{"id":6233,"date":"2013-06-27T08:25:14","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T12:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=6233"},"modified":"2013-06-26T17:29:37","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:29:37","slug":"tips-to-avoid-home-improvement-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=6233","title":{"rendered":"Tips to avoid home-improvement fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;\"><em><strong>D.A. urges vigilance to avoid victimization<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_6234\" style=\"width: 283px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Image6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6234\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6234 \" style=\"border: 2px solid black; margin: 4px;\" alt=\"Willistown Police Chief John M. Narcise warns: \u201cIf an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.\u201d\" src=\"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Image6-273x300.jpg\" width=\"273\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Image6-273x300.jpg 273w, https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Image6.jpg 668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 273px) 100vw, 273px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Willistown Police Chief John M. Narcise warns: \u201cIf an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As summer temperatures soar, home-improvement scams can be a hot commodity, and Chester County District Attorney is offering some tips to avoid getting burned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHomeowners need to be vigilant when entering into home improvement contracts,\u201d said Hogan in a news release.\u00a0 \u201cThere are certain steps that homeowners can take to protect themselves from being the victim of fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Home improvement contractors are required to register with the Pennsylvania Attorney General\u2019s Office, the release said.\u00a0 Homeowners should check its website,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.attorneygeneral.gov\/\">www.attorneygeneral.gov<\/a>, to make sure that the contractor is registered.\u00a0 Homeowners also should carefully check contractor\u2019s references, obtain more than one bid for a job, and check for complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau.<\/p>\n<p>Homeowners also should make sure that their home improvement contract is specific regarding the work to be done and the time frame within which the work should be completed.\u00a0 In order to prosecute a case, the statute requires that the contract list a final date for completion.\u00a0 The courts have dismissed cases when a final date was not included in the contract, the release said.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the release offers the following advice from Willistown Police Chief John M. Narcise: \u201cIf an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.\u00a0 Make sure to report suspected fraud to your local police department promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>D.A. urges vigilance to avoid victimization As summer temperatures soar, home-improvement scams can be a hot commodity, and Chester County District Attorney is offering some tips to avoid getting burned. \u201cHomeowners need to be vigilant when entering into home improvement contracts,\u201d said Hogan in a news release.\u00a0 \u201cThere are certain steps that homeowners can take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1176],"tags":[2406,411,2404,2405],"class_list":["post-6233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-business","tag-better-business-bureau","tag-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-home-improvement-fraud","tag-willistown-police-chief-john-m-narcise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}