When Pacesetter was going under, we started receiving feedback claiming that some big-wigs from Pacesetter were now at new, very similar companies called Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. and MyContractor.com. Initially, we didn't post anything about it as we had not personally had any interaction with the companies, but as time went on the amount of feedback about them made it impossible to ignore. So we investigated, and the evidence not only made the claims sound plausible, but very likely. Then, on February 18, 2006, we received a letter from an attorney representing MyContractor.com (view the scanned copy or web-formatted copy) which implied that MyContractor.com was not associated with any of the persons from Pacesetter. He distinctly states that Mr. Iskra, Mr. Kluck, and Mr. Madden are not officers, shareholders, directors, or employees of MyContractor.com, LWS Holdings, LLC. or any of the companies LWS Holdings has licensed to use its name. However, you'll see that this lawyer's credibility went straight down the toilet. Eventually we learned this to be untrue, and have listed below several persons known to be associated with both companies.

The people specifically mentioned by visitors to be involved with Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. were Gerry Anderson, Gary Kluck, Jeff Thompson, and Scott Wright, with Gerry Anderson being the CEO. Checking out ServiceMagic.com's Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. page, there is an area toward the bottom with contact information for Quality First Home Improvement, Inc.. So who does it say to contact? None other than Gerald Anderson, Pacesetter's Assistant General Manager. Thus, we have official confirmation of an ex-Pacesetter bigwig with this company. But that's just for starters! Checking out CalFinder's Quality First Home Improvement page, shows us that Gary Kluck is the owner, and Gerry Anderson is the president and CEO:

Quality First Home Improvement has been serving northern California through offices in Roseville, Redding, Vallejo, San Jose, and Susanville for the past four years. Owner Gary Kluck and President/CEO Gerry Anderson started the company in 2004, bringing with them 33 and 42 years of experience, respectively.

Some people also mentioned that Quality First Home Improvements and MyContractor.com were actually the same company, with one company doing the selling and the other doing the installing. Is this a leap? Well, considering both companies have THE SAME CALIFORNIA LICENSE NUMBER OF #875772, it seems pretty clear that no leaping is required. So basically, it seems that MyContractor.com is acting as a supplier to the little Quality First Home Improvements offices (most of which, I'm told, seem to be the old Pacesetter offices, though I cannot confirm that).

I noticed recently that there was a Quality First Home Improvements office on a street nearby my house, and a quick Google search showed there were several more in other areas of the state, such as Citrus Heights and San Jose. Their website currently lists four actual offices, which is fewer than what shows up on Google, but then maybe some of those no longer exist. I'm actually surprised that any of them still exist!

For additional reading, check out:

• Quality First Home Improvement Review | Rip-off Report #482435
• Quality First Home Improvement Review | Rip-off Report #568083
• Yelp Reviews for Quality First Home Improvement
• Working at Quality First Home Improvement - Reviews of Jobs at Quality First Home Improvement

Note: MyContractor.com has no legal relationship with Pacesetter Corp.

Announcement: MyContractor.com is gone! But beware, Quality First Home Improvements is still around!

Since receiving this letter, we learned of several Pacesetter Corp persons who are (or were) involved with MyContractor.com, such as Larry Krempasky (thanks to Pittsburgh Citysearch Yellow Pages), Fred Redeker (thanks to Better Business Bureau of Pittsburgh), and Gary Iskra (thanks to PrimeNewsWire.com and a podcast interview). We also learned that Pacesetter's Assistant General Manager Gerald Anderson is involved with Quality First Home Improvement, Inc., a company that has the same California license number as MyContractor.com. Keep in mind that these are only what we've found through independent websites, and does not include the many other people mentioned in the various emails we've received.

Quick Overview of Publicly Available Pacesetter Associations (added February 9, 2008)

Since receiving the above mentioned letter, we have gained much more feedback from visitors, learned of several Pacesetter Corp persons who are (or were) involved with Quality First Home Improvement and MyContractor.com, and expanded this page to share updated information. But before you get to that, we'd first like to present you with a quick overview of publicly listed ex-Pacesetter Corp. people who went on to Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. or MyContractor.com. Note that neither company has a legal relationship with Pacesetter Corp.

Larry Krempasky

The Pittsburgh Citysearch Yellow Pages, lists the following for MyContractor.com:

Larry Krempasky
766 E. Pittsburgh Street
Greensburg, PA 15601

Fred Redeker

The Better Business Bureau of Pittsburgh states:

Fred Redeker, listed in BBB files as the Vice President of Operations of Mycontractor.com, previously was listed in BBB files as the Operations Manager for Pacesetter Corporation of America which had an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to 2 or more unanswered complaints. The Bureau has a separate report on Pacesetter Corporation of America.

On January 26, 2006 the Bureau sent certified mail to the company asking for a complete list of the officers of the company and their background information for their past 3 years, the name and addresses of the organizations or companies providing certification for their contractors and a copy of their exclusive money back guarantee but this and other information was not provided by the company.

Mike Madden

Mr. Rick Ladendorf informed me during our phone conversation on March 6, 2007 that Mike Madden hasn't been with MyContractor.com for about 2 to 3 months.

Gerald Anderson

The ServiceMagic.com Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. page lists the contact information for Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. (which has MyContractor.com's same California license number) as Gerald Anderson, who was Pacesetter's Assistant General Manager.

Gary Kluck

The CalFinder Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. page lists Gary Kluck as the owner of Quality First Home Improvement, Inc. (which has MyContractor.com's same California license number) as Gerald Anderson, who was Pacesetter's Assistant General Manager.

Gary Iskra

A PrimeNewsWire article calls Gary Iskra a spokesman for MyContractor.com, and a podcast interview with Mr. Iskra confirms this. Additionally, valtor.tv's MyContractor.com company profile lists Gary Iskra as a consulting CEO.

Gary Iskra's Business Bio

1970-1972

Owner/manager Mt. Royal Meat Co. Purveyor of meat products to hotels, private clubs and restaurants in W. Pa.

1972-1974

Sales Person/ Sales Manager for KoolVent, Inc. Home improvement product sales in W.Pa. ( Co. annual revenue...$6-$8M)

1974-1980

Vice President of Sales for KoolVent , Inc Expanded existing 3 location business into dominant regional business with 16 offices in 5 states. Defined a "systems driven" sales and marketing model with direct response lead generation innovation unique in the industry (Co. annual revenue...$8M-$18M)

1980-1986

Executive VP of Sales and Operations for KoolVent, Inc. Developed and implemented consistent recruiting and training methodologies throughout all departments. Re-defined business processes to execute new product additions and improved quality of product installation. Re-aligned corporate and field organizations to improve performance and communication. Introduced several "new" proprietary product offerings while expanding and improving manufacturing quality and output. Completed customized automation of the business and manufacturing facility with IBM systems group. ( Co. annual revenue ...$18-24M).

1986 -

Acquired KoolVent Inc. in a leveraged management buyout financed by Westinghouse Credit Corp.

1986-1991

President-CEO The KoolVent Goup Inc. (KVGI) Increased revenues to $40M

1991 -

Chairman & CEO The KoolVent Group Inc. (KVGI) KVGI acquired local Sears licensed business and began operating competing business models in similar product lines in Pennsylvania, W. Va. and Ohio.

1991-1995

Chairman & CEO The KoolVent Group Inc. (KVGI) Expanded Sears licensed businesses with static KoolVent revenues to reach $80M.

1996-1999

Chairman & CEO American Home Improvement Company (AHIC) Combined KoolVent retail operations with Sears retail operations and expanded nationally as the largest home improvement company in US. ( $140M annual revenue).

1999-

Sold ownership interests in American Home Improvement Company to Sears.

2002-2004

CEO Pacesetter Corporation. Home improvement and finance business ($95M in revenues) Unprofitable home improvement business division since 1993.

2004-2005

CEO-Shareholder Pacesetter Corporation of America. Home improvement spinout from Pacesetter Corporation . Attempted turnaround efforts failed. (PCA filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005)

2005-current

Consulting CEO for MyContractor.com

According to the Pittsburgh Citysearch Yellow Pages, Larry Krempasky is definitely associated with MyContractor.com, and since Larry Krempasky was part of Pacesetter, that means we have an official association (meaning a person associated with Pacesetter is also associated with MyContractor.com). Also, I have received messages from individuals who claim to be in a position to confirm that Gary Iskra and Gary Cluck do indeed run MyContractor.com, and that it is basically just Pacesetter Corp in disguise, though I have no physical evidence such as business cards, paperwork, or photographs to corroborate this.

I also received an e-mail from someone telling me that they had just quit their job at MyContractor.com. Attached to this e-mail was another e-mail, which contained three separate messages. The first message was just a note from an employee directing readers to read the below two messages... and those were from Gary Iskra! Finally, some evidence that Gary Iskra is part of MyContractor.com! (More evidence was found later in a PrimeNewsWire article and a podcast interview with Mr. Iskra.) But that's not all! In the final message, Gary mentions others who are currently working for MyContractor.com: Mike Madden (VP of Sales), Fred Redeker (VP of Operations), and Larry Krempasky (VP of Lead Generation).

More evidence linking Pacesetter Corp people to MyContractor.com was discovered at none other than the Better Business Bureau of PittsburghBetter Business Bureau of Pittsburgh. If you check out MyContractor.com's page on that site, you will see the following under the section about Company Management:

Fred Redeker, listed in BBB files as the Vice President of Operations of Mycontractor.com, previously was listed in BBB files as the Operations Manager for Pacesetter Corporation of America which had an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to 2 or more unanswered complaints. The Bureau has a separate report on Pacesetter Corporation of America.

Thus we have another official association! And under the "Additional File Information", you'll find this gem:

On January 26, 2006 the Bureau sent certified mail to the company asking for a complete list of the officers of the company and their background information for their past 3 years, the name and addresses of the organizations or companies providing certification for their contractors and a copy of their exclusive money back guarantee but this and other information was not provided by the company.

(Note: Fred Redeker has since left the MyContractor.com, and that page on the Better Business Bureau of Pittsburgh website no longer exists. Google's cached version of the page is still available, however.)

Personally, we've had no dealing with MyContractor.com. We did, however, come across a webpage titled Window replacement - Cascade Widows by mycontractor.com in which somebody shares their experience with a MyContractor.com salesman. What that person described sounded pretty close to what we experienced with our Pacesetter Corp salesman, including the part about rescheduling because nobody showed up at the appointed day and time.

So what's the bottom line here? Is MyContractor.com a horrible company just like Pacesetter Corp or are they getting a bad rap? I don't know. You need to make up your own mind on who to trust. Personally, we're staying far, FAR away from MyContractor.com, as they just seem too similar to Pacesetter for us. But whatever you choose, I urge you to read over the free online book Home Improvement Fraud, Don't Get Caught! You'll be really glad you did!

I recieved a call on Tuesday (March 6, 2007) from a guy named Rick Ladendorf, and he said that Larry Krempasky left MyContractor.com months ago, Fred Redeker had left about 6 months ago, and Mike Madden hasn't been with MyContractor.com for about 2 to 3 months. He did make a reference which indicated that someone named Gary was with the company, but I can't confirm if the name "Gary" that he mentioned was Gary Iskra or just some other Gary.

So who is Rick Ladendorf? Well, during his initial call back in early February, he said that he worked with MyContractor.com but wasn't officially with them, or something to that effect. After the call I searched the web and came up with this on MyContractor.com's site:

October 26, 2006
MyContractor.com adds Experienced Marketing Pros
MyContractor.com, Inc., today announced marketing and business development expert, Rick Ladendorf, and award-winning home improvement industry journalist, Don Logay, have joined its experienced management team

That sounds kind of like he's an official part of the company to me, but then what do I know. Anyway, during this latest phone call, he said that my site, PacesetterSucks, was actually helping MyContractor.com. Good for them, right? Well, you'd think, except he also said that MyContractor.com was preparing to sue me to get my site shut down. Anyone else out there find something a little off about this? Why would you spend tens of thousands of dollars (or hundreds of thousands or however much else it might cost) to sue someone who is actually helping you to make money?

Well, according to Rick I have illegal content on my site. Somehow, I don't think so. I would not allow illegal content anywhere on my site. I asked him what precisely was illegal, but he said he was not a lawyer and didn't want to get into that. Whatever, dude. If there was really something illegal on my site, wouldn't you think he would want to let me know what it was so I could take it down?

Now, he also said that I had a lot of my facts wrong in my writings. Of course, he wouldn't be specific and mention any of them. Are we starting to see a pattern here? I've detailed our experience as completely and accurately as I could. I have not lied, exaggerated, or embellished anything. And I still have all the paperwork and hand-written notes to back it all up. If there is something that you feel is specifically wrong, then let me know about it. Do not just throw the word "illegal" around without having the balls to back it up. And definitely don't threaten a law suit that we both know MyContractor.com can't win. On the plus side, if MyContractor.com does actually sue me, I will then be able to subpena all their records, which makes them public and would allow me to post them on here.

Shortly after I posted the previous update about MyContractor.com, I was contacted via e-mail by an individual claiming to be an ex-employee of MyContractor.com. I'm not going to mention his or her name, as I don't want any kind of corporate wrath brought down upon him or her for sharing this information. And to make writing this a bit easier, I think I'm just gonna use the male pronouns if that's okay. Also, keep in mind that I can not verify these claims mentioned in the e-mail any more than you could. This could very well just be a disgruntled employee lashing out.

Now, this person stated that as of January 2007, Gary Iskra, Mike "Mickey" Madden, Larry Krempasky, were at MyContractor.com. He also confirmed that Fred Redeker did leave the company, due to personal reasons, in September 2006. In a follow-up message I received at the end of March, he said that he contacted a friend of his in the call center, and his friend confirmed that Mickey, Larry, Dale, and Gary still works at MyContractor.com.

This ex-employee also shares that not only does Gary Iskra work there, but pretty much runs the show. And what's more, he says that greed was a big factor at the company, especially at the Sacramento office with Mickey Madden and Sac office manager Tom Watt Tom Watkins, with them severely over pricing jobs, such a gutter job for $40,000 and a deck estimate for a $106,000. He went so far as to call it a "price gouging rackett". Sounds a lot like what Pacesetter Corp was doing, does it not? Oh, and I can't forget to mention that he said they hired an IT and web guy to try figuring out a way to drop my website off the first results of search engines. I'm flattered!

The following text is an email I received from a person claiming to be an ex-employee of MyContractor.com. I have edited it (with the approval of the author) to remove some information the author didn't want publicly released, as well as for some formatting, grammar, and spelling corrections.

I am the ex-employee that sent you the forwarded email that reflected the different people I worked with at MyContractor.com. I was reading your updates and decided to fill you in on some of the information that has gaps.

The Thursday or Friday before Mother's Day 2006, MyContractor.com was ordered by the CSLB (Contractors State License Board) to cease and desist because of a sting that they were involved in due to unlicensed sales reps at the time. The owner of the license that they previously used was furious and rescinded his agreement immediately with them; that is when and why Gerry Anderson (who drives a pretty little red convertible) and Gary Kluck got together and made the license deal.

I was actually one of the reasons that they went under ground for a bit that same summer, because as I was quitting... I forwarded many appointments to the CSLB informing them of the illegal reps going out; they were put in quite a predicament, let me tell you. Immediately after sending my last e-mail to the CSLB (and copies of many sales orders before ANY licensing requirements were fulfilled), I walked into the sales meeting, hosted by Mike "Mickey" Madden and proclaimed that they were all lying scum bags who were ripping off people, sending reps into homes before a license, and even reps who were previous sex offenders... although his crime was over 10 years old, it shouldn't have made a difference.

Tom Watkins, the Sacramento General Manager, was hand picked by ol' Gary Iskra himself from the ol' Sears days. I think Sears would be not so pleased to know that Tommy took the Sears' customer list with him and made several sales off of it... and probably still is. Hell, for months he even wore his Sears rep license while working at MyContractor.com.

In Book 8 a writer confused people in his story about his job canvassing and his boss that was arrested for drugs. His boss' name was Dave. Dave was the canvass manager in Concord; I trained him (before I found out who the evil clan were and what they were up to (sorry, hadn't worked in H.I. before). Dave was a very nice guy and he had a lot of hopes of making it, and yes he did mention previously about bringing his daughter aboard for an opportunity. I am sad to find out he got into drugs... no doubt feeling some pressure. He had to take over my area (Sacramento) when I left because the day after I left so did all of MY employees. I in no way persuaded them, but when they called me the next day to ask why, I just stated "ethics, I have them and don't agree with theirs".

I and a few of my colleagues still have STACKS of evidence against those crooks, just in case. I remember one of my last encounters with ol' Gary Iskra he talked to me in his office and asked me if anything illegit was going on in "my company" (meaning his) and followed that with maybe Kluck and even his wife may believe in god but he sure in the hell doesn't fall for that crap and knows how to make people wish they didn't cross him.... yes, I felt threatened... and I answered "no"... but collected, held, and watched my back for the following month as I prepared to leave.

The last two weeks were hell. Someone kicked in my office door, broke into my locked filing cabinet, stole my employee files, and on my last day spit chewing tobacco in my coffee; I was in tears. Larry Krempaski was in town, and when I said something about all the harassment he simply stated Gary Iskra wants you gone... that was the day I quit. I have never understood why there wasn't another sting after all the evidence I gave to the CSLB, or why there weren't any fines? I have always been a bit curious and nervous about that... which is why I have so much evidence stashed and stored. This really isn't any paranoia, as my husband and a co-worker advised me to do so (she has copies also stashed and stored – it was a team effort to submit the evidence).

As for the IT they hired to take your site rating down, be very flattered; that's been in place since about March of 2006... at a fine tune of about 10K monthly to do so.

By this point, it's pretty clear that MyContractor.com is heading toward ruin (if it's not already there). We've received reports that offices all over have been closed, but are being leased out so that they don't look closed. We've been told that MyContractor.com handed out loads of bounced checks for a whole lot of money to employees who were forced to pay for materials themselves because MyContractor.com owed their vendors too much money. It's also been said that they hired unlicensed contractors, and that they even divert funds from one job to another, which I believe is illegal.

Looking at the MyContractor.com website, you probably wouldn't get a sense that anything is amiss. Sounds just like what Pacesetter was doing when they were going out of business, keeping up appearances, scheduling jobs, and taking peoples' money until one day all the doors are closed and all the phone numbers are disconnected, leaving employees standing there with with no means to recoop the money they are owed and leaving customers with a lien on their house owing money to some financial division for substandard work with a now worthless warranty.

I am confident, however, that the people who ran Pacesetter Corp and MyContractor.com into the ground will continue on. They may not stick with the home improvement business, moving instead to some other field. Iskra, for instance, used to run Advanced Water Solutions before he moved to Pacesetter Corp. Of course, due to a settlement he is no longer allowed to operate a water filtration business, so I guess that's off the table. But whatever it turns out to be, we plan on being here to report on it.

On February 18th, 2006 I received a letter from Charles C. Mason, Jr., an attorney representing MyContractor.com. In addition to scanning it in, I have also reproduced it in a web-formatted version for easier reading, which can be found below.

On November 5th, 2007 I received a letter from Robert T. Moore, II, another attorney representing MyContractor.com. In addition to scanning it in, I have also reproduced it in a web-formatted version for easier reading, which can be found below.

On December 3rd, 2007 I finally responded to the cease & desist letter from Robert T. Moore, II, an attorney representing MyContractor.com. My response took longer than I would have liked, as I had not only been busy working on new project this past month, but I've also been sick for a few weeks.

On January 28th, 2008 I received a followup letter from Robert T. Moore, II, the attorney now representing MyContractor.com. In addition to scanning it in, I have also reproduced it in a web-formatted version for easier reading, which can be found below. Note that there is a typo where "does contain" should be "does not contain", and I have left it intact.

On February 20th, 2008 I mailed out my response to the second letter from Robert T. Moore, II, an attorney representing MyContractor.com.