Update: Based on the number of people I've learned Lee has scammed, I would retract any of my kindness and understanding below. This dude is a straight pathological liar and must scam people for a living. Its clear he made up every situation he came to me with as an excuse as a way to buy time. If he pops up in your inbox to reply to a job ad or if you come into contact with him, run the other way. --- Lionel "Lee" Rushford has been anything but professional in my experience with him, has wasted two months of my time and owes me hundreds of dollars for a deposit he has still not returned. I was going to have him install some trees in my yard and spoke to him end of March. He quoted me, I paid a deposit which he insisted I send through Venmo or Cash App ahead of time because he "didn't front money for materials because he's been screwed over by people". He also followed up with me in the same afternoon a few times to confirm tree types he was suggesting and asking for me to send the deposit in order to lock in a date, talking about how communication was key with him. Against my better judgement based on my conversations with him and looking at his good reviews on here, I complied and sent the money. From the moment I sent that deposit, his communication shut down and he began screwing me over, ironic.... We had booked in the beginning of April for him to do the work. I texted him late the night before to make sure we were good to go and he told me to call him and went on to tell me his truck broke down and was in the shop. Fine, but kind of unprofessional not to give a heads up until I reach out to you that last minute when I'm expecting you the next morning, but I let it go and was understanding and told him to keep me in the loop about his truck. From this point on it was like pulling teeth to get an update from him. I will spare the details as I can understand bad things happen in people's lives and I was patient every time I finally got him on the phone week after week to tell me another reason why he was delaying. We eventually called off the engagement and I've been spending the past month trying to get my deposit back. It's been ignored texts and calls and no real sign of a resolve. I'm very disappointed with Lee and as each day passes it's becoming more clear he's kicking the can down the road and has no issue passing the burden of his personal issues to his clients. I don't know how many other people he's done this to and I'd like to think he's got some heavy things going on in his life that may be contributing to this, but at the end of the day this is business, I have no personal relationship with him, and this isn't how you treat people when you own a business and owe a client money. You take accountability and if you're genuinely in a tough spot to the point you can't refund a person their money right away, you give people the decency of communication, at the bare minimum. On the rare occasions I've been able to get him on the phone lately, Lee will talk to you and make you feel like he's straightforward and going to do the right thing, but If I think back to all the promises and statements he's made over these two months, he didn't stand by his word in any instance (literally, not once). Whether a big promise to do something by X date, or something as inconsequential as telling me he'd send a picture of the trees before he bought them and that he always confirms with the customer first, only to do neither of those things, I've been left in the dark every single time. read more

This shyster came to my property to give a "free  estimate" on some work I wanted done. He gave an invitingly low figure, and insisted that I pay him upfront immediately. When I explained that I don't keep that kind of cash on hand, he urged me to let him drive me to the bank to get it, even phoning the bank on speakerphone to confirm their hours!  I began to smell a rat, so I told him I'd give him half the amount up front for materials, and put it on my credit card. I felt safer, knowing I could dispute the charges if this character were to screw me. Sure enough, after calling him for 3 weeks and never hearing back, I began to recognize the trick this bum was playing on me: He would string the customer along, knowing that, after 30 days, the credit card charges could no longer be disputed and he'd get to keep the money. So I immediately phoned my credit card company to dispute the charges. Within minutes, this wiseguy finally called me up, leaving a nasty voicemail message and threatening to "put a lien on my property", among other things! Well, I brought that recording straight to the police - who were already quite familiar with him from others in the community who were forced to lodge similar complaints against him.  The officer contacted him and firmly reminded him that such harassment will only get him into more trouble than he's already in. I had no further incident with that goon, although, that very day, I did suddenly begin getting hundreds of phone and email spam on the phone number + email address that I gave him. Hmm. The only thing worse than a con-man is a childish, spiteful con-man. Stay far away from this guy! read more

We were very impressed with Louie when we met with him. He was professional and sent us an invoice detailing labor and materials. He also sent a receipt for the money we gave him. We set up a date for him to do the work. On that day he was supposed to start I didn't hear from him. When I finally got in touch with him he said his car had been stolen. I tried to be understanding as things do happen in life. From that point on the communication was horrible. He totally stopped communicating and I realized I had been ripped off. I thought I was a good judge of character but Lee is a really good con man. It's a shame that there are people like this in the world. I'm sure his family is very proud. read more

Lionel "Lee" Rushford is a scam artist. Please do not, I repeat, DO NOT hire him. We took him to court, he was a no show. Now we have to hire someone to recoup our money since we won our judgement against him. read more