PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — When Angie Moore hired a company to replace her water softener at her Pasco County home, she expected the job to get done. Instead, she said she was left with brown water flowing through her taps and thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Moore's experience highlights potential flaws in Florida law that's supposed to protect customers from unscrupulous contractors. Now, a state lawmaker wants to make changes to better protect consumers.
"I can't imagine anyone would want to live with that situation," Moore said.
Over the summer, Moore hired Tri-County Water, a Spring Hill-based company owned by Charles Walczak. She said Walczak removed her water softener but never installed the new one.
"It's orange," Moore said when asked what happened to her water quality. “It was going to destroy my appliances, my toilets were orange. It was whenever we would take a shower it would leave a film on our skin. My hair has highlights in it so of course my hair turned orange because it picked up every sediment from the water.”
Walczak chose to not do an interview with Tampa Bay 28.
Moore said she never heard from Walczak, so she hired another company to finish the job, but doing that limited what recourse she could take under state law.
"They're not written to protect us," Moore said.
Florida law creates contractor protection loophole
Florida law requires contractors to complete work within 60 days. If they don't, customers can send a demand letter, then the contractor has another 30 days to fix it. After all that time passes, the contractor could be found guilty of theft and prosecuted.
There is a catch: customers can't terminate or breach the contract and must follow the time limits. In Moore's case, she didn't wait and installed a new system.
“How can the Florida law be on my side if they expect me to live 90 days with orange water," Moore questioned.
This isn't the first case involving Walczak. Two months before Moore hired him, David Hibbard contacted Susan Solves It, saying Walczak took his water softener for repairs and never returned it. After Consumer Investigative Reporter Susan El Khoury started asking questions, Walczak put the system back, but it still wasn't working properly. City Soft Water and Plumbing saw Tampa Bay 28’s reporting and offered to help.
Lawmaker wants changes, emergency provisions
Tampa Bay 28’s reporting is now getting the attention of lawmakers.
"I think it's creating an environment where it protects the contractor more than the consumer," said State Rep. Dr. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) when asked if the law protects consumers.
Eskamani said she wants to work on changes that could include provisions for emergency cases.
"The consumer is who ends up losing because they're the ones who are stuck with a defective product or an installation that didn't go well, and instead of getting recourse, typically they have to pay out of pocket to get it fixed," Eskamani said.
She also believes state agencies need to be part of the solution.
"We refer many different constituent issues to the AG's office, and it's pretty rare to actually get an outcome where a consumer is made whole, and so in this state, we really don't have the best consumer protections," Eskamani added.
Customer pays the price
Moore ultimately paid a steep price for the incomplete work. She said the system Walczak removed cost almost $9,000, and on top of that, she had to spend nearly $3,000 she on a new system.
Having lived through the ripple effect of what can happen, Moore said her goal is to help protect others.
"I want him to stop doing this to people," Moore said. "The laws need to be changed."
Rep. Eskamani said she reached out to other lawmakers to see if they would be willing to work with her on proposing changes. As of now, nothing has been introduced. Tampa Bay 28 will continue to follow this and let you know if anything changes.
Share Your Story with Susan
Consumer Investigator Susan El Khoury is here to advocate for you. From crimes targeting consumers to tips and tricks to help you save money, Susan works to help solve the day-to-day issues. Reach out to Susan with any problems you need help solving.
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