CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — brightcove.createExperiences();
Bill and Elaine Knight gave away the last of their savings, $4,500, to a contractor who knocked on their door promising a good deal to pave their driveway with asphalt.
But after the paving, Elaine said she can poke holes in it with her cane. "Anywhere you push on it, you're going to get the gravel. The pavement is going to come up," she said.
"I mean, it's terrible," said her husband, Bill.
The driveway is a nothing but a mix of crushed asphalt, loose rocks and dirt sprayed with a black sealant.
Knight has tried unsuccessfully to get the contractor, Matt Sherlock, to fix the work. Now she said he doesn't even answer his phone anymore.
"We left messages and he never called us back," she said.
But Knight isn't the only victim. Another driveway nearby that Sherlock was paid to pave appears also shoddy.
After hearing complaints from homeowners, Carolina Paving, the Hickory company supplying Sherlock with crushed asphalt, has cut him off.
"I hate that it took as long as it did to find out about it because it's costing people money," said Carolina Paving manager Justin Johnson.
Action 9 checked with the Better Business Bureau, and the same Matt Sherlock showed up under the heading "Irish Travelers."
That's a band of traveling contractors from Ohio with a 20-year record of ripping off homeowners.
Knight warns others if he shows up at your door, learn from her and don't do business with him.
"It's a scam. They were con men," Knight said.