Beware of "Storm Chasers" posing as reputable roofing contractors – CBS7 News (press release)

ODESSA -- By now you've probably received dozens of phone calls or flyers from roofing companies following last weeks hail storm.

But do you know how to tell the difference between a legitimate company and a scammer?

CBS 7 spoke with a local roofing company to help you make the right choice.

They're known as "storm chasers" and they will say just about anything to get your business.

It came and left in just thirty minutes, but believe it or not last weeks storm caused $480-million in damage throughout the city of Odessa.

Among the laundry list of things that were destroyed were people's roofs.

"Everybody becomes a roofer in the state of Texas when there's a hail storm," said Dennis Wiebe, an adjuster with Trademark Builders in Odessa.

Wiebe has been in the business for over 20 years and has had too many cases to count of people getting scammed by so called roofing companies.

"They offer people all kinds of different things to sell a job," Wiebe said.

Things like paying your deductible, Wiebe says this is one red flag you need to be aware of.

Any reputable business will be able to provide you with a valid license and proof of insurance, as well as with an address, not a post office box.

"You should never have to give anybody money upfront, because there's people that have given the contractors money upfront and then they disappear," Wiebe explained.

The unfortunate part of falling victim to one of these storm chasing businesses is that you won't know it until about five to 7 years down the road, when the roof starts falling apart.

Wiebe says the best thing you can do is call your local BBB office to make sure the company is not a scammer looking to make a quick buck.

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Beware of "Storm Chasers" posing as reputable roofing contractors - CBS7 News (press release)