Ron Janis Finds a New Way to Screw Someone Over

Yet another negative Yelp review for the Private Sewer and Water Corp.  I think this one is for just general negligence and not being accountable for his actions.

I don't even think this company Ron runs should be on business if you can't trust the person  who runs it. His truck full of mud  or crap driving on the highway hit my cat and put a dent and scratched  the paint off. I called him and he first accused  me of wanting to fix something I already had. First red  flag. Second he asked me to send him a picture and get him the paper work from an estimate. Sure thing I did what he said.  Now he is not returning  my calls, or txts.   His FB page contains a comment about him being a lier and plain a bad business guy...just not right.  He is a guy with no integrity whatsoever. My insurance will have to deal with his so called business.  Don't hire this guy to do your work.  Hire someone  you can actually trust, but now that I think of it.  He deals with shit because  he is one.

Ron Janis Jr. Scam's Another Victim

Another day, another complaint on Yelp for the Private Sewer and Water Corp.

If I could give a minus star I would. He scammed us into paying him twice. Now a check cashing business has one of our checks that he cashed there  it was NSF cuz Ron didn't wait the 3 days it would take to transfer funds from a IRA. He came back to say his office manager accidentally shredded the NSF check so he could not return it. So we wrote checks to cover the NSF and he made sure to go to our bank to cash them. The bank followed proper procedure and called to verify. The check cashing business is threatening litigation on us. BUT the police and our lawyer say that the check cashing business has no standing. DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS!!!!!!!! Ron has the money from that NSF check.

Not much else I can say about this. He seems to be getting more and more shady.  Maybe people are starting to wise up to his scams so it is more difficult for him to pull them off, so he has to resort to stuff like this.

Yet Another BBB Complaint Against Ron Janis and the Private Sewer and Water Corp.

The Private Sewer and Water Corp made it almost three months without registering another BBB complaint.  That's like a new record for them.  In an interesting twist Ron actually responded to this complaint.

Here's the full complaint:

Complaint
Paid this company up front to perform pluming and concrete work. It was a 4 day job and 6 weeks later we can't get the owner to finish the job.

The owner tells us everyday he will have a grew at the location and no one ever shows up. He cashed the check and started the job and never completed it. The diveway is al torn up and we have no front step to get into the house.

Desired Settlement
$ 2,500 or complete the work.

Business Response 
They did pay us half down and yes, we cashed the check and started the job - normal business practice. Since then, we have completed at least half of the work and are in the process of finishing the last of it. The time frame extension is strictly due to bad weather and additional work requested and authorized by *****. The only issue we will have to acknowledge is ensuring there is no problem with final payment upon completion. This has been a lingering problem at their house for years, now time is of the essence? I know it's frustrating but it is what it is.

Consumer Response 
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This was a four day job and we are into week 7. That's right WEEK 7. Every time we ask when he will come back and finish it becomes one lie after another. ***, when are you going to finish this job?

So lets review....

This story seems pretty familiar.  Ron starts a job, accepts payment for the job and then disappears.  He does the whole promising to show up bit and then just not.

Ron Janis's response is telling.  He left his customer with at torn up driveway and no front step for over a month and his response is basically "what is your hurry" and "are you still going to give me more money?"  Any honest business man would have completed the job by now, or offered a refund or at least offered to complete it as soon as possible.  Not Ron though. He doesn't care about inconveniencing his customers.  He'll get to it when he feels like it.  As long as he already has his money, it doesn't really matter to him.

Like Father Like Son?

A user posted the following comment on one of the other pages:

BEWARE OF ANY COMPANIES WITH NAME OF RON JANIS owner beware of home plumbing & heating 225 W SAINT CHARLES RD VILLA PARK OWNED BY RON JANIS SR--I BELEIVE TO BE FATHER OF THE SCAMMER THERE MUST ALSO BE A LITTLE SHINANIGANS GOING ON HERE ALSO BBB GIVES THIS COMPANY GRADE C+ KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY WHEREAS THE PRIVATE SEWER & WATER CORP GETS GRADE F BY THE BBB

I'm going to go ahead  and give Ron Janis Sr. the benefit of the doubt.  I think the only mistake he made is naming his son after himself.  His son then did everything possible to tarnish his name.

According the the BBB site Ron Janis Sr's business has been around since 1972 and they've had a file on him since '96.  This is the first BBB complaint that they've received since I was screwed over by Ron Janis Jr.

Here's the chronology of what I think happened.  This is just speculation, but I'm pretty sure this is how it went down.

1.   Ron Janis Jr's business was located at 511 W Winthrop Ave, Addison, IL when I first hired him in February of 2014.
2.  After running away with my money and not finishing the job Ron Janis Jr relocated to 225 W Saint Charles Rd, Villa Park, IL, which just happens to be the address of his father's business.  My guess is that Ron Janis Jr.  didn't pay his rent at the old establishment and got evicted.  I'm basing this on the fact that he doesn't seem to pay anyone he owes money to, and the numerous court cases I've seen of Ron Janis Jr. getting sued for everything from failure to pay rent at other locations, to failure to pay for equipment and supplies that he's purchased.
3. Ron Janis Jr.  Gets so many complaints from the BBB that he knows he can't defend so he and anyone at the new address are in the habit of just tossing them out.
4. Ron Janis Sr. Gets a complaint.  Since Sr.  isn't a scumbag everyone assumes the complaint goes to Junior and they throw it out.
5. Ron Janis Sr thus never gets a chance to respond to the complaint and his BBB rating takes a hit.

In my personal opinion this is just another case of Ron Janis Jr. screwing someone over, in this case it just happens to be his father.

For reference, here is the complaint against Ron Janis Sr.   Seems like just a mix up and not nearly as severe as the complaints Ron Janis Jr seems to get.

Complaint
When I purchased a T//S valve from Home Plumbing and Heating Company Inc. on 12/12/2014 , I asked about installation and was told by *** , the owner that he. Had a plumber that charged a very reasonable hourly rate and could install the valve . On 12/13/2014. , I received a phone call from *** stating that the plumber was on the way to my. Home to install the T/S valve . ***** , the plumber arrived and before he started work , I asked for an estimate of which he told me $140.00 and I. Agreed , but. When the work was complete ***** , the plumber stated that *** , the owner said that the charge would be $250.00 , which I reluctantly paid . Severe misrepresentation by an agent of said buisness !

Desired Settlement
I wish to receive a refund of at least $100.00 , as I would have given the plumber a $10.00. dollar tip as he did a good job .

Another Unsatisfied Customer for Ron Janis and The Private Sewer and Water Corp

I was bored after work today waiting to for traffic to die down before heading home so I checked out the good old Private Sewer and Water Corp Facebook page to see what my favorite scam artist is up to.

And big surprise he has another negative comment copied onto a bunch of his status posts.  The content of the complaint seems pretty familiar.  And that's because its copied almost verbatim from my CitySearch review.

The Facebook account that the post was made from looks to be a brand new dummy account possibly trying to pretend to be me.  I'm not sure why.  There are a few scenarios I can think of.

• Someone has had similar problems dealing with Ron that I have had, and doesn't have the guts to stand behind his complaints.
• Someone doesn't like Ron for a different reason and is trying to make him look bad.  Seems like a add approach.
• Ron is trying to frame me for libel.  He's accused me of slandering him a couple times.  I honesty wouldn't be surprised if this his thought.  Unfortunately for him the statements are true so he doesn't have a case.  

If  its not him I wonder if he thinks its me.   I kind of hope he does think its me.  

Here's the text of the comment just in case the image isn't available.

Ron Janis is a liar and a thief. He posts halfway done jobs that he never complete here to cover up the fact that he has taken advantage of so many of his customers. Check out the BBB website if you want the real story. Private Sewer and Water Corp has more than twice as many complaints as anyone else in their industry. Whatever you do, don't give them money until the job is complete. There's a good chance they'll walk out on the job and you'll never see them again.

We paid Private Sewer and Water Corp in full for a job they had halfway completed, expecting them to finish in the next couple days. They haven't shown up since. We scheduled dozens of appointments to try to accommodate their schedule and they blew off every single one.
We paid Private Sewer and Water Corp in full for a job they had halfway completed, expecting them to finish in the next couple days. They haven't shown up since. We scheduled dozens of appointments to try to accommodate their schedule and they blew off every single one.

Private Sewer and Water Posts Fake Reviews on Yelp

I've long suspected this, but now it is confirmed.  And hilarious.  I went to the Private Sewer and Water page on Yelp today to see what kind of other scams they've been pulling and I was greeted with the following warning:

The text reads:

Consumer Alert
A number of positive reviews for this business originated from the same IP address. Our automated recommendation software has taken this into account in choosing which reviews to display, but we wanted to call this to your attention because someone may be trying to artificially inflate the rating for this business.

So rather than treat his customers fairly Ron Janis has decided to fake good reviews. I was wondering why the fake good reviews suddenly stopped and now I know.  They must have alerted him that they were on to him.   I  figured he was giving his customers discounts in exchange for good reviews, but it looks like he didn't even do that.  I guess if he did that he would actually have to follow through and provide good service.