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At Home Showcase, you can eat bugs while you browse for a contractor

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Area residents says opiate reversal drug is lifesaving and should be available

<p>If you&#8217;ve been following this column recently, you know Sekelsky Plumbing and Heating, of Duryea, has had problems delivering products and services paid for in advance by trusting customers.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Attorney General&#8217;s Office has opened an investigation into the firm, citing a &#8220;pattern&#8221; of complaints from customers who claim they&#8217;ve been ripped off and lied to by owner Joe Sekelsky.</p><p>The attorney general&#8217;s involvement could mean Sekelsky will have to make things right with those folks or possibly land in jail.</p><p>Attorney general&#8217;s office spokeswoman Sadie Martin says investigators will examine Sekelsky&#8217;s registration with the state, check his insurance and go through his project contracts to &#8220;make sure he&#8217;s not scamming his customers.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;At that point, we say, &#8216;this is what we found and need you to fix, or we&#8217;ll go to court,&#8221; Martin explained. &#8220;He can either finish the job without additional cost, or pay back the money they gave him.&#8221;</p><p>Presumably, that means Sekelsky will have to deliver a new furnace to Dr. Christine Renfer, of Pittston, or refund her $6,000; he will finish the job he started at the Glen Lyon home of James and Melissa Cunningham or issue them a $454 refund for the fuel line he never installed; he&#8217;ll deliver a steam pipe to Benjamin Schultz, of Exeter, or refund $300, and he&#8217;ll pay back Vicki Brzoza $3,163 for work he never completed at her home in Pittston.</p><p>&#8220;We want consumers to get the products or get their money,&#8221; said Martin, who explained once the attorney general wins a case against a home improvement contractor, a judge will order monthly status hearings to make sure the contractor is either making payments or getting the jobs done. If not, &#8220;he can be put in jail for contempt.&#8221;</p><p>I got a call from Sekelsky, demanding a retraction of something I wrote in <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/516590/consumer-watchdog-joe-sekelsky-finally-showed-up-with-a-furnace-but-left-a-mess-behind" target="_blank">last week&#8217;s column</a>. I had reported he collected an additional $1,000 when he installed a <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/509926/consumer-watchdog-customer-getting-hot-about-waiting-for-furnace" target="_blank">long-awaited furnace for Diane Plisga</a> and Jesse Rutkoski, of Duryea, who had already paid him $6,000 in advance.</p><p>Sekelsky said I had it wrong. The contract totaled $6,891.70, he explained. He collected the final payment of $891.70 &#8211; not $1,000 &#8211; at installation. He did not mention why he charged Plisga and Rutkoski $6,000 for the Williamson GSA-200 gas-fired unit, which they could have purchased online for about $2,700, including shipping.</p><p>Sekelsky said he did give them the manufacturer&#8217;s warranty and &#8220;a promised free cleaning in the fall.&#8221;</p><p>What about the other customers he&#8217;d left high and dry, I asked.</p><p>&#8220;There are a couple of things I&#8217;m going to take care of,&#8221; he assured me. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to take care of <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/512223/consumer-watchdog-joe-sekelsky-says-he-may-lose-leg-his-customers-have-already-lost-an-arm-and-a-leg" target="_blank">Ben Schultz</a>. I&#8217;m going to mail him a check.&#8221;</p><p>The Cunninghams will also get a check, he said, promising to send them $454 before the magistrate hearing <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/512223/consumer-watchdog-joe-sekelsky-says-he-may-lose-leg-his-customers-have-already-lost-an-arm-and-a-leg" target="_blank">scheduled for later this month</a>. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t get to tell my side of the story, but I&#8217;m going to clear that up.&#8221;</p><p>And what about Dr. Renfer? I asked.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll go over that,&#8221; Sekelsky replied.</p><p>&#8220;She gave you $6,000 and she doesn&#8217;t have a furnace,&#8221; I said. &#8220;If she gave you money and she didn&#8217;t get what she paid for, you should pay her back, right?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll discuss that at another time,&#8221; Sekelsky said</p><p>Meanwhile, Dr. Renfer and other consumers with contractor problems can file a complaint at <a href="https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/SplashPage.aspx" target="_blank">www.attorneygeneral.gov</a>. They can also call the attorney general&#8217;s consumer hotline at 1-800-441-2555 or email a complaint to <a href="mailto:consumer@attorneygeneral.gov" target="_blank">consumer@attorneygeneral.gov</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Consumer Watchdog</p><p>Christine Young</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Christine Young at consumerwatchdog@www.timesleader.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Consumer Watchdog: Joe Sekelsky disputes last column but promises to issue refunds to customers who paid for service they didn’t receive