Finished Basements review: Unfinished Basement Renovation 11

We have had a similar experience with Jerome Sammy - wish we had never met him. 6 week project now in to 5 months and still not finished. He is very quick to be around when he is due money but fails to meet every commitment and promise he makes. Said he would be at the property yesterday still did not turn up. No explanation - did not return calls or texts. Has not responded to BBB complaint either. Wish I had read teh above beofre starting with him as I would not have given him the work. TOTALLY UNRELIABLE - DO NOT CONTRACT WITH HIM !

Amy and Kamran Khan here again. Basement flooded AGAIN (6th time) due to the incredibly poor work that Jerome Sammy did in our basement in 2008. The sump pump he installed was done so poorly, we now have to rip out the furnace room floor to have a new system installed. When he installed it, he buried the electrical cord for the sump pump in the concrete flooring. And we've been told by several waterproofing experts doing estimates the several ways in which our pump was so poorly installed. In addition to all this, had to have another 15 ft. outside wall waterproofed in the fall due to water leaking into the basement. Jerome told us back in 2008 that his basements never leak! We're STILL paying the price for the horrific renovation job he did. DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN TO WORK FOR YOU...PLEASE!

Regarding the above comment by me, every time I made an apostrophe mark, it typed "'" Computer error-sorry! Amy

This is Amy and Kamran Khan writing, more than happy to give our names (see 2009-08-18 comments above). Cleaning up after Jerome Sammy's basement renovation FIASCO continues at our home 3 years later. This week we just paid $8, 000 to have a 23ft x 5 ft outside wall waterproofed after the basement hallway (damaged hardwood floor) /storage room/utility room flooded several times since he started the project. It's difficult to put into words the absolute hell he put us through, financially and emotionally. The reno was to take 3 months and took 2 years until it was finished, at least $75, 000 over budget and 2 additional contractors. The 2nd one quit because the scope of the repairs and revisions were much more in depth than he thought. From the beginning, Jerome played us. He gave us drawings of a space he KNEW we wanted/needed but couldn't deliver and the final result was much, much different than the original plan (19 foot long storage cupboards which were supposed to be 2 feet deep became~ 10 inches deep). When no one but his son showed up for several weeks, we contacted the tradesmen (plumber and HVAC) and they said Jerome didn't pay them so they weren't coming back and threatened to put liens on the house. One carpenter who was a good friend of Jerome's, had a shouting match with him in the middle of the day about money, apologized to us and left, never to return. His drywall friend contacted us months later wanting to get paid. It took 4 different HVAC companies to finish the job as one by one they refused to come back as he didn't pay them. 1.5 years later, I've even had a plumber and another HVAC serviceman come out, remember the house and refuse to work here as they remembered Jerome and told me they couldn't work at our house. I gave birth to twins 6 months after the project began. And with so much time and energy going into completing the 2 year renovation, as a mom I'll never get that time back with my 3 kids. Now the waterproofing. We have every payment to him documented, according to HIS schedule on his terms and even helped him out with his money troubles with another client (big mistake). Toward the end of payments in the fall of 2008, we were ahead by $15, 000 (stupid on our part---lesson learned) and we kept him on to try to get more work out of him. He even signed another contract at one point saying if he didn't finish by mid-February, he'd pay US $500/day penalty. By the time we had the locks changed March 3 and the termination letter served (which he refused to sign for when delivered), he owed us like $15, ooo. For weeks, his son was the only one to show up and Jerome even sent 2 guys over from his church, in their late teens/early 20's to work on our house one day. When asked what they were going to do, they said they didn't know, they were just helping out. Professional tradesmen? Right! He had carpenters put in the bathroom shower and a painter doing the tile work although he admitted he hadn't done much tiling. The week after we fired Jerome, the newly installed 1ft x 1ft tiles were sliding down the wall and the whole bathroom had to be gutted. Jerome pocketed the downpayment for our stairs/railing and we found out weeks later when I called the company to find out the status of their production and they said Jerome gave them a credit card number but said not to charge it until he gave them the OK. When he was confronted about this, he told us to give him another cheque and he'd follow through... right! Then there's the fireplace he installed where his guys left it turned on for 3 for days with a plastic bag leaning against it which melted and the cost incured to have the fireplace pulled out along with the cabinetry unit only to find the plastic still wrapped around the back side of the furnace and burned up installation instructions. The list goes on and on and on. Yes, we were naive and desperate to have the renovation done. We should have told everyone to get out! Yes, we could take Jerome to court but we're trying to figure out if with 3 kids, we have the time, energy and financial resources to pursue this. I've tried so hard to learn my lessons from all this, to find some sense of forgiveness and closure. Trusting ANYONE to provide service in our home is so hard. I know all this negative PR is affecting Jerome's livelihood and I'm sorry for that. But he acted out of desperation with an intent to serve himself rather than his clients. Jerome, you need to be sorry for what you've done to us and others. I know we'll never get the apology or financial closure we DESERVE for what you put me, Kam and our children through. But you'd better find some way to make this right, if not with us, then with your Maker. If you don't learn the lessons you were meant to learn from taking advantage of people and hurting them, this world's going to find a way to keep you stuck until you do.

As you see the Truth shall set you free, don't want to let them self be know. Why don't you own up to your real name and tell me where this job is and what mold problem you have?. Please own up and stop making false comments.

Jerome Sammy also created a mess in my basement; almost every where in my basement has mold and it is very sad to say a man pretends to know what he is doing and is Jobs are always bad result. There are so many people complaining about this man, he ripoff his workers and cheat his clients how much unfair can he get.

As you know there are always two sides to a story.

As you notice when the home owner tries to be the contractor and is always changing the plans, you will always have set backs. There are many and I mean many satisfied customers.

The comment about not getting the job done on time about the HGTV comment. Every time I asked for payment when the phase was completed, they would give me a post dated check, or half of the money. I can't operate like that especially since it was at the height of the recession. No money no work will continue.

As you noticed no one has the guts to sign their names.When the time for the drywall stage payment they did not come up with the payment, and I did not proceed any further. I think that this is Amran Khan, since he did not sign his name.

I agree wholeheartedly. My wife and I hired Jerome Sammy to finish our basement and it was the worst decision we ever made. Our basement renovation was supposed to be completed in 3 months but the job remained unfinished after 9 months. Jerome took our money and paid himself before paying his trades. They then lined up one by one demanding money from us even though we had paid him already. Jerome claimed he had no money to pay them and had no solution to offer to us. They threatened to put liens on our property and we had to hire a lawyer to defend ourselves. Jerome's work was of such poor quality that our basement leaked profusely and we had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to correct the problem. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT HIRE THIS MAN DESPITE WHAT HE TELLS YOU ABOUT HIS WORK OR ETHICS. HE IS A COMPLETE FRAUD AND INCOMPETENT AS WELL. SPARE YOURSELF WHAT COULD BE ONE OF THE WORST EXPERIENCES OF YOUR LIFE.