LATHROP, Mo. – The owner of an asphalt company for years has been accused of preying on customers by jacking up the price as soon as the work is done. Now he’s finally been caught on camera.
“I got a load or so of fresh hot mix asphalt.”
That’s the pitch Jerry Oliphant heard from the man standing at his front door. The man promised Oliphant he would sell him that extra load of asphalt for $28 per yard and estimated he had about 100 yards.
“If I’ve got less, it will be less,” the man told Oliphant. “If I’ve got more, then I’ll tell you I’ve got more. It will be your choice.“
Oliphant agreed to pay $2,800 to have 100 yards of asphalt laid on the driveway of his Lathrop home.
“They were almost three-quarters done, and that’s when come to me and told me it was going to be $13,000,” he said.
Oliphant said the man claimed his crew had laid 500 yards, even though no one had ever asked Oliphant for permission to lay all that extra asphalt. Oliphant refused to pay more than the $2,800 he’d agreed to.
“They threatened to sue me,” Oliphant said. “Threatened to put a lien on my house.”
Oliphant said he grew worried and finally agreed to pay $9,000 – just so the men would go away. He said it was after the men left that he did some research and found a story on FOX4 Problem Solvers about the same company. It was only then…
