Usesafari.com Reports & Reviews

Usesafari.com Reports & Reviews (1)

- La Puente, CA, USA

Scammer's phone (760) 488-1867
Scammer's website usesafari.com
Scammer's address 17921 Donert St. Hesperia Ca, Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
Scammer's email [email protected]
Country United States
Victim Location CA 91744, USA
Total money lost $84,000
Type of a scam Home Improvement

We contacted this company to do a full remodel on our backyard, landscaping and pool. Joseph Acosta and Jose Morales are the two individuals who came to our house and presented the work that they did. My husband found this company on Yelp and decided to call due to the positive reviews that we saw, which later we find out are mostly friends and family who wrote fake reviews to make up for the negative reviews that they were receiving. Joseph Acosta was very positive and great to deal with initially at the house when he was trying to sell us the services, Jose Morales made a great 3D rendered video of what our project would look like when they were done. That was the first and last time that we had a pleasant experience with this company. After my husband and I took out 2 loans to cover the expenses of what this project would cost and they knew that we had the money that is when everything changed. When we received the contract from them it was an "estimate" and there was no numbers on it. There was no breakdown on the contract of prices or anything that was itemized. We received a work flow and payment scheduling through text message from Jose Gonzales. They asked for $1,000 deposit before starting the project which they wanted us to zelle to Joseph Acosta, which we naively did. Then 8-19-22 we gave them the first lump sum payment of $73,200 with a check. That first payment was to cover the excavation, alumawood patio cover that they upselled to us and the additional cost of gravel and testing they said needed to be done. That payment was more than what they even originally told us because they said that we needed additional testing done. Joseph Acosta stated that the alumawood patio cover needed to be purchased now because it was about a 6-8 month turnover to get it, to find out it was either never ordered and they used the money for something else whether it was other projects or put into their own pockets, because to this day we do not have the alumawood patio cover and Efren Luna has stated to us that he does not have it and they will not show us any paperwork showing that they ordered it. From 8-19-22 thru 8-30-23 we have given Safari Landscaping & Pools a total of $230,395 in checks and $2,000 through Zelle to Joseph Acosta. All but the last check we gave them was paid all within the first 5 months of starting the project. Once we started the project Jose Gonzales and Joseph Acosta would only call us when they wanted progress payments and Joseph Acosta would use bully techniques and then say that he needs the money to pay his workers or order supplies in order to continue our project. Jose Gonzales sent us a work flow and payment schedule showing what the cost of everything will be and percentage. Well they didn't even go by their own work flow that they provided to us or the numbers they provided to us. Joseph Acosta provided us will false timelines consistently. December 1st 2022 we received a phone call from Joseph Acosta bullying us into providing more money specifically $54, 802 in order to pay for the retaining wall and decking we gave them the money and the job was never done. On December 15, they then called us again and we were asked to give another deposit of $32,881 to cover drains, spigot, coping and tile, which we went to the showroom with Jose Gonzales to pick out the tile and stone for the pool, only the coping was done, and we have no receipt of them ordering our tile, stone, and mini pebble that we picked out even though they created an urgency that we had to go that week and pick it out that week. We asked Efren Luna if he had our tile and stone we purchased and he stated no that he didn't to this day. So we don't know what they used that money for whether it went towards other projects they were working on or in their own pockets. We were told by Joseph Acosta that they would have their entire team working on our home in December when he asked for all that money. On May 25, 2023 we sent an email and text message to Efren Luna, Joseph Acosta, Jose Gonzales, and Nicole explaining that we have made several attempts to contact someone from Safari regarding our project after all of that money was given to them and we still had none of the work done that was paid for nor any response or updates to what was going on with our project. Do to no response from them we got fed up and decided to write a Yelp review on their Yelp page at Safari Landscaping & Pools. A few days after we wrote that Yelp review we received a call from Joseph Acosta. Joseph called us not to update us on our project or apologize for delays and let us know what what going on but instead called us liars for what we wrote in our Yelp review and said he was mad that we put text messages between the 2 of us in there and that we are doing something that is illegal by putting his name out there and our text messages between the 2 of us and we can't do that. He kept saying that we were personally attacking him by doing that which no we were just telling the truth and showing the proof of all the lies that him and this company has been doing to us. Then he insinuated/ threatened to slow down our project because we wrote this yelp review and he wanted us to take it down, which we said we would not take down. Then he also got mad at us and told us that we can't go to the city and ask questions regarding our project and threatened to pull Safari's permits and told us that if we want to talk to the city we can handle everything with the city and they won't anymore. Every time we did get a hold of them their excuse was that they were waiting on an inspection from the city, which was all lies. We live 3 minutes from the city and now have a great relationship with them due to us having to go over there so many times to ask questions because of Safari lying to us. My relationship with the city started when I couldn't get in contact with anyone from Safari and they were ignoring us after December because they had all our money already. When 5 months went by and nothing was done on our project and their constant excuse was we are waiting on an inspection, I personally went to the city and asked if there was a problem with anything and if so what we need to do to fix it and continue our project. Meeka from the city stated that there was no inspection scheduled ever and that they are waiting for Safari to submit paperwork to transfer permits into their contracting license. So from August 2022-June 14 2023 this company was working on our project without doing the necessary paperwork with the city, which they told us they would handle. Well they didn't handle it until I called them and got a hold of them and told them it needed to be done and still it took months. Joseph Acosta's excuse to us was that the old company that submitted our permits went bankrupt so they have to figure out how to transfer the permits. Meeka at the city stated all they needed was to show that the old companys license was no longer valid (which she did the foot work and printed out for us) anyone can pull up on the California Contractors Board and fill out the necessary paperwork that she provided and get it notarized. Joseph Acosta continuously kept saying that we are making it difficult for them by speaking to the city. When in reality if I never went to the city none of this would have gotten done because they didn't do it and continued to lie to us. June 14 2023 at 1:15pm I showed up at the city to make sure that this was getting done and Jose Morales showed up while I was there to submit this paperwork. While standing in the city building I expressed that day to Jose after that paperwork was submitted that we are frustrated with the way things have been handled and Jose Morales could not give us any answers to any questions that were being asked, but what he did state was that he had stepped away from the company for a short time because he himself was frustrated with working for Joseph Acosta and that he was only supposed to be brought on to do designs for customers and then he has ended up doing other jobs within the company like calling customers and asking for money, going to the city and doing paperwork, and pretty much being the middle man between the customer and Joseph Acosta and then told me that he's doing all this stuff and getting yelled at by customers and they pay him minimum wage and that his wife is pregnant. Information that I don't need to know and it's not my business. But at that point he was venting to me. I told him if it was too much for him that we would just speak to Joseph Acosta regarding our project from now on and he said ok. Better for us I thought too because one less middle man because no information was ever being relayed to one another anyways, zero communication throughout this company. So Joseph Acosta decided that during our conversation regarding the Yelp review he would say that I intimidated Jose Morales and that he no longer wants to work with us, which is completely false. Joseph Acosta could not answer any of our questions and could not keep up with any of his lies while on the phone with us and continuously stuttered to make words because he didn't know what to say because at this point we saw through all his lies and he could no longer manipulate us so he then hangs up on us. After that call he texts my husband back after a couple minutes of hanging up on us and apologizes for the things he said. Which he is trying to just cover his own [censored], and it was not genuine and all lies because still our project is not done. So after all that we did not want to deal with Joseph Acosta anymore and we contacted Efren Luna the actual owner and he stated to us that he was sorry for Jose and Joseph and that we can just speak to him directly from now on. By this time still nothing has been done on our project that we had paid for in December 2022 besides digging the same hole a handful of times workers came for a couple hours over a course of 7 months and we were in August 2023. Multiple times the city inspector Dominick Arauz has asked Joseph Acosta that he needs the inspection/record card that they took from our home and they still have not returned to us. I have text messages as well as emails showing that Dominick arauz Building Inspection of City Of La Puente has asked Safari, specifically Joe that he needs that back in order to mark of our inspections. Efren Luna came to our house to look at our project and tells me that he's sorry that its a mess out here and he is going to have guys come to clean the place up because yes there was stagnant water from it raining, trash, wood, nails, scraps of random stuff, garbage the workers left behind. Efren Luna has only been to our house 2 times. Once to look at our backyard and see the condition of it and the second was on 8-30-23. On August 30, 2023 Efren Luna stood in my house and told me that we needed a 5 foot retaining wall and not a 4 foot retaining wall. He stated to us that he would do us a favor by doing it "at cost" and we only have to pay $7,500.00. He stated that we could pay half now and half when the wall was done. Even though we had already paid everything for the retaining wall in December they were asking for more money. I'm thinking to myself where is the $84,000 of unfinished work use that money. But naively do to us dealing with Efren Luna and thinking ok he's the owner and he's trying to move this project along on 8-3-23 I give him a check for $3,750. I told him I want a receipt and in writing a letterhead on what we agreed upon. He called Nicole whoever that is and had her send a letterhead explaining it. Which once again nothing was signed and it's meaningless. So after giving that check to Efren we waited and waited. Finally, Monday September 25, 2023 I texted Efren saying that I would like an update because he had told my husband that they were setting up a date to pour concrete. Instead of giving me a date he asked for my husbands phone number and I stated that he's busy and thats why I was texting him to find out what's going on. Then he asked if I "can talk". He then called me and stated that he is going to be filing for bankruptcy and he has gone through his savings and has no money left and that he is sorry. This is 25 days after taking a check from me and telling us that he wants to help us out. I asked him where our money was and if he used it to fund other projects and he says YES! Nowhere did my husband or I give this company any verbal or written consent to use the money we gave them to fund other projects. Our loans say that that money is supposed to be used for our project and our project only. So after telling me that he will be filing for bankruptcy 15 minutes later he texts me that he has a truck of concrete on order for Thursday for the footings for the wall and it's still scheduled and since I already paid for it (the $3,750 check) did I want to keep it on the schedule. Of course I want it since I paid for it. So 3 days later he has his workers come to my home and start pouring concrete for these footings I go outside and want to see what they did and if what was said was done. The worker said that he ran out of concrete and that they need more to finish the job. I asked him if he called Efren to let him know and he stated no I’m just doing him a favor. So in front of the worker I called Efren 3 times and he did not pick up and then I texted him to pick up his phone and he texted me back that he wanted me to text and I said pick up your phone. So finally he picked up his phone and I told him that the job isn't done and the workers need more concrete to finish. He said that he had to order more and look at the schedule and that he would talk to my husband he didn't want to speak to me. That same day his worker stated that Efren hasn’t paid him in 1 month and that he also doesn’t have any storage like he states with equipment in it, it’s just his garage at his house. Which that worker voluntarily told us. Well my husband messaged Efren on October 2, 2023 when they were coming back to finish pouring the concrete since it was incomplete and his response through text message was "You only need about 1 more yard of concrete that can be mixed by hand. Also, since I'm filing for bankruptcy , I can't show that I am doing any jobs or getting paid. I can refer you to the concrete guys to finish the last yard (Material is not expensive) and pay them their daily rate". The audacity that this man has after just taking a check from us 25 days prior, he knew he was going to file for bankruptcy and still asked for more money from us. He as well as everyone in his company are liars and manipulators and are committing fraud. At the end of the day we have a project that we have paid in full, it is not completed, they can't show us where our money went, they won't give us our money back and we have additional damage caused to our property that was never fixed that said would be fixed after the project was done. I wouldn't put it past them especially Joseph Acosta that not only did they use our money to fund other projects but for personal gain in his bank account. If this company and the workers in this company got their bank records subpoenaed the truth of what happened to all of our hard earned money would come out. There has been 8 people that have reached out to my husband and I telling us the same exact story. This company has stolen our money and now wants to go bankrupt and file chapter 7 and chapter 11 to try to salvage the possible few customers that they have left who probably did not pay them in full. These people should never be able to open up another business or even have an active contracting license anymore. They will continue to do the same thing and commit fraud and steal more people's money.

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