FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — More than two years after Hurricane Ian caused extensive damage to the Lovers Key Beach Club, the residents are still trying to return to normal.
But the gates, which would normally protect residents, remain wide open.
“There’s a lot of people that have been displaced for two years. We’re trying to get them all back in,” said Kirk Jones, who sits on the board of the condo.
In February, Jones says the board hired Gatekeepers, a Bonita Springs based company, to rebuild the gate motors in front of the building.
“They were underwater, so they were ruined,” said Jones, describing the storm surge that came from Hurricane Ian.
Jones says the board paid the more than $19,000 price up front.
The contract said the job would be finished in April.
“I waited until the end of April. Then May came. Then June came,” said Jones.
“It’s a security issue. Obviously, it’s a money issue. I’m hoping the guy grows a little conscience and says he’ll come do it. I’ve done everything I can to get a hold of him.”
A builder with Gatekeepers wrote Fox 4 Investigates in an email that the company should have already finished with the Lovers Key Beach Club job, but that the company is shorthanded.
“If it was possible to complete these jobs in a short time, they would have been. Keeping employees has been nearly impossible and the owner has tried to recruit and keep employees,” an employee said in an email.
The company has an F rating on the Better Business Bureau’s website.
There are complaints online citing similar stories to Jones.
While Gatekeepers couldn’t provide a date of completion, the builder says he won’t take any more jobs until he can finish everything else.
“The only good news is that the jobs we are finally able to complete, the customers are very satisfied, and the equipment performs as promised,” the company said in an email.
Jones says he’s holding out hope the job will eventually be finished.
“You would think people wouldn’t do this,” said Jones. “You would think they would have a conscience, especially after we gave him our money.”
