Experience with Dept. of Consumer Affairs complaints against contractors?

Dear Brownstoner readers,

This is my first time posting here, and it’s a big one, at least for me. I have a financial dispute with my contractor — basically, I’ve paid them for work they haven’t done (on top of other work they did complete) — and am considering filing a complaint with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs. Apparently DCA helps resolve such disputes and arbitrate settlements, but I have found very little info, including in the Forum archives here, on how and how well the process works. I have a written contract and full documentation of the work undone.. The contractor is licensed, here in NYC. The amount of money in dispute is large enough that I simply cannot just walk away. But I also know that lawyers and lawsuits would be overkill and quickly eat away at a settlement. Small Claims Court, for its part, is for disputes of $5K or less, nowhere near the mid six figures involved here. For what it’s worth, friends and acquaintances with renovation experience, one of whom is a lawyer himself (though not in real estate or development), think I have a ve ry strong case.

Does anyone here have experience with the DCA complaint process or can you point me to others that do? Thank you very much for your insights and advice!

Brooklynreno

in General Discussion 8 years and 8 months ago

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Brooklynreno | 8 years and 8 months ago

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Thanks Lurker, I’ve looked up your related posts and they help fill in some gaps for me. Also reached out to Alex Ngai, the contractor you worked with in the end, who sounds great.

Lurker | 8 years and 8 months ago

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i had a terrific experience with the DCA which I’ve detailed here several times. I wrote an initial complaint in Dec of last year, was contacted in January after I called a couple times and they asked for a bit more information. Note that they share your actual complaint with the contractor so be honest and provide texts, emails and letters and contracts so it’s water tight. Then after that once I got on the phone with my DCA rep they reached out to contrator and about once a week or so we would touch base, they would reach out on progress and goad. My contractor would avoid the DCA but got the message. The strategy is you basically give the contractor a good faith amount of time to finish the work, then once that has lapsed they send it to legal, who will determine if you have a case worth pursuing. On the day the case was due to go to legal they contractor called the DCA and offered a large settlement. He dragged his feet until the last second and nearly breached the agreement but then came through. I got post-dated checks, one per month, in on lump sum. He still skat ed me on paying his sub, which I’m persuing now.
It’s not perfect, they DCA is overworked, and it’s annoing to go through. But for me it worked.

juliaalexis | 8 years and 8 months ago

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in my experience the DCA is woefully understaffed and overworked (big surprise there!) so they are quick to follow the tiniest of details in their protocols if it gives them an opportunity to avoid pursuing your case. fill out all the paperwork and do everything you can on your side and then don’t be surprised if they find something that you didn’t know about that might disqualify your case. that doesn’t mean that you aren’t legally in the right – it just might mean that they aren’t going to assist you in resolving the matter. in my case i discovered (only after six months of numerous FOIL requests) that my contractor had been stripped of several licenses and just kept changing his business name and using different licenses until he got caught again. It took several more months before the DCA would actually acknowledge this fact and then still refuse to pursue my specific case. and, yes, he is still out there operating with the same name but under a different license. sorry i don’t have a happy experience to share!

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 8 months ago

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Just do the paperwork they require and follow up every couple of weeks. I don’t have any connections and just followed their framework. If you’re not dedicated enough to put in the work of paperwork and follow up, no one else is.

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 8 months ago

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Just do the paperwork they require and follow up every couple of weeks. I don’t have any connections and just followed their framework. If you’re not dedicated enough to put in the work of paperwork and follow up, no one else is.

Brooklynreno | 8 years and 8 months ago

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Thanks for your answers, snowman and mozee. I don’t know anyone who works at DCA. Does anyone know if there are expeditors or consultants who can help, you know, expedite things with a well placed phone call or something? Obv I don’t want to do a bunch of paperwork that just goes into a black hole.

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 8 months ago

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I went thru the DCA against a contractor that didn’t pay his subs leaving me with their bill. The case progressed well enough and he made payment for a few months then stopped. They revoked his license after a few months and I am awaiting a check from the comptroller for the remainder owed from their trust fund. BTW the contractor is still working under a different name

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 8 months ago

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I went thru the DCA against a contractor that didn’t pay his subs leaving me with their bill. The case progressed well enough and he made payment for a few months then stopped. They revoked his license after a few months and I am awaiting a check from the comptroller for the remainder owed from their trust fund. BTW the contractor is still working under a different name

snowman2 | 8 years and 8 months ago

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I filed a complaint with DCA that ended exactly as I hoped – they inspired the contractor to finish all work to my satisfaction. Big caveat: they sat on the complaint and did nothing for months. I called regularly and asked for a status update but they did nothing. In the end I contacted an acquaintance who worked for the DCA and he contacted the person assigned to my case to expedite it and then it was resolved very quickly. Without him I do not know how long it would have taken. Tell them everything even if you don’t think it is important. It would have taken them a very long time and probably not have been as effective just going on the merits of the complaint which was very justified. In the end they threatened him with a large fine based on a technicality. It worked.

snowman2 | 8 years and 8 months ago

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I filed a complaint with DCA that ended exactly as I