Former Home Depot contractor taking advantage of customers’ trust

PAPILLION, Neb. (WOWT) - When a flooring contractor promised to cut her a deal, stylist Angela McWilliams trusted the pitch because of where he made it.

“I don’t know how long he’d been there, like if he heard us talking or anything,” McWilliams said. “But he eventually approached us and asked if we needed our flooring laid because he contracted with Home Depot.”

The same contractor, Jose Juarez-Banos, is the subject of a theft-by-deception investigation after another remodeling customer paid him almost $5,000 with no work done.

Home Depot tells 6 News Jose Juarez-Banos was terminated from its contractor list in 2021. But Angela and her mother say while they were shopping at an Omaha Home Depot in November of 2022, the contractor approached them.

“I feel he preyed on us, and I suspect he does that to other people in the store looking to have a project done,” said Judy McWilliams, Angela’s mother. “Everybody is looking for a cheaper deal.”

Angela says the contractor cashed her almost $470 check, but she has yet to receive flooring from him after three months -- only a promise of a refund.

“So we went to his bank, that’s where he told us to meet him at, and he never showed up.”

The Better Business Bureau president, Jim Hegarty, contacted the contractor. The BBB has two complaints that Juarez-Banos approached customers at Home Depot.

“I’ve requested he send me some verification which he claims he has, that he isn’t engaged in this sort of business practice, so we’re investigating this,” Hegarty said.

The BBB is waiting for the contractor’s paperwork.

For Angela McWilliams, the lack of a refund means she has to hire someone else to do the job, essentially paying twice, which trims money on the income she needs to meet her bottom line.

Angela says going forward, when hiring anyone for repair or remodeling work, she’ll use a fine-toothed comb.

“I guess, lesson learned,” McWilliams said. “Don’t take their word for it, check them out.”

Home Depot tells 6 News the company is working with law enforcement on the case, and Jose Juarez-Banos was not an authorized contractor when he approached customers in stores. Juarez-Banos has been charged with theft by deception in a third case involving another customer who didn’t receive the remodeling work he paid for.

The contractor has not returned our messages for comment.

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