Imagine if a roofing company came to your house, caused damage, realized they were at the wrong house and left without so much as a note. That is what a Cochrane homeowner is alleging happened to her.
Imagine if a roofing company came to your house, caused damage, realized they were at the wrong house and left without so much as a note.
That is what a Cochrane homeowner is alleging happened to her.
Denise Brochu claims a roofing company came to her house in West Terrace, by mistake, in September 2015 and unloaded pallets of shingles onto her roof, nailed 2x4 boards to slide the pallets and walked on two roof elevations with steel studded shoes - before realizing they were at the wrong house and left with no notification of what happened.
Brochu was notified about the mistake from her neighbours when she came home from work that night.
“I would have never known if it wasn't for my neighbours, ” Brochu said.
“They came to the wrong house. They didn't leave a note and they did not call or say anything - it is frustrating because if someone ran into the vehicle in front of my house and left the scene of an accident, that would be a crime. ”
Brochu and her partner tracked down Kenroc approximately four days later, when Brochu noticed new shingles on another house in her neighbourhood with the house address ending in the same number as Brochu's.
“When I called Kenroc they laughed and said they were expecting my call, ” Brochu explained.
After contacting Kenroc, Brochu's partner Duane Lauritsen insisted temporary remediation was needed for the roof, and a repairman was sent out in early October to repair the roof so it could shed water and prevent internal house damage.
Brochu then contacted Co-operators insurance company, who assessed the damages and determined the two elevations of the roof needed to be replaced at an estimated cost of $7,800. According to Lauritsen, initial correspondence with the roofing company indicated that the company would be willing to pay out the damages, after completing an independent assessment of roof repair cost, which came within a few hundred dollars of Co-operators estimate - until the head office in Ontario got involved with the issue.
Lauritsen stated in an email that once the head office in Ontario got involved, another assessment was done by a Kenroc insurance representative. On Dec. 18 Kenroc released damages assessed as approximately 400 shingles damaged, with a payout of $5.50 per damaged shingle, totaling a payout of $1,925, according to Lauritsen.
Now after five months of back and forth between the insurance companies and Kenroc Building Materials Co. Ltd., Brochu said she is frustrated with the current situation, left with a payout option of $1,925 from Kenroc or to pay the $1,000 deductible, with increased premiums from Co-operators.
Brochu said she tried to go to the RCMP, who explained to her that it was not a criminal matter - then to the Better Business Bureau, who explained they could do little to help, as Kenroc is not affiliated with the Bureau.
“The window of opportunity for me to get a new roof in the fall has vanished because they were dragging their heels and now I have to wait until the spring to get a new roof and I have to hope I don't have electrical damage, water damage, any damage inside my home, but I don't know if it will last until then. ” Brochu said.
Brochu said since she has gone public with her story, Kenroc has been refusing to speak to her and now the homeowner said she will have to replace her roof, which can cost up to $20,000.
“It is an inconvenience in life and it is an injustice of a big company getting away with doing whatever they want to do, ” Brochu said.
“It is a wee little person fighting a big company who is not doing the right thing. ”
Kenroc did not respond to requests for comment.
