Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On Saturday, July 29, 2024, I initially gave the owner, who identified himself as *****, a $50 deposit to install a Gorilla Cage. I told him that a previous cage had been installed. He told me the cost of installation was $300. Upon completion, he asked for an additional $50 because it was so hard digging. I sent the payment through my bank. He kept calling and texting, saying the money hadnt arrived. I sent screenshots showing it was enroute. I asked, by the way, how much he had given me for the cage he had taken. Early this morning, owner came and took back the cage from my property. I filed a police report. JH371628. He failed to return my original cage. The owner trespassed upon my property and stole the equipment. Request payment for original cage.

  Business response

  08/21/2024

  To whom ever it may concern,

            This prior customer (*********************************) called ********************** on Friday July 26th to see how much a new cage would cost because she had just replaced her unit and it was bigger than her old unit. I explained to her that there was no need to buy a whole new security cage that all she had to do was pay the difference between a small cage which she had and pay for the medium cage that she needed. She said "Great and thank you for not making me have to purchase a whole new cage" and then she asked if I could do it as soon as possible so her new AC unit would not get stolen. I told her that I could not do it until the following week due to my schedule. She begged me to do it for her the following day because she didn't want her air conditioner stolen and if it did it would affect her health due to her age. Out of sympathy and her age (70s) and the extreme heat we had that week I told her I would do it for her the following day Saturday even though it was a short notice. I told her if she wanted me to do it Saturday July 27th she would have to Zelle me a $50 deposit and then the final balance upon completion. She agreed and sent me the $50 deposit. On Saturday when I completed the work she told me that it was beautiful and she loved it. As I was cleaning up and gathering my tools to leave to another job I asked if she could ***** me the balance. She told me she was going to send the money through Zelle. When I was ready to leave she told me she had already sent it. Sometimes I get a notification immediately and sometimes it may take up to 10 minutes before the notification comes through. I had no reason not to believe her since she had already sent the deposit through ***** and I left because I was already behind schedule by doing her job that was not originally in my schedule. At the end of the day I called her because I never received the full payment and she said she didn't know what the problem was and that she was going to look into it. I called her the following day to ask her if she resolved the Zelle payment and she said that her bank scheduled for the payment to go through on August 5th. I have never had a customer tell me that. The bank customer decides when they want the transaction to go through not the bank. I asked her to send me a screenshot that she had made the payment and that I was willing to wait till August 5th. Well here is where the scam and her true colors came out. At this point on Sunday she had written a 4 star review on ****** praising the work, but disappointed for the $50 additional cost for the new post, cement work and digging. She has recently edited the review to try to cause more harm, but in reality it just goes to show you how far a snake in the grass will go to conceal their true colors. The original quote was prior to coming to see the job and expecting to replace cage right over the unit onto the existing post. Instead, I had to dig up the old post that was embedded into concrete 14" in diameter and install a new post with new concrete into a much bigger hole 30" in diameter. She agreed to the additional cost and work as you can see by the originall $50 deposit and the supposedly $300 Zelle Transaction. Her original $300 estimate became a $350 invoice. 5 days after I had done the work she sends me a text inquiring how much credit did I give her towards her old cage. Mind you I had explained everything to her before she sent me the inital deposit and only payment. A new cage would have cost her approximately $700 to purchase and install. Originally, I only charged her $300 which included the cage difference from the small to the medium and the installation. She has a receipt explaining her total cost and she agreed to everything and that is why she sent the $50 deposit. All converstions prior to installation were by phone, and after completing the work and leaving she did not want to answer my calls so they were texts. Well after explaining to her again through a text, I asked her I don't understand why you're asking me again after I had explained it to you before you agreed to proceed with the work. I told her I was confused why she is bringing this up now after the fact. I started to get concerned and I started to feel that she wanted to cancel her Zelle payment that was due August 5th. I called her over a dozen times and texted her which she never answered the phone calls or text messages. Her last text message stated that the check was in the mail which indicates that she cancelled the Zelle transaction. I text her that I do not accept checks and that since she was sending a check, it indicated that she cancelled the August 5th Zelle payment. My last text to her was that I needed to be paid by that Friday which was August 2nd and if I was not going to be paid by that Friday I was going to go pick up my cage that she refused to pay. She still refused to answer me all the way up until Friday and I told her that if she does not give me an answer I will take that as that she had no intentions on paying. Unfortunately, someone else who needs the money as bad as ********************************* stole her cage in order to steal her A/C. Gorilla Cages has the texts proving the converstions and a receipt with the explantion of entire agreement of the deposit and exchange. As part of her coniving way to mislead everyone like she tried to scam me, her proof is not complete nor legible. Her images from texts and ***** screen shots are not complete or in it's entirety for you to get the full picture. I will try to submit all of my evidence, but I did not know that I only have only 30 minutes and limited space to reply. Please look at the date and time on all eveidence. To who'm ever it may concern, please check my reviews. I give a ***** % to please all of my customers, but I have learned that you will never please a con artist. I never new what it meant when people would say "A good dead never goes unpunished!" Now I know! There is enough proof here to convict ******************* for crying out loud! By the way the police never contacted me - Who knows if that police report is even real! The remainder copy of texts attachments will be sent through an email.

  *****

  Gorilla Cages of Chicago

  Thank you!

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