Banned NC ‘repairman’ strikes again in South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — It's a story Queen City News has followed for more than five years: complaints about a repairman who, customers say, takes money for jobs he never completes.

"That's when I knew it was him," said Bill Swope. Watching one of our stories about John Jackson, he immediately recognized the repairman who had been at his house just a month prior.

"It's just not right. I'm trying not to get choked up, but I'm angry," he said. "I'm really angry."

Bill has been through the wringer. The past few years, he's dealt with one family loss after another, he's in between jobs and just last month his fridge went out.

He searched online for "repairman near me" to get it fixed.

"Next thing you know, somebody call and say, 'Hey, I could be there today. Let me help you,'" he recalled.

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"I keep getting kicked and I keep getting back up and then this guy pulls this?" he said. "I can see where people get pushed to violence."

Invoices and Venmo receipts show Swope paid John Jackson more than $1,600. One was for the first repair. The other was when Jackson had to return when the fridge stopped working again. Six weeks later he told Queen City News, "The fridge still doesn't work. Freezer is not cold. I have blocks of ice in bottles to keep it at about 48, and hopefully, I don't lose any food."

It's a similar story we've heard from other customers of John Jackson.

The Attorney General has banned John Jackson from doing work or advertising for repair jobs in North Carolina. In 2019, we hired him for a fake repair job, and he promptly showed up. Then this past June, we caught him on home surveillance in Salisbury doing the same thing.

Calling him on a new number we got from his latest unhappy customer, we got him on the line. He disputed that he wronged Swope, and said his accusations are false. He said his fridge developed a leak after the repairs adding, "We went back and attempted to fix the leak." When asked what the name of his company is, Jackson told Queen City News "Star Appliance" confirming that would be on the invoice he sent Swope. What was actually on the invoice was "Expert Appliance Repair." The address on the top of the invoice also leads to an apartment complex just outside of Uptown Charlotte.

Jackson still claims it's not possible to please every customer and added that he is not scamming people.

Queen City News reached out to the SC Department of Consumer Affairs to see how many complaints they have against John Jackson and have yet to hear a response. Swope filed a complaint with the department and has been assigned a claim number.