3 victims call out heat pump fraudster
Thermopompe Peninsule insisted on 50 per cent deposit, then never delivered
Alyre Doiron was looking for a heat pump last April and thought he hit the jackpot when he discovered the company, Thermopompe Peninsule, to install one at half the going rate — $2,400 for an 18,000 BTU unit.
He paid a $1,200 deposit, in cash, to Paul St. Pierre, the president of the company.
"I found out he was native from my home, Paquetville," Doiron said. "And he knows my parents and brothers and all that, and so I said 'OK, I'll buy one.'
"We signed papers and everything, and he gave me a receipt and after that he said, 'I'll install your pump in two weeks.'"
The heat pump was never installed.
Doiron called Thermopompe Peninsule twice a week for months, until finally St. Pierre showed up at the Doiron home in Petit-Rocher.
"One night he came here and gave me $450," Doiron said. "He took off and I never saw him again."
Police won't charge
Doiron is still owed $750 and went to the BNPP Regional Police, which serves Beresford, Nigadoo, Petit-Rocher and Pointe-Verte.
"They said they opened a case and two weeks after, the police called me back and said we can't do anything against him," he said.
The officer told Doiron that because he signed a contract, and St. Pierre told police he would try to repay what he owed, no charge of fraud could be laid.
That guy has got to be stopped. You can't go around stealing people's money like nothing.- Jean-Claude Godin
Calls to the number that Roy and two other customers provided for St. Pierre were unanswered.
Thermopompe Peninsule did not have a physical plant in the area, and Doiron and other customers said they never saw any other employees in their dealings with St. Pierre.
Two other victims also contacted the police about St. Pierre without results.
"My money is probably gone but my hope is to get him in prison,"`said Jean-Claude Godin of Rovertville.
"I want him in jail. That guy has got to be stopped. You can't go around stealing people's money like nothing. It makes no sense."
Godin said he signed a contract and gave St. Pierre a $1,500 deposit.
"He showed me all this here, all the pamphlets, the fancy stuff and everything. He gave me a price and he said the company around here were overcharging people."
Godin was given excuses for the delayed installation and was never reimbursed.
BNPP police were unavailable for comment.
Small claims court
"It was a young man from our region who went to live away and wanted to come back to do business," he said in French.
"I gave him $1,200."
Roy got the same run-around as Godin and Doiron. He eventually took St. Pierre to small claims court and was reimbursed $400.
Then St. Pierre left the Atlantic region. Roy is still owed the rest of his deposit.