Customers say Downriver duo destroyed their digs

Meet John Lafrance.

John and his wife Any run AJL Home Renovations,  a construction company that's making lots of people mad Downriver.

"Well basically all John and Amy did was take my $1,000 deposit, then they told me get in line with the rest of their lawsuits."

Hire John Lefrance to do some building and get ready for John Lafrance to do some wrecking.

Rob Wolchek: "So he just demolished the place and left?"

"He destroyed everything and boom he left,"

Some of the customers he was leaving completely cluless and not even returning calls.

Watch as Wolchek catch the couple lying on undercover camera.

Wolchek: "Are you guys licensed with the state of Michigan?"

"Yeah."

And then crush the confrontational contractor.

Wolchek: "You got a builder's license."

"Yeah."

Wolchek: "Can I see yout pocket card?"

"I dont have my pocket card on me."

Wolchek: "Oh you don't, you're supposed to carry that with you."

"No you're not."

The outside of Alison and Craig's Wyandotte home is delightful. But the inside is decimated.

"I work 12 hour days and when i come home I try to do this in my spare time."

Craig gets off his real job and now has to put in flooring that he says he paid John and Amy Lafrance to install months ago.

"They said the job was $2,800," Craig said. "They needed a thousand down."

Alison and Craig bought the flooring on their own. They're storing it in the crowded bathroom they share with their two kids. 

The Lafrances took their $1,000 deposit, told them to rip out their old flooring and they'd be back to install their new floor.

"They didn't do anything except take my money and run," Craig said.

Kevin has run an auto repair shop for 20 years. He hired AJL Construction because he wanted to support another Downriver small business.

He wanted to fix the place up instead, he says John and his crew ripped the place apart and never returned.

Kevin says John told him he couldn't finish the job because he was having heart surgery. After paying AJL about $3,000, Kevin said he got another construction company to get his job done.

"This guy is just not honest at all," Kevin said.

Then there are the subcontractors - men and women John told what to do - then claimed he didn't pay them.

Wolchek  did a little digging on AJL Construction. On Kevin's contract they put down a business license number but that number comes back to a trading company that's been closed for years. 

John and Amy Lafrance don't have builder's licenses. In fact, John Lafrance doesn't even have a valid drivers license.  But he does have a working phone number.

There he is meeting up with a potential client in Lincoln Park on a yet another home improvement job.

Wolchek meets up with John tells him that he's a licensed builder and to get lost.

"Now you can leave, or I can call the police," Lafrance said.

Instead, it looks like he's leaving.

Wolchek asks about the demolition job he did at Kevin's auto repair shop.

"Didn't you start a job there, knocked down some walls and then bailed out?"

"Nope, he told me to leave," Lafrance said.

Wolchek shows John the contract he wrote up with the phony business license number.

"This is kevin's business license, not mine," Lafrance said. "He wanted his business license put on the contract."

That makes no sense at all, especially when Kevin runs an above board auto business and displays all of his real licenses in his shop.

"Everyday I went in there, he changed the project," Lafrance said. "He had changes he wanted made."

Wolchek: "Oh so this is his fault?"

"It's not all his fault, some of it is on my part," he said.

Now Wolchek asks about Alison's floor he never put in.

"Why didn't you do that job."

"Because I had guys messing up and I had to get rid of them," he said. "I told her i couldn't do it."

So that's not his fault either.

Lafrance has used a heart bypass surgery excuse at least twice on jobs, including with Alison.

As for the subcontractors, he didn't pay them because he says they messed up.  Still not John's fault.

Wolchek: "I don't believe you have any business at all."

"No, I'm registered with the state,  I'm registered with the state."

Wolchek: "Do you even have a driver's license?"

"Yeah."

Wolchek: "The Secretary of State tells me you don't have a valid driver's license."

"Oh, ok."

Wolchek: "Do you have any kind of license?"

"Yeah, I have a license that says I don't have to talk to you."

And Wolchek has a license to put you in the Hall of Shame!

The Lafrances have paid back the $1,000 deposit to Craig and Alison after Alison reported them to the police.

Wolchek asked John to provide a taxpayer ID number, builder's license and proof he has insurance and he never provided any information.