Good News Around The World: After Scam Left Elderly Pittsburgh Couple with Pile of Dirt and Excuses, Local Landscapers Donate to Finish for Free...

The Following Article is From The Good News Network...

A Pittsburgh-area contractor picked up the flag for his profession after a local senior couple were scammed out of some new landscaping work they paid for.

Losing out on $6,750 for a new retaining wall for the garden-side of their driveway, the couple was shocked when someone else offered to do it for free.

The story demonstrates the power of reporting to do good, as local CBS affiliate KDKA spoke with the Ruffings of West Mifflin outside of Pittsburgh about this construction job they paid for two years ago.

For a segment called KDKA Investigates, the Ruffings explained that in exchange for an advance of $4,000, they received a pile of bricks, a pile of mud, and then a pile of excuses.

“He said his truck broke down and then he had a fire in his trailer and then… just didn’t see him,” said Pam Ruffing. “I’m just afraid it’s all going to come down with the rain.”

The Ruffings had hired Shiloh Landscaping (remember the name) out of Bedford two years ago, and contacted KDKA to see if getting their plight on the news could be the genesis of some positive change, and while Shiloh Landscaping’s contractors are still at large, the news report did bring about some good.

“[W]e actually just did a job for a lady who got scammed out of money,” said local contractor Ray Benvenuti, who told KDKA that a friend of his saw the Ruffing’s situation on TV, and told him “‘some people in West Mifflin got scammed out of money.'”

“I’m sick of seeing this stuff going on.”

Benvenuti Landscaping and Reconstruction arrived with help from a local hardware store, and together with the few materials already brought over by the previous contractors, proceeded to build the whole retaining wall with donated labor.

“It’s a little tedious because we had to start from scratch a little bit and match somebody else’s work. I mean, we’ll get it done, we’re professionals,” Benvenuti said at the time.

And that they did—even constructing an additional corner wall to match by the steps up to the house—all in time for Easter lunch, which offered the Ruffings the added joy of dodging the need to explain to their family and friends what the giant eyesore under the blue tarp was all about.

KDKA spoke with a representative of the Better Business Bureau for advice on how to be wiser when selecting contractors, as these small businesses were the fifth-largest purveyors of scams in the state.

The BBB spokeswoman said don’t pick the first contractor who bids on your project, but wait to hear from two or three. Request proof of insurance, and pay no more than one-third of the total cost as an advance—a right guaranteed to Pennsylvanians by law.



Additionally, in the state, if a contractor does $5,000 or more of work in a year, they are required to register with the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Attorney General’s office. If they lack this registration, that’s a clear red flag.