CLEVELAND — It’s been months of tears for a local woman who just wanted to revitalize some rooms in her home, but all she got was disappointment at every turn. Up to her eyeballs in frustration, she called News 5 investigators to help alert you to be careful with contractors.
“Here are cracks here. You can see that,” said Kitt Davis from Bedford Heights as she walked around her living room and kitchen. “As you can see, you can put your finger through here. They’re not the same,” she said while showing us gaps in closet doors.
SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DREAM RENOVATION
It was supposed to be a dream renovation to her kitchen and more.
“I am ticked off,” Davis said.
She hired a company called Improve Your Home for Less run by Ray Rosenberry.
“(He’s) telling us, ‘Well, before I do this, I need to do this.’ So, kind of adding things in,” said Davis. “We’re like, OK, because he’s the expert.”
In the basement sits the floor all torn up. “This used to be ceramic tile,” she told us. “I mean, my basement was finished (before he came in).”
Plus, her garage was filled with all kinds of appliances and other things just waiting to be installed. “One day he just stopped showing up which was April 6th (of this year),” Davis told us.
COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST COMPANY & OWNER
She complained to the Cleveland Better Business Bureau. They told us Rosenberry, at first, agreed to mediation and told them he did $32,000 worth of work and only received $20,000. However, Kitt showed us all the cancelled checks she wrote to Improve Your Home for Less totaling more than $47,000.
“When I sent all my cancelled checks, he stopped responding.”
We called and knocked on Rosenberry’s door several times. None of our messages have been returned.
With so many areas unfinished in her home, Davis was basically left with one room—her bedroom.
“Even when when my granddaughter comes over, she’s in my bedroom with me. She’s four. She doesn’t want to sit in my room,” Davis said.
She told us Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance is the bond company for Improve Your Home for Less and that despite all she’s lost, Nationwide offered her $10,000.
“But (they) want me to sign an affidavit that this settles the case. I can’t sign that,” said Davis.
News 5 Investigators spoke with the company, but it gave no specifics—only saying it’s “been in contact with both parties in an attempt to find a resolution.”
BIG PROBLEMS WITH CABINET COMPANY, TOO
And, if all that wasn’t enough, she bought kitchen cabinets from Complete Wholesale Direct out of Lakewood that, according to the contract, was supposed to assemble them, too. However, she said a partial shipment sat in boxes in her home for a long time. So, she cancelled the order but never saw her money refunded.
"(The owner) hasn’t given me anything, won’t return my phone calls, nothin’," she said.
We, too, got no response from Complete Wholesale Direct.
Davis is now stepping forward with a warning about these companies so you can avoid similar dashed dreams.
“And now that you see (your home) like this, how do you feel?” we asked.
“So, I'm all cried out,” said Davis. “I have cried enough. I don’t have any more tears.”
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