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AZROC: Unlicensed contractor 'Juarez' back at it

Posted at 7:29 PM, Aug 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-03 22:29:42-04

A West Valley contractor that plead guilty to contracting without a license in 2015 has been accused of continuing the same practices this year.

She goes by Ana or Rafaela Juarez. Usually, she works with a guy named Hugo Juarez or Zaragoza.

Customers have been complaining to us for years about the pair, which has worked under several different company names, including Juarez Design and Valle Sol.

Sun City resident Debbie said she knows Ana/Rafaela as "Lisa" from when she hired a company called Landscaping and Paver Specialists. She said she hired them after they drove her around the neighborhood to see other finished projects.

"We saw this couple's house, and they had pavers in the back," Debbie said.

So, work began. Trees were removed, a pipe was dug up and construction on a block wall had been started. Debbie said it was supposed to take two weeks, but two months and nearly $16,000 later, she said, little work was done.

And Debbie said that she was getting nothing but excuses. "Hugo is sick, he's in the hospital. The truck broke down. We can't get the equipment; it's a holiday. We can't see you today or tomorrow because the guys are working on other jobs," Debbie said about the excuses she heard.

Debbie said she was left with a yard full of unused supplies, plants left to die and an unfinished yard.

Lynne Marion said she ended up with shoddy unfinished work, too, after hiring them in back in 2013. She paid them nearly $42,000 after an expansion of her patio turned into remodeling inside of her home.

"The toilet leaks, the vanity leaks, the master bathroom is half painted," Marion said.  

Marion's case was taken to court and Juarez was ordered to pay restitution. But Marion said she hasn't received anything since February of 2016.

The Arizona Registrar of Contractors (AZROC) said it has investigated 11 complaints against Juarez since 2010, with customer payments totaling more than $138,000.

We caught up with Ana after she pleaded guilty to contracting without a license last year. She didn't' have anything to say for herself.

But after months of waiting, Debbie had plenty to say.

"I told her, 'You're fired and you owe me money,'" Debbie said. She's not holding her breath for that money, and she had to pay another contractor to redo the work.

"I would like justice to be served. I'm sure they're out there somewhere in Sun City, Sun City West probably scamming someone else right now," Debbie said.

We tried to get a comment from Juarez but the listed phone numbers have been disconnected.

Meanwhile, the AZROC tells us that Debbie's case has been turned over to the Arizona Attorney General. We'll let you know what that office decides.

Call the Assistance League of Phoenix volunteers at 1-855-323-1515. You can also send me an email joe@abc15.com or a video email where you attach a video explaining the problem.

And you can reach me on Twitter or "like" the Let Joe Know Facebook and tell me about it there.