... isnt because his doctors need to clear him. He spends more time in court than he does working!
A search on Public Maryland Judiciary Case Search yields 62 (SIXTY TWO) pending or closed lawsuits against this man!
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquirySearch.jis
Enter in Last Name "Gerhardt", First name: "William". Amazing.
What is MORE amazing is the amount of money he owes people. A similar search on
Maryland Judiciary Judgments and Liens Search yields HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars owed to people!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Heart Attack, Debt Don't Stop Family....
... but hopefully it STOPS Mr. Gerhardt from entering your home to do kitchen remodeling. We've had the pleasure of dealing with this FINE individual. That is if you like losing your money, spending your precious time in court and then trying to get in line with numerous others to collect judgements.
Our dealings with "Kitchen Concepts", William Gregory Gerhardt (aka Greg Gerhardt) and his associate Stephen Roberts started way back in 2004 when we bought our house. We were first introduced to Mr. Roberts who said he didnt do much kitchen work, but his partner Mr. Gerhardt is a kitchen remodeling "specialist". Mr. Roberts at the time had the proper credentials and paperwork, and as such, we took his word on Mr. Gerhardt. BIG mistake. We plopped down a pretty hefty deposit and work was supposed to start. (Pictures to be edited in coming posts).
Well, week after week went by with excuses about why the job did not start. First it was that a prior job was not completed yet (understandable at the time), then family was sick (gave benefit of doubt; I mean who wants to question your truthfulness about a sick relative?), MONTHS went by before work started.
Once work started, things got hairy. We spec'd out specific appliances during the design phase and this "SPECIALIST" was supposed to know what he was doing. He told us all the appliances we wanted would not be a problem. We put down more money to order appliances (Viking, Maytag, etc). Once delivered, the wrong size oven was ordered. Mistakes happen right? No biggie we thought. I mean, if you have a kitchen specialist come in, you'd expect him to know that a 36" Oven would need a bigger than 36" cabinet space right??? So now my wife has to settle for a MUCH smaller oven. On top of that, we were not credited the difference in price between the two.
When it came time to install the ventilation hood, turns out the ducting has to be run (who woulda thought!). Well, instead of trying to figure a solution, we were told the ONLY way to solve this issue was to tear up EACH adjacent cabinet to the hood to run the ductwork through. There goes all our cabinet space! Doesn't this just look wonderful?
During all this, multiple corners were cut on the job. Instead of drilling holes in wood beams to run electrical lines, NOTCHES were made in the wood. On top of that, metal plates were not being used (as per code) to shield wiring.
Electrical Junction boxes were made and hidden behind walls with no access as REQUIRED by code.
Holes made in the drywall were not sealed. Water pipes that were moved left holes in the floor and walls. On top of that, the pipe to the sink started leaking.
We ordered multiple cabinets for an adjacent area for an aquarium. Those cabinets were never delivered to us.
The final straw was coming. I custom ordered a Bosch dishwasher and Mr. Gerhardt instructed me to contact him to complete the job once the dishwasher came in. We called him MULTIPLE times. Many times our messages went unreturned, and calls unanswered. It seemed like he was screening our calls so we tried from different phones at work, etc. NOTHING. At this point we were EXTREMELY fed up with the workmanship and their tactics. The dishwasher came in and we tried calling a couple more times. NOTHING. At this point, we did a search on Mr. Gerhardt. Turns out during the WHOLE time he was onsite at our home, there was a CEASE and DESIST order on him! ( http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2005/072705.htm )
Judging from the posts in the following thread, we were not the only ones:
http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/east/2005/07/28/57698.htm
We called the Maryland Consumer Protection Division who told us to immediately seek counsel. We did. We were informed that we were not the first to have complaints and that we would have to join the line of people who were already trying to get money back from Mr. Gerhardt/Roberts. It appears to us that all the times he asked us for more money, sometimes checks written directly to Mr. Gerhardt and not his company were probably attempts to repay prior debts and customers.
Our long, drawn out court battle was about to start. At first, the State of MD brought on criminal charges for Mr. Gerhardt. We had to use our own time to goto court for this. The case was dismissed based on a technicality. His partner, Mr. Roberts bailed him out by claiming they were working together and thus he did not need a license while on site. So much for seeing this scum goto jail. So now these guys were partners. HRM. Next step was a civil case.
We filed suit in civil court against both individuals. They kept on postponing the case, but eventually it was heard in 2007. After months of drawn out court battles and paying our second contractor to be a witness we finally won judgement. While in court they tried to find other little loopholes to get out of being responsible for any wrongdoings they had done. Saying it was OUR fault for not picking correct applicances, etc. Last I knew, WE were not the kitchen remodeling specialists. When you goto have surgery and see a specialist, are you expected to know the entire procedure? NO. There is a reason why you are paying the big bucks to the so called specialists.
They then claimed we never called them back when the dishwasher was delivered. HA! They thought we wouldnt have records to show it! But after some digging, I was able to get Verizon to give me phone records showing we made at least two outgoing calls to them. How did they respond to this? They claimed we only called twice and never again. Go figure.
We finally finished our court proceedings, but now the hardest part was getting our money back. Not an easy task considering the number of people these guys owe money to.
In a final twist of fate, it seems Mr. Gerhardt had a health scare of his own. ( http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/515222.html ). I guess that might be called karma? Well now there are more people in line to collect money from this individual (hospitals, banks, etc). And to think with the sob story above, more people are going to unknowlingly "donate" money to them is just crazy. He has gotten his church to donate $3500 to him ! It angers me and is what has given me the desire to start this blog. People out there need to know what an individual this guy REALLY is.
Im all for people changing their lives and making things right. If this is really a wakeup call for Mr. Gerhardt, he should start by repaying his debts to the many people he has wronged in the past.
Our dealings with "Kitchen Concepts", William Gregory Gerhardt (aka Greg Gerhardt) and his associate Stephen Roberts started way back in 2004 when we bought our house. We were first introduced to Mr. Roberts who said he didnt do much kitchen work, but his partner Mr. Gerhardt is a kitchen remodeling "specialist". Mr. Roberts at the time had the proper credentials and paperwork, and as such, we took his word on Mr. Gerhardt. BIG mistake. We plopped down a pretty hefty deposit and work was supposed to start. (Pictures to be edited in coming posts).
Well, week after week went by with excuses about why the job did not start. First it was that a prior job was not completed yet (understandable at the time), then family was sick (gave benefit of doubt; I mean who wants to question your truthfulness about a sick relative?), MONTHS went by before work started.
Once work started, things got hairy. We spec'd out specific appliances during the design phase and this "SPECIALIST" was supposed to know what he was doing. He told us all the appliances we wanted would not be a problem. We put down more money to order appliances (Viking, Maytag, etc). Once delivered, the wrong size oven was ordered. Mistakes happen right? No biggie we thought. I mean, if you have a kitchen specialist come in, you'd expect him to know that a 36" Oven would need a bigger than 36" cabinet space right??? So now my wife has to settle for a MUCH smaller oven. On top of that, we were not credited the difference in price between the two.
When it came time to install the ventilation hood, turns out the ducting has to be run (who woulda thought!). Well, instead of trying to figure a solution, we were told the ONLY way to solve this issue was to tear up EACH adjacent cabinet to the hood to run the ductwork through. There goes all our cabinet space! Doesn't this just look wonderful?
During all this, multiple corners were cut on the job. Instead of drilling holes in wood beams to run electrical lines, NOTCHES were made in the wood. On top of that, metal plates were not being used (as per code) to shield wiring.
Electrical Junction boxes were made and hidden behind walls with no access as REQUIRED by code.
Holes made in the drywall were not sealed. Water pipes that were moved left holes in the floor and walls. On top of that, the pipe to the sink started leaking.
We ordered multiple cabinets for an adjacent area for an aquarium. Those cabinets were never delivered to us.
The final straw was coming. I custom ordered a Bosch dishwasher and Mr. Gerhardt instructed me to contact him to complete the job once the dishwasher came in. We called him MULTIPLE times. Many times our messages went unreturned, and calls unanswered. It seemed like he was screening our calls so we tried from different phones at work, etc. NOTHING. At this point we were EXTREMELY fed up with the workmanship and their tactics. The dishwasher came in and we tried calling a couple more times. NOTHING. At this point, we did a search on Mr. Gerhardt. Turns out during the WHOLE time he was onsite at our home, there was a CEASE and DESIST order on him! ( http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2005/072705.htm )
Judging from the posts in the following thread, we were not the only ones:
http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/east/2005/07/28/57698.htm
We called the Maryland Consumer Protection Division who told us to immediately seek counsel. We did. We were informed that we were not the first to have complaints and that we would have to join the line of people who were already trying to get money back from Mr. Gerhardt/Roberts. It appears to us that all the times he asked us for more money, sometimes checks written directly to Mr. Gerhardt and not his company were probably attempts to repay prior debts and customers.
Our long, drawn out court battle was about to start. At first, the State of MD brought on criminal charges for Mr. Gerhardt. We had to use our own time to goto court for this. The case was dismissed based on a technicality. His partner, Mr. Roberts bailed him out by claiming they were working together and thus he did not need a license while on site. So much for seeing this scum goto jail. So now these guys were partners. HRM. Next step was a civil case.
We filed suit in civil court against both individuals. They kept on postponing the case, but eventually it was heard in 2007. After months of drawn out court battles and paying our second contractor to be a witness we finally won judgement. While in court they tried to find other little loopholes to get out of being responsible for any wrongdoings they had done. Saying it was OUR fault for not picking correct applicances, etc. Last I knew, WE were not the kitchen remodeling specialists. When you goto have surgery and see a specialist, are you expected to know the entire procedure? NO. There is a reason why you are paying the big bucks to the so called specialists.
They then claimed we never called them back when the dishwasher was delivered. HA! They thought we wouldnt have records to show it! But after some digging, I was able to get Verizon to give me phone records showing we made at least two outgoing calls to them. How did they respond to this? They claimed we only called twice and never again. Go figure.
We finally finished our court proceedings, but now the hardest part was getting our money back. Not an easy task considering the number of people these guys owe money to.
In a final twist of fate, it seems Mr. Gerhardt had a health scare of his own. ( http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/515222.html ). I guess that might be called karma? Well now there are more people in line to collect money from this individual (hospitals, banks, etc). And to think with the sob story above, more people are going to unknowlingly "donate" money to them is just crazy. He has gotten his church to donate $3500 to him ! It angers me and is what has given me the desire to start this blog. People out there need to know what an individual this guy REALLY is.
Im all for people changing their lives and making things right. If this is really a wakeup call for Mr. Gerhardt, he should start by repaying his debts to the many people he has wronged in the past.
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