholomy said to click on it. If the seal is genuine, clicking it will connect you to the BBB’s Web site.