Unfinished Business: Multiple complaints filed against Wisconsin Dells paving company

NBC15 Investigates has learned that the Adams County District Attorney’s office is looking into the case.
Published: Apr. 28, 2021 at 7:09 PM CDT
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WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (WMTV) - A Wisconsin Dells veteran and retired teacher is out thousands of dollars. He wanted his driveway repaved but the contractor never showed up to complete the work. NBC15 Investigates has learned that the Adams County District Attorney’s office is looking into the case.

We also found that the veteran’s complaint isn’t the only one. The company in question is Young’s Paving in Wisconsin Dells. The owner is listed as George Young.

Andrea Topper and her husband Dallas hired Young’s Paving to fix their driveway at their Plainfield home. “He did it by himself. He had no other staff,” said Topper.

According to Topper, Young finished the repaving job late at night so she and her husband couldn’t get a good look right away.

“That next morning, my husband went out and saw that it was uneven, pot holes. There was minimal product where there should be more product...at that point in time we said, ‘George we want you to come out here and fix this.’

Tiffany Schultz, Southwest Regional Director for the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau says the first complaint about Young’s Paving came in about a year ago on May 12, 2020.

“Since then several other complaints have come through,” said Schultz.

Wisconsin’s BBB office has tracked complaints, including one from the Topper family about Young’s substandard work, or work that was paid for and not done at all. The business now has an F rating with the BBB.

“Those ratings are based on the length of time a company is in business, the number of complaints a company has and if there’s a response to those complaints,” said Schultz.

She says complaints for Young’s Paving are mostly unresolved and unanswered...

Daniel Defosse is a retired teacher and a veteran. The Wisconsin Dells man also filed a complaint with the BBB about an unfinished job he says he paid George Young $3,000 for last year.

“I’d like to see him be forced to pay back people.... there need to be some penalties for this,” said Defosse.

Topper says her driveway still needs work. “My driveway is atrocious, it will need to be ripped up it has bad flow so when water runs off the roof it will flow right towards the house...it just looks horrible,” she said.

Topper tried to get the issue resolved. She says they paid Young an additional deposit for a fix.

He came back but she says the work was still subpar and eventually he became unresponsive. “In the end, we have a terrible paving job that isn’t even a quarter of our driveway and we’re out about $11,000.

The Toppers did not file a police report but Defosee did with the Adams County Sheriff’s office. NBC15 Investigates has learned that the report was turned over to the district attorney who is reviewing the case for potential charges.

NBC15 Investigates tried multiple business numbers for Young’s Paving to reach the owner, George Young. The numbers were disconnected.

Through court records, a number for his grandmother was found and we were able to reach him.

He says his company is no longer in business and that he’s gone bankrupt. NBC15 checked court records and could not find a bankruptcy filing for Young to confirm. He says he can not complete the work he was paid for because his equipment was seized. When asked if he planned to give the money back, he said he’d be willing to get on a payment plan.

Defosee says he gave Young multiple chances to either do the work or give him his money back but that hasn’t happened.

NBC15 has also learned that Young is due in Waushara County court Thursday on an unrelated charge. According to a three page criminal complaint, Young is accused with one count of Retail theft/failure to pay for service, which is a felony.

Court documents say Young failed to pay for materials, listed as recycled asphalt from a local gravel company. The amount owed is $1,474.19

Young is due in court for that case on April 29th at 10:30am.

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