Retired U.S. Navy veteran Marcus Cantu hired Leon De la Garza, a contractor, in July 2018.
De la Garza was to build a roof over Cantu’s patio.
Now, 6 months later, Cantu believes he made a mistake. “I shouldn’t have gone with him, but I went with him because the bid was the lowest.”
Total cost ? $11,000.00.
$6000.00 down.
6 months later, De la Garza has only installed 3 posts in Cantu’s back yard.
“It’s been really hard on me. I’ve had some hard days. I’ve broken down a couple of times” Cantu told the Troubleshooters
Cantu remembers something he told De la Garza when they signed the contract.
“Please, whatever you do, do not take advantage of us. He goes ‘I’m not that type of person, man. I would never do that to you.”
Cantu wound up firing De la Garza because the job just wasn’t getting done.
Leon De la Garza agreed to give us his side of this story, on camera, at his shop.
It’s rare for a contractor to do that.
His story in a nutshell goes like that. “They can’t make their decision, and then after we start the job, they change their decision, and start threatening you and stuff. It just doesn’t work.”
He read a text from Cantu dated August 21st, 2018.
“Going in a different direction with my project, so I need to know when and how much of my money I’m getting back.”
Then, a few hours later, Cantu sends a text saying he’s willing to ‘throw in an additional $1000.00 to keep the project going.’
De la Garza maintains he paid for the permit, hired the engineer, cut the cement, cut the rebar, dug the holes, and filled them with cement. “And you know what he tells me ?” Cantu asks incredulously, “he says that i still owe him $600.00 more dollars for what he did back there. $600.00 more dollars.”
De la Garza further claims he had to delay starting the project because Cantu had to wait for approval from his home owners association.
Cantu sent De la Garza a Demand letter last week, which read in part, “Mr. Cantu paid you $6000.00 as a down payment on the project, which was to begin on July 23rd, and was to be completed within a reasonable amount of time. To date, this project has not been completed, and you have abandoned this job.”
“For $6000.00, I got 3 posts with cement. That’s it. And a city permit,” Cantu told us.
De la Garza maintains he’s owed thousands more from other customers he’s done work for following Hurricane Harvey.
So it appears the next time these 2 men see one another, will be in a courtroom.
