FORT MYERS, Fla. — Southwest Florida students who are working to pass their contractor exams suddenly have no school. The Contractor Campus, a business that provided educational resources on Colonial Blvd in Fort Myers, closed this week.
Students like Christopher Diaz and Tommy Johnson told Fox 4's Fort Myers' Community Correspondent, Anvar Ruziev, that they spent a significant part of their Wednesday afternoon trying to figure out what happened to the institution they used for their career preparation.
"Before, it would say 'Contractor Campus,'" Diaz explained, pointing to the now-bare building facade.
"You can almost still kind of see it, but they scraped all of that off, and yeah, there's nothing else left. You wouldn't even know that this place was a place that sold people a service."
The pair say they paid money for books and online courses that are no longer available, as their licensing exams loom. Johnson said he's frustrated because the school made him promises.
"This place said as long as you want, you will be able to log in online and use our website. I said two years? She said if it takes you three years, you can still do it."
Utilizing Google's cache function to examine the website as it appeared on April 3rd, Ruziev discovered terms and conditions that offered "unlimited access" for students enrolled on or after January 1, 2015—even after their one-year paid access had expired.
Attempts to reach the business via the 866 number listed online only led to a recording stating that the business was closed.
Fox 4's Fort Myers Community Correspondent, Anvar Ruziev, also tried to contact Gildardo Montoya, the listed president of Contractor Campus. Ruziev called and went to Montoya's home, but he could not reach him.
Employees who were at the business declined to answer questions.
A search on the Better Business Bureau revealed a resolved complaint from January concerning problems with accessing virtual classes. Despite these issues, the business maintained an A+ rating and had been accredited since 2018.
Fort Myers Police officers were also at the school. They told the students that they may have to file a civil lawsuit.
Fox 4 will follow up this story and continue working to get answers for the students.
