Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr.
State Investigation Leads to Arrest for Roto-Rooter Workers
HARTFORD, November 18 – A case investigated by the Department of Consumer Protection’s occupational enforcement unit led to the recent arrest of three employees of Roto-Rooter of Windsor for allegedly directing unlicensed plumbing work and allegedly engaging in unlicensed plumbing work, Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. said today.
Bela Balog, 53, of Manchester and Steven Fecteau, 43, of Marlborough are unlicensed and were allegedly being directed by Scott Coutant, 45, of Marlborough, to perform plumbing work without licenses. The plumbing work was performed in New Britain this past August. State law requires that all occupational trades people be licensed for the work they are performing in Connecticut.
“Occupational licensing laws are in place to ensure that any constructed space that people will occupy, whether their home, office, or a commercial space, is built competently, correctly, and in accordance with state and local laws,†Farrell said. “Unlicensed contractors are putting public health and safety in jeopardy as well as risking damage to personal and public property.â€
All three men arrested are employees of Roto-Rooter Services Company of Windsor, Connecticut and are scheduled to appear in Superior Court GA 15, New Britain on November 17th.
The State of Connecticut licensing process ensures that applicants seeking a license have the necessary education and training, undertake an extensive licensing exam to ensure competency, and complete periodic continuing education related to building and other construction codes. State law mandates that contractors be properly licensed to complete the scope of work as required by their trade.
 “We thank the State Police, Troop H in Hartford for their support on this case, and we will continue to search out and pursue non-compliant contractors,†Farrell said.
Press Release
Employees of RotoRooter? How about the Parent Corporation that
promotes this action? Is Rotorooter to big to fail? or to big
to face arrest of violations?
No Kidding Cyril!
I got sucked into working for Roto-Rooter as a drain cleaner…
I had to buy a van and tools….
Then they sent me to a 6 week plumbing course and they start sending me to plumbing jobs!
It’s tough when you are paid on a commission basis and they are sending you to jobs that you don’t have a license to do. Do you break the law or, starve…
Something needs to be done arresting the employees isn’t the right answer.
These guys got sucked into the Roto Rooter Scam!
Will Jerry Farrell go after Roto-rooter for
encouraging employees to violate State Law?
The state is mis-leading consumers on a regular basis, and profiting from it. Most contractors in the state are not tested for compentency, those are the home improvement contractors. The state simply checks for felons and then takes the $160. fee to become a “registered” contractor, which then morphs to licensed. Not the same thing, if you are warm, breathing, and have $160. you too can be a contractor. I have been a HIC for 25 years, and I encourage testing to weed out the deadbeats, but when I nailed down a BO that was on a comittee to standardize testing, they determined it was too difficult to determine how to test all the people in the business, so they did nothing. To add insult to injury, when they collect the fees, they pay out any victims, which is not often since anyone victimized by an unregistered contractor is not eligible for a settlement, then they take the left over fees and add it the general fund, and start the process all over again. There’s the profit center for the state.
Then every once in a while they make an example of someone as noted in the article, so consumers in the state are mislead into thinking that CT DCP is actually doing their job. The leading source of consumer complaints is home improvement, and it has been for years. If the DCP was really paying attention to real licensing our industry would have a better reputation, and consumers would have TRUE professionals.
No different than here. All it does is make the honest law-abiding people more cynical. Just wait and see what your new president comes up with in the way of “profit centers.” Unfortunatly you ain’t seen nothing yet my friend. I wish your country well.
typical state bureaucracy to fine and scam people out of money, this is why people don’t have jobs in the states and yet we are quickly becoming the most infrastructure backwards country out there, because of all the bureaucracy, licensure and the BS that goes with doing even the simplest jobs that there are, that you can definitely learn in about 6 weeks which is what roto-rooter does provide.