Maria Rodriguez tried to cancel a contract with Bison Roofing but couldn’t get her down payment back. After calling KENS 5, she was able to get a refund.
SAN ANTONIO — Maria Rodriguez signed a contract with Bison Roofing on April 2nd. She thought they would be able to start the job right away.
“It would be a quick in and out, that’s what they told me,” Rodriguez said.
She paid the company more than $9000 upfront. But while the the company put a tarp on her roof the same day she signed the contract, she says an employee then told her they couldn’t start for two weeks.
The contract she signed allowed a three-day cancelation period so Rodriguez emailed the company two days later and the company agreed to cancel the job via email.
But her money didn’t come back. She then ended up in a two-month disagreement with Bison Roofing and eventually called KENS 5.
KENS 5 went over Rodriguez’s texts and emails and found out Bison Roofing did initially agree to a refund.
Rodriguez requested to cancel the job on April 4th and the company agreed on the same day.
“We acknowledge your request to cancel the contract, effective immediately. We will proceed with the cancellation as requested,” said the reply email from Bison Roofing. “Regarding your deposit of $9,464.70, we will process the refund as soon as your check has cleared our bank.”
The email said the company would deduct the cost of any work already done and the check would be mailed to her.
“That didn’t happen,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez eventually spoke to Bison Roofing President Genaro Montelongo.
Montelongo later claimed, via text, that the contract could not be canceled because they had already started work when they did the “emergency tarping.” He then said he would still refund the deposit but the company would take out $900 for the tarping work and fees. He asked to meet the next day to “come to an agreement” but Rodriguez wasn’t available.
Rodriguez claimed she later agreed to a refund in which the company would keep the $900 but Montelongo wasn’t available to meet at that time. She said Montelongo insisted he had to be at the business to provide the refund. Later on May 29, he said he needed her to sign a form before she could get the refund.
Montelongo claimed the main issue was “Maria’s threats to disparage our company if we didn’t waive the valid costs incurred.”
Finally, in June, Rodriguez called KENS 5.
“I was just tired of the run-around and I know you guys can do this,” Maria said.
KENS 5 then went to Bison Roofing and spoke to Montelongo.
Montelongo consistently told KENS 5 that they would provide a refund but the exact conditions of that refund changed several times.
Initially Motelongo told KENS 5 that Rodriguez would be required to sign something to get her refund because she had threatened to disparage them.
Later that day, he said via email that she had to sign an agreement because it was “a standard procedure for us to formally close out cancelled contracts.”
In another email that day, he then said the decision to make Rodriguez sign something was made after their disagreement and she had to sign a non-disparagement clause to get her refund. He said she would get a “full refund” after signing this.
The next day Montelongo said they offered a cashier’s check for the deposit, less the $900 invoice. He later said on the phone that Rodriguez did not need to sign anything to get that refund. He said the company would have waived the $900 charges if she had signed a non-disparagement clause.
Regardless, Rodriguez was able to get her refund minus the $900 for the tarp and fees.
“I walk over to the counter. He hands me the check. He was nice and he said ‘here you go’ and he didn’t make me sign anything.”
Rodriguez said she was glad she finally got the money back, and she’s glad she called KENS 5.
“It was such a huge relief and I guess I walked out of there with a little skip going ‘I’m not alone on this and KENS 5 had my back.”
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.