CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Amanda Hebblethwaite gets some playtime with her foster pup Bobby Brown. He's one of several doggy guests at Planet Pup, which opened its doors last month -- at long last.
"It took me literally the whole 40 years of my life," Hebblethwaite said.
The budding business owner said what she thought would be the best time of her life, finally realizing a decades-long dream of opening her own animal care company, actually ended up being the most expensive lesson of her life.
"It hit us hard," Hebblethwaite said, wiping tears from her eyes. "We got to a point where we didn't even know if we wanted to continue."
Hebblethwaite said months ago, she was looking for a contractor to help get her doggy daycare vision off the ground when a neighbor tagged one they knew on her Facebook page.
"He seemed like he knew what he was talking about," Hebblethwaite said. "I asked him if he was bonded and insured. He told me yes. I guess I should have asked for papers, but I guess the excitement of everything just had me caught up in the moment--rookie mistake."
She said there was no contract, but the contractor did send her an itemized invoice requesting $40,000, a third of which he wanted up front.
After he started working on the floors, Hebblethwaite said the project ran into red tape--a hurdle she said the contractor promised he would clear himself.
"A couple of weeks went by, and I'm like, 'Hey, have you heard anything? I really want to get this going.' And he's like, 'Oh, no, it takes a while.'"
With on-site work on hold, Hebblethwaite said the contractor promised to build her kennels at home and install them once the hold was over. Meantime, she said he kept asking for more money for labor and supplies.
She said she started to get concerned when she would ask for progress reports.
"Every week, it was something else," Hebblethwaite said. "He had appendicitis. His son was in the hospital. He was back in the hospital. He went to Florida and lost his wallet -- the excuses were crazy, and after a while, I was just like, 'Listen, are you taking my money?'"
She said that's when he got defensive, offering to meet up and return her money and supplies, but never showing. Hebblethwaite said when she started searching for his name online, she found a prior mugshot from 2020 for charges of taking money but not doing any work.
"I knew right then, I got robbed for about 40 grand," Hebblethwaite said. "We took a major loss. Then, if you count all the time that it took to open, we took a major loss there, too."
"Just really do your research on people," she said. "Just a quick Google of somebody's name could save you literally thousands of dollars in the end."
Tom Bartholomy with the Better Business Bureau said it is crucial that business owners educate themselves on the ins and outs of legal dealings as much as possible because many protective laws in North Carolina cover consumers, but not business owners.
He said that is because the system assumes business owners are more savvy than the average consumer.
"There are so many people that have that itch, especially through the pandemic, to become an entrepreneur, and to go out on their own," Bartholomy said. "And they don't have the knowledge."
Bartholomy sees Hebblethwaite's story as an important reminder to vet and verify labor hires, even in a tight labor market when it's tempting to loosen standards to get a job done. He said a quick search found the contractor in question has no license, highlighting a little-known fact about North Carolina law.
"In North Carolina, you don't have to have a license unless you're doing jobs that are more than $30,000, or you're in a specific trade, like electrician or plumber, something like that," Bartholomy said.
Since Hebblethwaite is considered a business owner, not a consumer, he said she would have to pursue a lawsuit, rather than appeal to the state attorney general's office protections for consumers.
Gary Mauney, with Mauney PLLC, said he sees several red flags in the Planet Pup case.
"If somebody does act offended when you're asking basic questions, that should be a hint to you that you don't need to be doing business with them," Mauney said.
He thinks the lack of a contract could also make it harder to pursue a case in court, and contrary to what many think, he said making a contract that can help a legal battle does not have to be complicated.
"It could be a piece of yellow notebook paper -- with what's the day, what's supposed to be done, how much are we going to pay each other, and then signatures at the bottom of the page," Mauney said. "I cannot tell you how valuable that would be, how much money that might save you in the future."
WCNC Charlotte has chosen not to name the contractor since Hebblethwaite said police have not announced charges at this time and because she is still in the process of vetting out a lawsuit against the contractor but has not filed such paperwork yet. The contractor has not responded to requests for comment.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to WCNC Charlotte by emailing money@wcnc.com.
Here are some tips to avoid becoming a victim of a scam:
Emotional appeal - Any pitch that ratchets up your emotion will inhibit your rational judgment.
Sense of urgency - You MUST act now, or else.
Request for unorthodox payment - Gift cards, prepaid credit cards, wire transfers, etc.
Explanations that don't ring true - If your new “landlord” can’t show you the inside of the house, that could be because they don’t own it.
You won, now pay up - It’s not a prize if you have to pay for it. Taxes, fees, shipping, whatever.
Too good to be true - That’s because it’s not true. Sorry, your long-lost relative didn’t die, leaving you millions. That car you bought online for a third of its Kelly Blue Book value doesn’t really exist. The son of a billionaire diamond broker didn’t “swipe right” on you and fall instantly in love. That work-at-home job paying you hundreds of dollars an hour for stuffing envelopes isn’t real.
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