Business owner says Guadalupe Enterprises LLC refuses to refund money for incomplete renovation work

MADISON, Wis. — A local business owner is seeking justice after he said he paid a contractor more than $21,000 to do renovations but the work was never completed, and now that contractor is refusing to give the money back.

Mathiam Mbow is the owner of Silver Lining Taekwon-Do. He said he signed a contract with Guadalupe Enterprises LLC owner Arturo Garza in September 2017 to do renovations on his east side location to prepare for the grand opening, scheduled for Oct. 2.

Mbow said Garza assured him the project would be completed by their opening day and gave Mbow a bid of $42,000 for the entire project’s completion. Mbow said Garza requested a 50 percent down payment so he could get the materials needed and get his crew to begin work. Mbow said he wrote Garza a check for $21,000.

Mbow said once work on the project began, he started getting worried as little progress was being made each day.

“He would come in in the evening just to do a little bit, to let us know he was here but there was no progress being made,” Mbow said.

Toward the end of September, Mbow said he knew Garza would not be able to get the project done by the anticipated grand opening date.

Mbow said he spoke with Garza and expressed his his frustration with the lack of progress.

Mbow said Garza told him he couldn’t get the city to provide a building permit for him to complete the work.

Mbow then moved the opening day to the end of October to give Garza three additional weeks to get the project done.

“Every week, he would say, ‘Next week, next week, next week. I will get the permit. Next week, I will get the permit.’ And then he would always come back with some excuse as to why the city wouldn’t give him the permit,” Mbow said.

Mbow said Garza assured him it would be done by then. Mbow sent out marketing materials to promote the grand opening.

One week later, Mbow said no progress was made and Garza told him he couldn’t get the work done by their opening date.

“It was just to build a couple of walls and repaint. That was it. And naturally, that didn’t get done,” Mbow said.

Mbow asked Garza how much it cost for the work he had done. Garza quoted him at $5,000, which Mbow ended up paying him on top of the $21,000 down payment.

Eventually, Mbow hired Amigo Construction to complete the work and paid them $53,000.

Garza said he would only refund $5,000 to Mbow. Mbow said Garza refuses to refund the rest of the money from the down payment.

“At this point for me, there’s a good chance I will not see that money back,” Mbow said.

Mbow said he is working with his attorneys to follow up on a civil suit against Guadalupe Enterprises LLC.

According to the Better Business Bureau, there have been no complaints other than Mbow’s since the business started up in 2017. Guadalupe Enterprises LLC has an A- rating online and is not accredited.

“We took his word for it because in our minds, he was the contractor and he knew what he was talking about,” Mbow said.

We reached out to Garza for comment on this case. Garza said he had no comment and hung up the phone.

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