Forsyth County authorities are investigating claims made by two county homeowners that a local painting company took their money and then walked away from the job.

According to Heather Wooten, a resident of the Castlebrooke Subdivision in south Forsyth, when she needed to get her home painted and repaired in March, a neighbor recommended Phillips Painting, a local company owned by Forsyth County native Terry "Shaun" Phillips.

"So I called [Phillips] and his price was unbelievable, very low," Wooten said, explaining that she was quoted $4,500 for Phillips Painting to paint her house and deck, along with repairing several spots of wood rot.

On March 28, 2019, she signed a contract for the work, giving Phillips $1,500 as partial payment for the work to begin.

Wooten said that she waited for work on her home to begin, but after a month, all that had been done by the company was some pressure washing and small repairs, which she says were done incorrectly.

"Two pieces of pine wood and spraying water on my house," she said.

Another resident of the Castlebrooke Subdivision, Jim Thomas, said that in that same time period he ran into an identical situation with the same painting company.

Thomas said that like Wooten, they made a partial payment, this time $1,675 to Phillips on March 18, 2019, for the company to paint and repair their home. But also like Wooten, Thomas claims that pressure washing and small, allegedly incorrect repairs were the only things done to his home.

"It's going to cost me more to fix it, than anything he's done," Thomas said.

On Friday, Shaun Phillip, 39, vehemently denied any wrongdoing, telling the Forsyth County News that the matter was a civil issue and claiming that he was not allowed to complete work on the two homes.

"I haven't heard anything from any police officers. This is a civil issue," Phillips said.  "When someone tells you can't come on their property, you can't come on their property … Even to this day, I would still be willing to do whatever."

But despite Phillips claim that the accusations made against him are for the civil courts to decide, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office records show that these two incidents are being investigated by local authorities.

Both Wooten and Thomas said that things reached a breaking point when the completion dates for their work came and went and they asked Phillips for a full refund of their money.

"He agreed that if the job wasn't completed by May 10th then he would refund our money," Thomas said.  "But by May 7th or 8th, it was obvious that he wasn't going to get done."

Instead, both households say that they received invoices from Phillips, quoting hundreds of dollars for work that the company claimed to have done.

"We got what I would consider a bogus invoice ... it's just made up,” Thomas said. “Regardless of what it says, we agreed, regardless of whatever work or materials he had put into it, he was going to give us a full refund if the work was not completed by May 10. He agreed to that."

Both homeowners said that they have since hired new contractors to get the work their homes need done, but are dubious if they will ever get their money back from Phillips.

"I don't want him to be able to do it to anyone else,” Wooten said. "But I'll never see my money again."