Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker & Moore, LLC

I wonder why this organization exists. The consumers fill out all these forms and wait for a response, and BBB does respond but never does anything to solve the problem. Whether it is a minor dispute about who pays for the blinds, the landlord or the tenant, or living these years without electricity because ComEd is overcharging consumers, BBB never does anything to help the consumer. Google says BBB is “advancing marketplace trust by rating businesses based on their reliability and performance and facilitating the resolution of consumer complaints.” However, I never experienced a resolution to my complaints, and my landlord has a meager rating but is still in business. We need an adequate resolution system that helps consumers. BBB has gotten too arrogant to make any impact.

The Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois is a sham business. Like other reviews have indicated the BBB is unregulated, and answers to no one. They make money by taking business fees to advertise them as being a reputable business that the public can trust.

I was told by the quite contented BBB representative basically too bad, we get to decide that the company, Discover Bank, by their telling me,' "We get to send you incorrectly to ATMs using our own ATM fee-free locator, which then charge you a fee, that we will not refund you in spite of you showing me a complete thread of screen captures proving this to be so," that to this specific branch, that the "BBB has determined that the business has addressed your complaint accordingly and made a reasonable and good-faith effort to resolve your concern." So basically, a company can defraud, and this BBB rewards them with their unethical behavior; plus, they annoint the company with the label of being reasonable and showing good faith." This to be clear has nothing to do with their decision to close the case; it has to do with this BBB rewarding this company and its reply. If I had known that this BBB branch was clearly already going to pre-determine such accolades, I would not have filed. One wonders if there is a BBB hierarchy by which one can file a complaint against a specific BBB branch.

The business world is a better place, because the BBB is here to facilitate a problem solving process for issues that arise. Because of their dedication to solving problems and finding resolution in conflict related issues to service providers, we can usually get things taken care of in an orderly manner and without any fuss. Nothing is ever perfect and we are all human, mistakes happen and its just really good to have a reliable resource like the BBB

I found Ricky or Rick Ziko of American Roofing and Construction Solutions on Angie’s list and he presented himself as a license general contractor with the city of Chicago and his four references checked out. During our walk-through on May 23, 2024 he told my brother and I that he was a licensed general contractor. Therefore on June 1, 2024 I signed the contract and gave him a $2300 deposit for the job that would cost $6900 while I waited for him to provide me with a copy of his license and insurance. For days Ricky has been trying to force me to sign a separate contract and give him another deposit for a different job that will start simultaneously yet he continued to ignore my efforts for him to provide me with proof that he has a current general contractors license. This morning Ricky stated that he would return my $2300 after he returned some items to the store. Shortly thereafter, he sent me $1900 via Zelle however, he refuses to return the $400 balance. He stated in his multiple text messages that because he provided me with the contract and a list of materials, he has a right to withhold my $400 for the work that he put in. And via multiple text messages this morning, Ricky stated that per the law, he can charge me up to 15% of the entire $18,000 in contracts legally. I only signed one $6900 contract with him and there is no cancellation fee indicated on the contract that I signed nor is it on the contract that I didn’t sign. The job that I hired Ricky to do requires a licensed general contractor. And, I was told that no permits were needed, but I found out that permits and drawing were needed so I asked for full refund considering he does not have a general contractors license with the city of Chicago. He only provided me with an EIN number which has nothing to do with him being licensed as a general contractor. Ricky stated that he plans to move to Chicago. Therefore, he had not renewed his license since March because the city would not have an address to send the license to. He also stated that if he wanted to, he could get a GC license in three days so I don’t understand why he won’t do that to be legit. Because I did not agree with his terms, in his text messages this morning, Ricky is threatening to put a lien on my property (that he only saw once and he never worked on) and, he has threatened to call the city of Chicago on me for violations. He stated that he has other jobs lined up so why not return my $400 and move on with his life. At this point, I honestly fear for my safety and well being because Ricky presents himself as a disgruntled and hostile contractor who is out for revenge simply because he does not have a general contractor’s license with the city of Chicago. And, I am not comfortable with hiring him based on that and other factors.