LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — The state of Lehigh mom of three Ida Rosario's kitchen is a mess. She says "everything is everywhere".
Her husband hired Cabinets by Melkys to install cabinets in their kitchen, so they took out the ones previously there.
"Anything small business oriented we're in it, and it just made sense," Rosario says.
They found the company on Facebook and met up with owner Melkys Borrego.
They say Borrego asked for a $4,600 check to cash.
Rosario's bank records show the check her husband wrote was cashed the same day.
After that, Rosario and her sister, Mara Lugardo, say they knew something was up.
"From the get go, it was just excuse after excuse, but she doesn't want to give us our money back. She has a no refund policy," Lugardo says.
In text messages from Borrego to Rosario's husband, Borrego claims she was in the hospital.
Then she adds her car broke down and that's why she couldn't deliver the cabinets.
Rosario offered to use Uber in an effort to transport Borrego to and from their home but Borrego declined.
At first, the family says they wanted to give Borrego the benefit of the doubt.
When Borrego stopped responding to their messages, they went to her office - only to find it closed.
Watch Lehigh Acres Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades report below:
Rhoades also went to Cabinets By Melkys office.
Since it operates under a "by appointment only" policy, she called.
Borrego did not answer and her voicemail is full.
The blinds of Borrego's office are closed and the glass door is covered preventing an outsider from seeing inside.
In October, Rosario filed a civil lawsuit.
Rhoades asked the Lee County Sheriff's Office if Borrego has been served.
The department says they're still attempting to do so.
Florida Department of State records show Borrego's business is registered to a Metro Parkway address, that is inactive.
Lugardo says, "People may think you shouldn't have gone with a small business, but we need to support small businesses, and not all small businesses scam like this."
Lee County Court records from October also show Melkys Borrego Fernandez owes Suncoast Credit Union more than $20,000 in credit card debt.
Rhoades also went to the Cape Coral address listed for Borrego, but no one came to the door.
Rosario and Lugardo say they hope to one day get their hard earned money back.
"We hope that my sister and brother-in-law get the money back, but we also hope by us doing this reaching out to you, we help others because we don't want anyone else to go through what we've been through," the sister collectively say.
If LCSO serves Borrego, the first court date is November 20.
