Toronto woman billed $57,000 for roof repair, company says it mistakenly overcharged

A Toronto woman who hired a roofing company to inspect her eavestroughs said she couldn't believe her roof was in such terrible condition that it needed repairs that would cost more than $57,000.

"I was already feeling overwhelmed, because it was a lot of money," said Maria, who CTV News Toronto agreed to identify by first name only.

Maria contacted CTV News while the roofers were still at her home because she was worried she was being overcharged for the roofing job.

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She was first quoted $17,500, then asked to pay $28,000 in advance, and then was told the total cost would be $57,500.

When CTV News showed up at her home, there were roofers on the top of her house, but they said they didn't speak English.

The repairs only covered about half of the roof of Maria's duplex.

According to Maria, when she went to the bank to withdraw funds, they expressed concern about the large withdrawals she was making to pay for the repairs.

"The teller even questioned the fact that the cheque was being made payable to a person and not the actual company," said Maria.

Maria signed the contract with Citywide Roofing and Chimneys, which, according to its contract, says it is located on the 11th floor at 20 Bay Street in downtown Toronto.

While CTV News was at Maria's home, a man who identified himself as John Crow with the roofing company called Maria and said the large quote for the roofing job was a mistake and that he had accidentally overcharged her by about $40,000.

"I explained to her that it was a misunderstanding, and I'm giving her a different contract, and she is getting back money," Crow told CTV News.

Crow said he would reduce the cost of the roofing job by almost $38,000 and give Maria a refund of $9,000 from the $28,000 she had already paid in advance.

"I explained to her that it was a complete misunderstanding, that I'm giving her back $9,000 before we finish," Crow said. "I'm giving her back $9,000 because of the mistake it's $19,000 (in total for the roof)."

Maria still has concerns about her roof but is relieved the price has been reduced.

Citywide Roofing and Chimneys said it would return the $9,000 to Maria on Monday Aug.19, but didn't. It then said it would return the money on Tuesday, but it still didn't.

Maria said the company is now promising the $9,000 refund by this Friday.

Maria says she needs that money back and plans to be more careful when choosing contractors in the future.