Maritza Monge became emotional just thinking that there may be other consumers who did what she did.
"I believed, you know, 'till the very end," she said.
She gave Storm Guard Windows and Doors $4,812 – about half of the cost of the job – and signed a contract in July 2018 for three impact windows and three doors for her Sunrise home, documents showed.
"I'm getting older and it's a pain to put up the shutters when the hurricanes are coming," Maritza said.
Regine Saint Louis said she gave a deposit of $10,500 to the same company for a $20,977 job to replace all of the windows and doors at her Coconut Creek home in October 2018.
"I thought I would be more safe when you have the impact windows, you know, not just against hurricanes but against theft," Regine said.
Both women called NBC 6 Responds after they said they experienced months of waiting, missed installation dates and few answers. "I didn't want money," Maritza said. "I wanted my windows but if I'm not going to get that, then I want my money back so I can go to another company."
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Maritza said the manufacturer told her the windows and doors for her project were ready but that the company had not paid for them to be released.
NBC 6 Responds found the city of Sunrise issued permits for Maritza's job in February.
But when it came to Regine's job, NBC 6 Responds found no evidence that any permit was ever pulled for the work. "Really, really upsetting," Regine said. "I guess they did not intend to do the work if they didn't take the permit because they need a permit to the work."
The company's Boynton Beach offices were closed when NBC 6 stopped by – a new, unrelated business was operating there. NBC 6 Responds did connect by phone with a man named Brian Homan, who said he took over the company in May 2018 and was its sole owner.
He said the company was struggling to make it and that he was trying to handle things the best he way he could.
A few days later, Maritza said she received a call from Brian, who told her another company would be finishing her job and honoring the price of her original contract.
It was news Maritza was hoping to get. "You guys have done a wonderful job," Maritza said.
Regine, meanwhile, said she was still waiting to hear from Brian about what happened to her money. She filed several complaints with state agencies, as well as a police report.
Brian stopped responding to NBC 6 Responds' text messages asking for an update about Regine's situation.
The Florida Attorney General's office told NBC 6 they had received at least 18 complaints about this company since January 2019 and that they were looking into those complaints.
