CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Esther and Juan Martinez have lived on a beautiful piece of property in Sinton for nearly 25 years.
About eight years ago, Esther, a contractor herself, built a house for her mom who passed away in December 2020.
For security and privacy, Esther hired CK Kustoms Iron Works of Rockport in July 2020, and paid them a little more than $7,400.00 to build and install two iron gates. Cody Key runs CK Kustoms Iron Works.
"He says he has so many other clients. He says if you pay me my full amount, I'll put you at the top of the list. And of course, I ended up doing that," Martinez admitted.
Over the past 12 months, Cody Key has made many promises to Martinez that the gates would get installed, as text messages show. But those promises have been broken, Martinez tells us.
"A lot of people say let it go. You're eating yourself up and so and so. It's just money. And I said it shouldn't happen. I trusted this person. He's a businessman."
In March, Martinez had an attorney send a demand letter to Key giving him a week to install the gates.
In April, she submitted a complaint against CK Kustoms Iron works with the Better Business Bureau.
But nothing happened.
On Monday, the Troubleshooters went to CK Kustoms Iron Works in Rockport, and spoke with Key, who told us this situation with Martinez was in court, and it was... two months ago.
Martinez took Key and CK Kustoms Iron Works to a San Patricio County Court. Key did not appear, and Martinez was awarded a judgment for $7.403.47, the amount she paid Key a year ago.
Esther Martinez is frustrated that this situation has gone this far without resolution. She paid for a product, in full, a year ago, but still doesn't have it.
"He thinks I'm gonna go away. I'm not gonna go away. I'm gonna try to do as much as I can to try to get my money back. It's not right," said an incredulous Martinez.
When the Troubleshooters visited the business, Key pointed to the gates, ready to be installed.
So in an attempt to finally get this resolved, the Martinez family has offered to go pick them up and install the 17 foot gates themselves, and Key told us he would agree to that.
So the plan now is for that to happen 10 o'clock Wednesday morning. The Troubleshooters will be there and let you know what happens.
