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• By Anonymous

  January 17, 2018

  He ripped us off when he was in NY. Stood me up for 44 appointments. 44! We had to take him to court. 0 stars at best.

• By Sandra R.

  October 22, 2013

  We didn't get swindled as badly as these other reviews -- he only took $100 cash from us as well as our dimmer switch and a fixture from our living room ceiling. I gave him a check the first day he came out, which is when he told me our dimmer switch had gone bad but that he didn't have another one in his truck. I gave him permission to replace it with a regular switch, but never gave him permission to take the dimmer switch. We had originally made arrangements for him to come out the week of September 16th, but he never got back to me. I called and left him several messages. It wasn't until today, finally, that he called back because I left a message saying I would call the state police and the BBB. He yelled at me as soon as I said, "Hello," and told me I lived in a "fantasy land" because he didn't take anything. He denied taking the dimmer switch and the piece out of the ceiling even though I reminded him that he used his own shop-vac to clean up plaster that came from my ceiling from taking the piece out. Basically, I should have done more research before hiring him, but I put in the request on a Sunday evening and he called me right away, so I should've known it was too good to be true. He took $100 cash, not nearly as much as the other unfortunate reviewers here, but it is a lot of money to us.

• By Ap

  June 14, 2013

  I hired Joe Santillo on a Monday 6/10/2013 to install 2 gable fans.
  I gave him a deposit for 55% of the estimate.
  He said he would arrive Wed. 6/12 to do the job. He never showed up or never called. I had to play chase to get in contact with him again. Finally he answered the phone and said he locked his phone and keys in truck.....
  He said he would be here on Friday 6/14 first thing in the morning to do the job. Never showed, never called. At this point I feel my money is gone.
  Do not hire Joe Santillo to do any work, AKA Vegh Electric.

• By Bc

  February 12, 2013

  Contacted this contractor to build a garage.
  He came to our house, listened to our ideas, and offered several of his own.
  He then got back to us with an estimate, which was in our price range. I asked for a detailed contract, and to secure the required permits.
  He had me meet him a few days later, with a generic looking contract.
  He showed up a few days later, did some minimal work, and then asked for a down payment of almost $10,000 (for materials).
  After almost 2 weeks, we started calling and emailing him about when he was going to be back to start the work. I gave us a line about being sick, and would be starting soon.
  After several more phone calls and emails he finally showed back up, he took some measurements with some brand new equipment, some of which was still in the box.
  He went through the motions of making it look like he was doing something, but I know how to use the equipment he was using, and he never calibrated it, nor even took proper measurements. I became very suspicious at this point. I asked when the materials would be delivered, and he was a bit evasive.
  After several days he did not show back up. After more phone calls and emails, he answered the first couple, and ignored the rest, and refused to return any call or email.
  We contacted the local police, and filed a report. We also contacted the BBB, and the group we found him through, and the Attorney General's Consumer's Protection Bureau and filed a complaint with them.
  

• By Q.t.

  December 13, 2012

  This contractor bought material from my bussiness and wrote a bad check.He does not return any phone call,no atempt to make good on his purchase.He is a crook!!!1

• By Chris

  August 8, 2012

  To ( RC) the consumer that wrote the above review......

  We actually contracted Joe Santillo to remodel our basement as you did. After reading your review I almost lost my mind. The exact same thing happened to us....almost word for word, same scenario. We contacted the Attorney Generals Office and filed a complaint. I would suggest that you file a complaint as well so a pattern of fraud can be established. Our agents name was John Dowd. You can reply to this review site as I will check back periodically to search for more responses.

• By Rc

  July 18, 2012

  Joe contacted me on March 2nd 2012 about my job and came out to give me an estimate. He was two hours late to my house, but I liked some of the ideas he had to finish my basement and the price was in my range so I hired him. I asked him to secure permits for my job, provide me a detailed contract, and pictures/references of other jobs he had finished. On March 6th 2012, he came to my house to give me the contract. I was very surprised that it was hand written (scribble scratch) on a piece of paper. It was not professional at all. But I signed it anyway and we agreed to start my job on March 12 2012. I also gave the contractor a $1,000 down payment.

  Unfortunately, he never showed up on 3/12. When I emailed him, he responded that he had the flu and is cranky when he is sick and didn’t feel like calling or talking to anyone. I heard nothing from him for the next 3 days. On 3/15, he sent an email indicating that he was better, apologized for the delay, and wanted to get the job started asap. He asked me to give him a call. I sent him an email response that afternoon indicating that yes I want him to start asap and could he come at 8AM on 3/16. I never heard back.

  After several emails and phone calls and after requesting a refund of my money, I was finally about to get the contractor to actually start the work in Mid-April. He showed up for 2 hours and apparently his glue gun broke and he had to leave. He came back 3 days later and did another day's work to get the framing done. But he did not completely finish the framing and doors and hinges were not completed. In addition, the contractor talks to himself and curses the entire time he works. My wife and I thought there was someone else down there with him, but we concluded he might be somewhat crazy. He requested an additional $1,000 which I paid thinking he had done some work and would finish the job.

  The contractor returned several days later (again after several emails and phone calls) and started the electrical work. All he did was install the sockets for recessed lights and wire the electrical, but never installed outlets or actually hooked it up to the central power. In addition, he needed to replace a vent elbow with a flex pipe and install a new duct in the vent system. He completely messed this up and broke my air conditioning unit. I need to hire an AC specialist to come in and repair the vent. The contractor wanted to fix it himself but it was 100 degrees outside and I wanted the vent repaired correctly and on my time table.

  A few days later, the borough contacted us and informed us that the contractor never actually secured the permit necessary for the job. The inspector came out and looked at what he did and said much of it was not done to code and very poor quality. The inspector called the contractor and gave him a very difficult time and told him not to return until he obtained the permit which only required him to send a drawing/spec of the job.

  After several more emails and phone calls, the contractor just stopped responding to us and never completed the job. We hired him on 3/6/12 and 6/4/12 was the last correspondence we ever received from him. So we wasted three months and lost $3,000 for maybe $1,000 of poor quality work.

  This contractor is unprofessional and totally unreliable. I urge you to move on and find a better contractor. Please do not make the same mistakes we made.

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