Pender company to pay up for consumer violations

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — A Pender County company must pay $50,000 for violating North Carolina consumers’ three-day right to cancel door-to-door sales contracts.

The attorney general alleged H.A.R.D. Top Asphalt Maintenance and its owner Henry Heil regularly targeted seniors, charging high prices and then performed shoddy work. In one case, a 70-year-old woman in Beaulaville said she turned down Heil’s offer to pave her driveway. An hour later, his crews were doing the work, and Heil pressured her into signing a contract and paying $16,500. She says he refused to accept a personal check and made her drive to the bank to get a cashier’s check.

H.A.R.D. Top and Heil must now wait four days after a consumer signs a contract before beginning work to make sure that consumers have time to reconsider and cancel the work if they choose.