JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A knock on the door led Jacksonville homeowners to what they believed was a government-backed program that would make their homes more energy efficient at no cost to them. Now, months later, they say they\u2019re stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in debt instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be free,\u201d homeowner Melinda Philpot said.<\/p>\n
Kenneth and Oma Rampersad, along with Philpot, told Action News Jax they were approached by a door-to-door salesman claiming to represent a company called PureEnergy Solutions. The salesman allegedly told them their solar panels qualified them for energy-efficient upgrades through a two-part government grant program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said that this grant was coming from the government,\u201d Kenneth Rampersad said. \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be a 2-part grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Believing they would be reimbursed through the program during tax season, the homeowners agreed to upgrades that included new equipment like water heaters and other energy-efficient appliances.<\/p>\n
But when tax season came, they say they learned the program they were promised didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe checked and said there\u2019s no such program,\u201d Rampersad said, referring to his tax preparer.<\/p>\n
The financial backlash hit hard. The Rampersads say they were later sent to collections for nearly $40,000. The Philpots say they\u2019re now facing roughly $15,000 in debt.<\/p>\n
Action News Jax searched online and found multiple complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau connected to PureEnergy Solutions. State business records also show the company was dissolved in 2023, despite the homeowners saying they signed contracts in 2024.<\/p>\n
Action News Jax then tracked down the company\u2019s listed owner, Tyler Amos. Amos said impostors were using his company\u2019s name to sell products he had nothing to do with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sounds like a government grant scam,\u201d Will Wirth with the Better Business Bureau said.<\/p>\n
Wirth said it\u2019s possible someone used the dissolved company\u2019s name to make the sales pitch more believable by promising government money that never existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with scammers is if they\u2019re not associated directly with that company or associated with any sort of company, they really don\u2019t have to do anything to get that money back,\u201d Wirth said.<\/p>\n
The Better Business Bureau recommends researching companies before signing contracts and filing complaints with the BBB or the Federal Trade Commission if something feels suspicious.<\/p>\n
Tyler Amos declined an on-camera interview, citing his security clearance in the Army National Guard. He told us he planned to send a written statement, but we have not yet received it.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A knock on the door led Jacksonville homeowners to what they believed was a government-backed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":806598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,5229,209723,13029,3188,723,11561,7310,328133,44801,425,328135,328134,328137,328136,328138,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,328139,11816],"class_list":["post-806597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-america","tag-better_business_bureau","tag-deja_mayfield","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jackstasia_mayfield","tag-kenneth","tag-local","tag-melinda_philpott","tag-oma_rompersan","tag-philpotts","tag-pure_energy_solutions","tag-tyler_amos","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wertz","tag-will"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116599228308705613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}