RUN--don't walk--from this business.
Neto was recommended to me by another boat owner. His 4.7-star rating and portfolio looked promising, so I reached out on 6/6/25 to ask about having our cushions redone. He didn't respond. That should've been a red flag, but I followed up on 6/11/25 before leaving for a two-week vacation. He said he could go check out the boat and call me with a quote. Later that day, he gave me a price. I didn't get other bids (huge mistake) but asked if it could be completed by 6/28, as we were having guests for the 4th. He agreed. Neto picked up our cushions and requested 50% down. I paid $1,767.83.
We returned from vacation on 6/25. I texted him on 6/26--no reply. I called that afternoon. He asked, "Who is this? Do you have the Maxima?" At this point, I became extremely concerned. I reminded him he took our cushions and promised completion by 6/28. He replied, "No... I meant July 28!" I was stunned. I told him this wouldn't work--we had people arriving for the 4th, and I never would have agreed to go without a boat all summer. I asked him to return the cushions, but he claimed they were already stripped down to just foam (a lie, as shown in photos). He said it was a "miscommunication" and that he'd do what he could to help. I asked if there was any chance they could be done by 7/3. He said his team would work evenings to make that happen, though there wouldn't be much profit for him. I really appreciated the effort--or so I thought.
I reached out again on 7/2 and 7/3 for updates. No response. I called the morning of 7/4. He answered and said they'd been working hard, but it just wasn't possible. He claimed to be working long hours and hadn't seen his kids, but said they'd be ready by Monday or Tuesday (7/8 or 7/9). I was upset but relieved that we'd at least get them the following week.
Fast-forward to 7/25: Still no cushions, no responses. On 7/14, we finally got a vague text saying they had a bad week and were still working on them--"should be done in the next weeks." At that point, I hoped they'd be ready by the wrong, "miscommunicated" promise of 7/28.
Then we drove by his business. What we saw made my stomach turn. Our cushions were sitting there--untouched. Only two had vinyl removed. The rest are in the exact same condition they were in six weeks ago. His shop was locked up in the middle of the day. No one was there. No signs of work. No progress. Just weeks of lies and excuses.
He never tried to expedite the work. He never worked evenings. He never communicated truthfully. All he did was take our money and our usable cushions and vanish. We've lost $1,800, our summer on the boat, and any trust we had in this business. We're now considering police involvement to retrieve what's left of our property. We'll also have to pay more just to get the cushions back to the state they were in before Neto touched them. Our cushions were totally usable and not that bad before--they weren't perfect, but they worked. Now we have nothing, and still can't use our boat.
Do not, under any circumstances, do business with this man. He is a scammer and a liar. I saw other reviews mentioning "miscommunications," and now I'm in the same boat (pun intended). The positive reviews? I don't understand how they exist. Our experience has been nothing but deception, delay, and disrespect and unethical behavior.
This has been a hard, expensive lesson in why you don't trust without verifying--and why you never, ever pay anything up front. I'm mad at myself for believing him, and I don't know how he can live with himself after what he's done to us.
After meeting his wife to get our cushions, I asked for our $1800 deposit back since no work was done and 3 of our cushions had all of the vinyl removed (and were in good order before that). She said, "unfortunately, no, we don't have it".
Neto never ordered ANY of the materials for my job in six weeks. All while telling me he was working hard on it and keeping our cushions for no reason (with our money). They used the money to pay rent, and she rolled up in a brand new Yukon XL with custom, shiny rims. MUCH nicer than our 8 year old vehicle with 100k miles, by the way. She told me to go through my bank to get my money back.
All this, after telling me what honest, Christian, people they were. The more that I think about this, the angrier I get! They are both scam artists and cheats. They are keeping money that they DID not earn. In addition, they owe us at LEAST $1000 in damages, probably much more when I factor in the lease on our boat slip which was unusable but our boat had to sit there with holes where cushions should be. I should also be going after them for "lost enjoyment of life since we could not use our boat" with a lawyer. They need to pay me my money, and fix the damages. read more