WATCH ABOVE: A High Park couple who spent more than $8,400 on a new roof finally got it finished. Sean O’Shea reports.
Five months after Jacqueline Sutherland and Wayne Randall paid a contractor for a new roof, and five days after the roofer was exposed on Global News, the work has finally been completed.
“They came yesterday and fixed the roof,” said a beaming Sutherland, who says she had called Gustavo Klug at least 50 times trying to pin the contractor down, but to no avail.
She and her husband paid Klug $8,472 for a new asphalt shingle roof at their High Park home. Klug originally came and replaced part of the roof. Another area was left with a blue tarp on it. The rest of the roof was untouched.
“Cheated, yes!” Randall told Global News, describing the frustration of paying for a service not delivered.
Global News tracked down Klug at another job site where he denied abandoning the project.
He said “bad weather” had prevented him from attending the couple’s home on Saturday of the previous week — even though the day was dry and warm.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Klug said, after being asked repeatedly why he accepted payment without completing the roofing work.
Klug explained that the plywood on the roof needed to be replaced and the couple had not approved the additional cost.
But following the original Global News report, other customers of Krug came forward to say the roofing issue was not an isolated one.
“For anybody dealing with this guy, watch out: he’s dangerous,” said Rick Boem, who owns a Toronto appliance store.
Boem says he sold appliances to Krug but was not fully paid. At one time, he says the men were friends, but Krug failed to pay back Boem for thousands of dollars worth of goods, even after selling a real estate property and being promised payment.
Boem sued Krug in small claims court and won a judgment. He successfully garnisheed some of Krug’s income, but says he is still owed about $11,000.
Other former friends who contacted Global News say they too are owed money. Jorge Mas loaned Krug money and won a court judgment for $20,000, but says he has not been repaid
“He doesn’t do good work, he’s late, he robs Peter to pay Paul, and in the end, sometimes he doesn’t pay anybody,” Boem said, referring to Krug’s business dealings.
Krug, who emigrated from Uruguay, lives in a Toronto house with a flag of his former homeland on a mast in the backyard beside a large plastic palm tree.
Friends say he and his wife own properties in Uruguay and Columbia and like to take frequent tropical vacations. Some, like Mas, had vacationed with the family and had travelled with Klug.
But when it comes to finishing work after receiving upfront deposits, or repaying debts, Boem and others say Krug doesn’t follow through.
“I’m a working man,” Klug said, as he walked away from an interview. “Nobody gave me nothing.”
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