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PAGE 17

aNORTH SHORE youths are flying high with the help of North Vancouver-based 103 Air Cadet Squadron. Dave Toddington, left, tries his hand at th :

acontrols of a Cessna 172 aircraft while Air Cadet Peter Malenda looks on. See story page 43.

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UNLICENSED REFRIGERATOR REPAIR FIRMS CAUSE CONCERN

A CHILL has settled over the North Shore refrigerator and
freezer repair business as a result of alleged unethical
business practices of a stable of unlicensed companies
advertised in the North and West Vancouver Yellow Pages
and operated by a man wanted in the United States on fraud

charges.

The effect on local refrigeration
repair businesses has been
dramatic, Johnstone’s Home Ap-
plinnce Service Lid. owner Gary
Jc stone said. The effect on his
busiuess, he told an Oct. 5 North
Shore Executives Associate
meeting, has been ‘‘devastating”’

The unlicensed companies —
AC Refrigeration, Frost-eze Re-

espns

attic
Les

By TIMOTHY RE

News Reporter

frigeration & Air Conditioning,
and Alliance Refrigeration & Ap-
pliance — occupy a large portion
of the refrigeration section of the
North and West Vancouver Yellow
Pages in half-page advertisements

listing North Shore telephone
numbers, but none of the com-
panies lists a North Shore address,
none has a business licence in any
of the three North Shore
municipalities and none is regis-
fered with the provincial registrar
of companies.

The companies are all run by
Hugo Hector Rousseau, who ap-
plied for a business licence in West
Vancouver last year. That applica-
tion was withdrawn following a
May 17 News story that chronicled
the trail of damaged North Shore
rental residences left by Rousseau
and his family when they lived on
the North Shore from 1984 to

the

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sceomeuepeen
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1987.

Johnstone estimated Rousseau’s
companies may have taken be-
tween $600,000 and $700,000 out
of the focal economy over the fast
12 months.

Johnstone said his company has
fielded numerous calls from people
who have had refrigerators or
freezers fixed by a Rousseau com-
pany and found the repairs un-
satisfactory and = service charges
three to four times ‘‘fair market
valuct’

Andrew James, who runs
Alliance Appliance Ltd., a com-
pany established on the North
Shore since 1985, said it is im-

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possible to estimate the amount of
business he has lost through pro-
spective customers confusing his
company’s name with Rousseau's

Alliance Refrigeration & Ap-
pliance.

James said he is considering
pursuing legal action against

Alliance Refrigeration & Appliance
for copyright infringement on the
Alliance name.

Fred Struchen, who has
operated North Shore Refriger-
ation Lid. for the past 30 years,
estimates he has lost $8,000 to
$10,000 per month for the past

See U.S.
Page 3