When Herald Summer went looking for help with yard work, he began his search online. He thought he found what he was looking for when he saw an ad on Facebook for T&K Handyman, Home Improvement -- a husband and wife duo.
Summer called the couple out to his property.
"He spoke the right things, he asked the right questions, he had the right demeanor," Summer said.
Summer wanted to extend his fence in his yard to six feet from the curb, and he also needed help removing tree debris.
"Had a great attitude, was upbeat, ready to go, ready to get the work done," explained Summer. "He wrote up a contract stating everything that we spoke of, each and every word. Had no problems with it, everything was good."
Summer agreed to pay half up front for supplies. He wrote a $500 check, and it was cashed the same day.
"I haven't seen him since," Summer said. "Definitely a lesson learned because it takes away from my family."
"Today unfortunately our marketplace is saturated with not real business people, people pretending to be business people," said Better Business Bureau President and CEO Kathleen Calligan.
Calligan said consumers should always know the business they're working with better than the business knows them.
"Giving money in advance on contracts before they even show up, never a good idea. Even if you have to do that you always use your credit card because we have federal guidelines that protect us, we can get our money back," said Calligan.
Summer and his family have been sharing their story with the hopes others won't fall into these scammers' trap.
"Do your homework first, see about them, see the work they've done, call the license board of Tennessee to see if they really are licensed," property owner, Rhonda Obermuller said.
