Creative Heat Pump Contractor

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  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Posts: 2,571

    Not to this magnitude, but there is an HVAC contractor in my neck of the woods who's been doing this for more than a decade back into the high kickback GSHP days. I know several people who have called, sent letters, sent emails, sued, and everything else under the sun but somehow he's still pulling it off. Must be a Minnesota thing to just ignore billions of dollars in fraud.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Posts: 27,906

    For some reason I'm not surprised… when there is that much money floating around, basically overseen by bureacrats. folks will find a way to lay their hands on it. The only thing that surprises me us that somebody caught on…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    GroundUp
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,169

    Unfortunately, its the taxpayers that get hurt.

  • GGross
    GGross Posts: 2,071
    edited September 24

    Those big commercial rebates they were getting seem like something so easy to get away with scamming but they check on them fairly regularly. The one we used to deal with checked (physically at the jobsite sometimes an entire year later) on around 50% of all the filed rebates, and they would always check on at least one from each unique applicant. I would maybe apply for 10 or so a year and would get phone calls periodically through each year from their on the ground guy, looking for the equipment. we had a bunch that were done at a government site one year and they were barred entry, they checked on every other one we filed that year presumably to make sure there was no funny business going on.

    it's wild that this happened so quickly, in the course of a year, and the utilities were able to investigate and file a civil suit so quickly. With any luck the judge will push for the max penalty which in these types of cases can be up to triple the amount that was scammed (plus attorney fees) After that come the inevitable criminal charges but that will take some time

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Posts: 18,233

    There is lots of tax fraud that would be much harder to detect than this. There are many situations that there really isn't proof for that they only know you had that income if you reported it.

  • GGross
    GGross Posts: 2,071
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1904551#Comment_1904551

    kind of a misunderstanding regarding many of these utilities rebates but most, including mass save, are not funded by taxes. They use a 3 year budgetary structure based on what is charged to the utilities customers. its all done as a private sector deal and the utilities have a direct incentive to to fight against fraudulent claims because they use these programs as a means to an end. if they don't meet the mandated reductions they face financial penalty from the government regulators. important to note government regulators actually stepped in to force Mass Save to LOWER the budget amount to save utilities customers around $500 million or 10%.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Posts: 18,233

    I didn't mean this was a tax. Just that this is kind of a dumb place to commit fraud, there are a lot of ways that are a lot harder to detect or prove.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Posts: 27,906

    At a slight risk of the political… a fee which you are legally obligated to pay and which was created by the government is a tax, regardless of who collects it and distributes it. Maybe not by strict definition, but…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    bjohnhy
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,169

    Don't forget we are talking Massachusetts here. If he gets a slap on the wrist i wouldn't be a bit surprised.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,169

    To get the rebates now you have to apply and become a "MA. Save contractor" or whatever they call it. Previously I had done some rebate jobs in the past. As long as you had a license and got a permit and filled out the rebate paperwork you were good to go.

    Now you have more stuff to wade through to be able to be in the program and being retired I am not doing it. My niece needs a furnace. So she can either pay someone else to do it and get the rebate or I do it with no rebate which will still probably be cheaper. Doesn't matter to me.

    PC7060

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