A knock at Carolyn Crane’s door last summer went from a routine check-up to a $1,500 bill without warning.

Crane, a resident of the Sequim retirement community Clasen Cove Estates off North Fifth Avenue, knew she scheduled a standard furnace inspection with Bill Mair Heating and Air, Inc. She believed a man, whom she describes as a “young, friendly fellow” was an employee of Mair, so she opened her garage for him to come in and work.

Crane sat in her office while the man began looking at her furnace and soon thereafter the man came back with a dirt clod in his hand saying he found it inside her furnace.

She said she was being scammed, and she’s not alone.

Businesses and residents in and around Sequim report of similar efforts by companies pushing for services. In doing so, they even have posed as local businesses.

Matt Eveland, sales manager of Air Flo Heating in Sequim, said scammers doing what happened to Crane and/or pushing for heating services through telemarketing has been going on awhile and recently intensified.

“They’ll offer services, like clean your duct work and check your furnace for $40 and walk down there and say, yeah you got one,” he said.

Crane said that when her inspector came to her with a dirt clod he found in Crane’s furnace, she was surprised.

“There’s no way this could have gotten into the furnace,” she said, “but I’m no expert.”

The man continued to work his way around her home using a small vacuum and a pole with a brush, Crane said, as he vacuumed the surface of her many heater vents.

She became increasingly suspicious as she noticed he never looked at her heat pump outside.

“He didn’t take very long,” Crane said. “Then he came back with a bill of $1,500. I said it was crazy. I told him I’m not going to pay that.”

The invoice came from Green Quality Air, addressed out of Seattle’s Pier 70, however no records state the business was ever there or existed. The invoice also has several misspellings including the business’ name and email address, and the man’s writing is nearly illegible.

But he didn’t want to leave until he was paid and Crane wanted him out so they agreed on a $500 bill for now, After he left, Crane cancelled the check.

Later, she confirmed with Anna Mair, Bill’s wife, that the man did not work for them and it’s just Anna and Bill.

Green Quality Air staff didn’t stop though. The next day, the man called Crane telling her he needed the money.

“He said if he can’t get paid, then my family is going to suffer,” Crane said.

She received another call a few months later from someone claiming to be with the business demanding money, but Crane said she told them to get lost.

Crane said she felt uneasy almost immediately from the experience.

“The price and the amount of time he spent working were off,” she said. “He could have come in with that dirt in his hand or bag, too.”

Widespread scamming

Eveland said they’ve reached out to businesses allegedly scamming and/or using Air Flo’s name to get a foot in the door, but the phone numbers are all recorded messages.

He’s also heard stories about scammers selling expensive filters and they start adding services and perks to hike up the bill.

“We give a price up front,” Eveland said. “(Customers) should know what they are paying for before accepting the service.”

As a precaution, Eveland said Air Flo’s employees have name badges and drive marked vehicles.

“We have all of our employees do background checks because we want to make sure anyone going into homes is representing Air Flo well,” Eveland said.

Anna Mair said their business typically doesn’t call to schedule appointments but rather through mailed appointment cards.

“We have a handful of customers on a scheduled filter cleaning we call but we send out cards that say it’s time for maintenance and to give us a call. We leave it up to them,” she said.

Mair recommends locals do their homework on businesses before scheduling anything.

“Make sure this person coming to your house is someone you want in your house,” she said.

Taking action

A resident requesting anonymity to protect her identity living in the City of Sequim by Carrie Blake Park said she’s been contacted a few times over the past six months by suspicious cleaning services. Last summer, she spoke with Bill Mair about a recommendation for a service and a few days later the Sequim resident was contacted by a business asking to come to her home and clean. She wasn’t sure if the calling business was the business Mair recommended so she checked and found out it wasn’t because Mair’s office typically doesn’t call.

Last week, she believes the same business contacted her saying they scheduled her but she told them it was the wrong number and hung up.

Husband and wife Dick and Helen McCammon, who live off Kitchen-Dick Road, said her phone call from a cleaning service was more forceful.

Last week, she was told by a businessman representing the business “Eco-something” that they were scheduled to come by for a cleaning. She told them Bill Mair does that for her, which the man said his business is a subcontractor.

“I told him, ‘I don’t think you should come until I check with Bill Mair,’ and I hung up and I checked with Dick to see if he scheduled anything. He didn’t do anything,” Helen McCammon said.

“(The man on the phone) was not very polite and told me, ‘We’re coming tomorrow morning.’ I said, ‘Don’t bother,’ and I hung up on him.”

McCammon said she made the mistake of mentioning Mair’s name, which the telemarketer preyed on but she caught on quickly.

Another source asking for anonymity living in the Mains Farm area said she received a similar call from a businessman with Green Air in November.

She too had an appointment already scheduled with Mair, but the man said he could do it cheaper.

The woman said he became more personal and touchy so she told him to have a nice weekend and hung up.

Another representative from the business phoned the Sequim woman back saying they could move up the appointment and save $30, but she said no and hung up. The woman said she tried to call the number back and discovered it was disconnected.

The next day two men in an unmarked vehicle drove by her house, the woman said, but they didn’t attempt to come in.

“I was very uneasy for a few days,” she said, “but nothing more came of it. You do have to be careful who you let in your house. It’s terrible that it’s like that but I was never so mistrusting people until this man called.”

Det. Sgt. Sean Madison with Sequim Police Department said the easiest thing for residents to do with a potential scammer is simply hang up.

“It’s a nationwide scam and a really common one,” he said.

But neither the Sequim Police nor Clallam County Sheriff’s Office have recent reports of these scams occurring.

Madison said many times scammers may attempt their tactics but are unsuccessful so locals don’t report it or they are victimized and are too embarrassed to report it.

“We have a pretty significant population that these types of criminals like to target but I think that demographic is pretty savvy,” he said. “We have nice people here but they aren’t dumb.”

To report a scam locally, call the Sequim Police Department at 683-7227 or the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office if there’s a financial loss to 417-2459 or call 1-800-582-0655 if there is no financial loss and it’s a telephone scam. You also can leave an anonymous tip with the Sheriff’s Office here.

From the Attorney General’s office

Shannon Smith, Division Chief of Consumer Protection Division in the Washington Attorney General’s Office, said they receive complaints about several versions of this scam.

“Probably the most prevalent are the telemarketing calls or robo-calling,” she said. “They’ll ask do you want cleaner air? Do you have allergies? They use almost scare tactics.”

Smith said the scams also appear in weekly mailers with coupons for cleaning and once the service finishes its work the employee offers additional products such as a UV light for the furnace to help keep things clean but it doesn’t work.

She recommends all consumers do research on services and receive bids on projects through reputable companies and that all work is licensed and bonded.

When consumers receive telemarketing class for duct cleaning, she recommends hanging up.

“If you don’t take them up on their offer you won’t end up with anything to complain about,” she said.

To file a complaint through Attorney General Bon Ferguson’s office, visit http://www.atg.wa.gov/FILEACOMPLAINT.aspx.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.