Concerns about the site, for example the handling of your request, the use of your personal details or an error in the text, can be sent through the contact form. Give your name, your town, about when you sent any request and a description of the problem. We read each message and follow it up.

Because the site signs nothing with you or with any contractor, it has no power to decide disputes or order money back. Raise a complaint about a contractor's work, pricing, paperwork or conduct with that business first, and put it in writing so you have a record.

When that gets nowhere, public offices may step in. Consumer complaints go to the NY Attorney General's Rochester regional office at (585) 546-3240. A permit issue goes to whoever issued the permit: in the City, the Bureau of Zoning & Permitting at 585-428-6526; in the towns, the building department of Irondequoit (585-336-6026), Greece (585-723-2443), Chili (585-889-6143), Henrietta (585-359-7060) or Penfield (585-340-8636).

Under New York's home improvement law, jobs over $500 need a signed written contract and money paid in advance must be held in a protected way, and the state's consumer protection law prohibits deceptive practices and false advertising. Hold on to your contract and payment records; any office you approach will ask for them.

We also want to hear about a contractor who got your request and then behaved in a way that troubled you. New York law governs this complaints policy.