GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Uneven and broken throughout, Andy and Nicki Blain thought their driveway would look better by now.
“[We are] definitely more cautious [and] hesitant in terms of what we have done,” said Andy.
The Grand Rapids couple explains that in May 2021, they hired Intrepid Concepts LLC to put in a new one. They paid the concrete company $4,054, which was a 50 percent down payment.
“They were essentially just replacing the same footprint we already had of the driveway, front walkway, and step,” said Nicki. “We have a walkway that goes along the side of our house to the backyard, and then they were going to change the height of [a] step back there.”
However, a few months later, the Blains began to lose their faith in the job, after they say the company pushed back the start date twice and did not reply to many of their emails and phone calls.
In November 2021, the couple requested a refund. They received $1,775 over the next year.
The Blains wanted the rest, but realized that would not happen after they received a notice this past April, which stated that Intrepid Concepts LLC had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
“We had kind of budgeted and accounted for that, cause we were planning to have the driveway done. But then when the driveway didn’t happened, and we still didn’t have the money, it was hard to not think of all those things we could be using that money for,” said Nicki.
According to a copy of the filing, Intrepid Concepts LLC owes $265,702 to its creditors. Many of them are individual customers.
In an email to FOX 17, an attorney for the company declined to comment about the case.
Wafa Adib-Lobo, owner of Safe Harbor Legal PLC and an adjunct professor at Cooley Law School, describes bankruptcy as a protection offered by the federal government in exchange for the risk people take when they start a company.
“In essence, it's really as simple as a business started, business didn't do well or was mismanaged, and now they simply do not have the funds to pay all their creditors,” said Adib-Lobo. “It’s very… taxing to the judicial system and a waste of time and resources if we have different creditors running to different state courts trying to sue this one creditor that doesn't have the means to pay them.”
If a business files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Adib-Lobo says an automatic stay goes into place, which means people can no longer collect money from them.
She suggests consumers take the following steps to avoid losing money in a bankruptcy filing.
- Do due diligence: Before hiring a company, look at their reviews and speak with other customers
- Never pay large amounts of money upfront: Negotiate a payment plan and commit to amounts you would be comfortable losing
- File a proof of claim: This will not ensure a person gets their money back, but documents that a debtor owed them
- Become a secured creditor: In the event of bankruptcy, assets are forfeited to individuals with an issuance of a secured credit product, like a lien. This can be negotiated into a contract
- Document everything: If a customer can prove a business acted fraudulently, an adversary proceeding can be filed in bankruptcy court that would prevent the debt’s discharge
- In Michigan, the Builders’ Trust Fund Act applies the concept of an adversary proceeding and applies it specifically to those in the construction industry.
“If consumers look into it [the Michigan Builders’ Trust Fund Act] and they see, ‘Hey, we paid $25,000, for example, and that $25,000 was not used to pay our subcontractors, and for our materials,’ if they can prove that, then they can maybe recover those funds and maybe they can even get the work done and complete, and not have to pay those subcontractors again,” said Adib-Lobo.
She hopes better education about bankruptcy leaves less pieces for people to pick up.
“There is no total foolproof way of protecting yourself from bankruptcy, but I think if you’re a consumer and you take all the steps we mentioned earlier… then once they do have a notice of bankruptcy, taking quick actions such as filing a proof of claim, and getting the advice of a good bankruptcy attorney so they know what their rights are, then I think they will be in a good position,” said Adib-Lobo.
