Customers say their mobile home dreams were ruined by San Antonio business
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- Опубліковано 21 тра 2022
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This isn’t a professional, this is some guy who learned how to do things online and decided to open a business without proper training.
Not even that, I would bet money you could hand him basic hand tools and he wouldn't have a clue what half of them are. probably hires day labors to do the shotty work lol.
As someone who is converting a bus into a tiny house with knowledge gathered from the internet, I don't think this guy is even doing that.
Having a proper exit point for sewage doesn't require a modicum of knowledge--just a basic level of intelligence.
I've seen this my whole life. This is a hustler that probably had a friend in the beginning that knew how to work. Then it usually goes he screws his partner over. Then hires junkies or criminals for next to nothing. In the meantime I bet he's never really worked ever.
I learned a lot of stuff by just doing it (with proper and complete research). Basically I learned from repetition and yes from UA-cam videos. BUT, I wouldn't ever let any work like this ever leave my shop.
Welcome to deregulated capitalism.
Using the wrong gage wire for electric is not 'sub-par' work, it's lethal ignorance or negligence.
I say lethal ignorance, but because you can't live in those vehicles when you turn very old, you've no equity, you're homeless... we could had done the same, but why we didn't ,and instead built our credit with sacrifice & purchased a 250k property? because the property will back us up when we needed the most.. it's ok for camping but as a primary residence isn't even legal if you've children. at least buy a piece of land to leave it permanently when driving isn't an option... but still and all bad idea, and a waste of money... I've seen so many folks lamenting about doing this.... time ⏲ doesn't forgive...
@@albertdominick140 There are millions who don't own a home. I live in a 36ft RV, 2 bedrooms; I love it and the lot rent is lowest a person can rent these days. You're ideas are so narrow minded; I'm thinking you've lived in a bubble most of your life.
It is CRIMINAL negligence.
Negligent homicide if the place caught fire and people died.
More like criminal negligence.
There would be children living on these buses.
Investigative journalism is a beautiful thing! Good job warning the community and helping these folks out!
Agreed. Can you guys cover the money going to Ukraine next, I’m sure they can uncover some bombshells
Ditto!
I worked for one of the said contractors on these busses last year and i can for sure say the owner was a total cheapskate and prevented A LOT of quality work being done.
How is this man not in prison. He's been scamming people for like 3 years now..
I wonder the same thing. I myself went to the sheriffs department twice and spoke with the police. Nothing.
Because he’s white and good at 🤥 lying. Let that would have been a black man doing all of this. He will be in bear county so fast. And all his property And bank accounts will be frozen
It's called "Life in America"!!
@@sierrachoco5271 so sad
If you got money for lawyers you can get out of a lot of crimes.
the ENTIRE point of getting a bus is because its DIY-able and significantly cheaper than an RV/Mobile home
if you're going to spend 75-100k BUY AN RV
They're trying to look like you did it yourself, You know try to get a status that they don't deserve instead of I'm rich and have an RV
They're trying to look like you did it yourself, You know try to get a status that they don't deserve instead of I'm rich and have an RV
theyre are ruining it for us younger people who don't even have 20,000. building a skoolie for 40k used to be a lot now 100k is normal. its a joke, especially thanks to social media making it a fad.
Good point!! Some people just want it built to their dream design. And, let's face it, you can't trust quality of building these days! Unless it's Tiffin, Newmar, etc.
Except RVs are made of wood and aluminum… ever seen one that’s been in a wreck?
School buses are made of steel. Built to protect children.
It was A LOT of hard work and it took a whole year and a half to build my skoolie/Rv. These things are very much a passion project. When you contract out the build you have no idea what's going on. Or what you might get back. I know where every screw, wire, and stud are. Plus it feels good to come home to something you made yourself.
Amen!
Exactly
The whole reason to do a bus conversion is to do it yourself.
If youre not going to do it yourself, just buy a motorhome. Its a smoother ride, better interior, you dont need industrial sized tires, you can have slides which give you a LOT more living space. Its easier to get serviced, a lot of RV parks dont allow buses.
When you pay someone to do a bus conversion for you youre paying more for a lesser quality product.
As an electrician myself I’m offended that he’s not out of business. What a scammer!
If only people did their research before giving them money 🤷♂️
@@RustyZipper how do you plan on doing research on a business like his
Might not be any reviews you can find
@@RustyZipper for that much money absolutely do your research, how long has he been in business, now there are apps or the internet to do a little digging into that type of business,
Ok Karen
@@thatdamncrow9197 literally a google search
It's been challenging since Lonestar Skoolie took our money and destroyed our bus, so I'm very grateful for this story exposing this company.
More power to you and other victims from this terrible management company. I hope you all get total restitution. My brother bought 4 buses and welded them together to make a house. Took years to finish. I know it's a lot of work
So sorry for your loss!!
Don't GIVE them all your money.
I hope this blows up and you and many others receive money and justice you deserve.
Move to a cheaper state god ur stupid
Why the hell would you pay $100,000 to live in a bus?
Take the money and put it for a huge down payment on a real house.
Retardation
"We're not going to leave nobody high and dry..."
This insinuates that they are, indeed, leaving people high and dry
Unbelievable. The owner took on more business than he could handle, hired incompetent contract workers, yet has the audacity to blame disgruntled customers for ruining his business. No, poor business management led to that result.
No, it's not that. He's actually 100% a con artist. I almost brought him my bus, but got tipped off to the problems before it was too late
Agreed
The 9wner is the real victim here. 🤔😂😂
I be ripping off pretentious social media heads too. Hahahaha make a vlog about that, or rather for likes have your kids do it hahhahaha
This is why no matter what business you create, have strict operating procedures and checklist! And if the job is out of the scope of a job contract, create one specifically for it before starting, especially for contract workers who may come and go, and supervise so that the procedures are followed to a T or sound judgment is discussed thoroughly when procedures don’t cover a specific scenario!
The first red flag was when company said ready in 6 to 8 weeks. No way it's getting done in that time frame.
Exactly! Have a couple neighbors converting buses, going on 3rd. Year now. I have several RV's.
Shouldve paid west coast customs
@@johnramirez1097 rite
😂😂😂
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
It's much cheaper and easier to just buy a good condition 30 ft RV. I bought my 2018 35 ft RV in great condition from a New Mexico RV dealer lot for $68,675. I love it. After 7 years of use, everything still works perfectly. Treat her right and your RV will make you and your family happy.
Btw I also saw a converted school bus in the lot in perfect working condition and fully furnished for $65.990 and boy was I tempted to buy it. But I made my choice and I am glad I did.
Agreed. Hearing about an old school bus conversion costing $100K is nuts. I'm sure that doesn't count the price of buying the old school bus either. But they are cheap because school districts dump them after several years of use and abuse. You can buy a nice used 35-38 foot Class A (bus style) for less than 100K and it will look like a palace inside and have slide outs which will double the interior space when your parked. My good friend bought a 2010 36 foot Bounder which is a class A and front engine built on the Ford truck chassis with a Triton V10. It's beautiful and it's like brand new inside. He paid like $65K and that was about 8 years ago.
This converted school bus thing must be trend, kind of like buying a 1960's VW bus and spending $80K restoring it when you can buy a slightly used custom conversion van with all the luxuries of a private jet for a lot less.
This story gets better every 30 seconds!! So you BOUGHT a vehicle and DID NOT PULL A CARFAX ???? This younger generation is LOST
This guy needs to pay each and every person back. He's a scam artist who got caught. It doesn't matter how he gets the money. After he gets done paying restitution he should go to state prison for larceny over 100k. Then he'll know what it's like to get screwed, literally.
It sounds like right now he is robbing Peter to pay Paul
In a perfect world he should go to prison, but he is in America. Well maybe in Europe he will go directly to prison.
His shift eyes are a tell tale sign. I hope he gets sued and sent to prison
"it doesn't matter how he gets the money" So you want him to scam more people in order to pay off the first people he scammed?
@@weirdokiller123126 They’re saying it doesn’t matter how he scams, regardless the guy should be put in prison for scamming people
I could smell the BS from here. This guy is a scammer and a crook. The shoddy and unfinished work means nothing to this weasel. He willfully screwed these people out of their hard earned money. Sue his pants off!
Looks to me like he's building with salvaged materials to boost the bottom line.
Sue? Hell no, old "school". Bats and branch cutters. Ending with an accidental fire at his establishment after you made him call his insurance company and cancel his fire insurance.
You are crazyy 😂😂but I like it 😂🤔
@@wildwest5436 now you’re being worse than the owner, returning evil with evil won’t do any good. Better to seek legal action than revenge because revenge is evil and not good.
@@taylor7772 geez thank you for your preaching...this world has gone rampant due to spineless attitudes such as yours. Think about the hesitation of evil if people knew it might bring upon wrath.
"we won't let anyone go without giving their money back"... Continues to not pay anyone
It's about time this company was getting put in the spotlight
Absolutely true! Delusional folks like this are textbook cases. Like O.J. Simpson enjoying his "limelight" back in the day.
Narcissists want any attention. They dont care whether its love them or hate them. Will spin anything.
Seems like this young lad never had punishment for his actions in his life. Hope justice is served, and he will learn not to be a slimy weasel ever again, being broke as hell.
No he'll just run as a Democrat and all his legal troubles will disappear and he can just call the victims racists.
@@drewjohnson4794 😐
@@drewjohnson4794 yay politics. great...
@@drewjohnson4794 fox news melted your brain
@@drewjohnson4794 heavy tf2
I contacted lone Star and asked if they had qualified electrician, carpenters etc. The response I recieved was outrageous, nothing but attitude, the response was why are you asking that, we never had anyone ask before, lol. If that's not a red flag! The owner than wrote me and apologized for his young staff being unprofessional, lol a ditch effort to save face. I told him I have never come across a company that refused to tell me if they have qualified employees.
He wrote you an actual letter through the mail?
Cap
@@Samuelfish2k no a message
@@TDR-0484 yeah this guy just made up this story for no reason/the meaningless clout tokens of 74 likes on a YT comment. You’re a special kind of special huh?
@@jimstewart5008 you should post the email/DM/message he sent you! curious if it’s low key passive aggressive and rude lol
People need to understand that get rich quick can easily turn into get sued quick.
Rags to riches can smoothly turn back into riches to rags by a word from the judge.
“There’s like no windshield whatsoever…
Was the guy driving like that”
“Yeah and it fell in on him”
I stand by what I said. I just don’t believe he will tell the truth about anything. He continues to lie. I am grateful to Tim and KSAT news for bringing this to light. I hope this is enough warning for people to not fall victim to him.
The way he speaks and looks is dishonest. I bet the news had to say i want to give you nation wide Recognition and he jumped on it. Then the news droped the bomb. He looked so shocked!!
@@rattanack1413 he found out about the news story and reached out to them wanting to be interviewed 😂
That dude is a con artist
He thought that he was going to get an increase in business when the news came out to broadcast how they operate. Long behold, it was to expose how corrupt his business is. Then, he pretended as if he couldn’t hear 😂
@@LegendaryRod what did you think of the news story? Did you know he goes by other business names too?
it honestly seems like a pretty profitable business venture, but the way these people went about it was so scummy. i mean, people are giving you upwards of 75-100k, you would probably profit half, or a bit under half of that with all the materials, and labor, which could all be relatively done pretty quickly. really sad to see.
Which if funny because….the only reason people are buying old buses, trucks, trailers, and vans is because RVs are MUCH pricier.
Fabricating your own from an already existing vehicle/trailer is much cheaper.
At least, it’s SUPPOSED to be.
Think of a decent used one for that and you would already be using it.. 100k is a decent unit..
@@Peter-td3yk people will bandwagon anything without considering WHY.
I mean, I always wanted to turn a van into something cool. Didn’t want to pay somebody to do all that for me. Just wanted a permanent bed frame to sleep on with enough storage for the most part.
But yeah, people are stupid. I guess it’s okay though, because they clearly had the money to pay somebody to fabricate an old school bus when a decent pop-up camper would’ve been BETTER and CHEAPER
75-100k bro this stuff is hilarious. you could literally get a top of the line RV custom made for 75-100k these projects normally cost around 10-20k the moment they saw the price of 75k they shoulda just turned away and said F it.
Samething I see in my busines. You can make a few thousand easy, profit, in a 4-6 hour work day and tons of contractors still will skimp on using proper materials to save like... $100 or 1% and/or just do poor workmanship to get out of there in 3 or 4 hours. It just blows my mind. Like, we've got a solid gig, why you got to go about it like that?
This dude is doing the quality of work I do for my extreme budget conversion vans out of dunpster-dove materials. The only difference is I only plan on subjecting myself to my shoddy work, not try to pass it off as a project worth tens of thousands of dollars.
BATHROOM RECAULKING WARNING
If you buy any mobile home, the first thing you should do is recaulk all the seals on your bathtubs and showers where the tub part meets the splash guard all. Why? Because on the journey all those seals got cracked and split from the bumping twisting and turning. It was the one thing the fly by night guy we bought a mobile home from didn't tell us (because he was just out to make a quick buck) and within months all our bathroom pressboard floors had rotted otu from leaks from this failed caulking.
A couple of tubes of caulk will cost you less than $20 if you already have a pull trigger calk gun (also not expensive). its the one and only tip I really need to tell you about buying a mobile home.
We had no idea where the leaks were coming from at first... was it a pipe connection under the sink... behind the tub...? Rain coming in through the roof and down the walls. I literally took apart everything trying to figure that one out.
I would also advise putting a piece of tin or soemthing over the pressboard under the carpet on the inside before all the outside doors... over time people dragging in their wet shoes or just rain coming in a left open door will rot out the pressboard right in front of the outside doors.. but everyone should already know about this problem as it's pretty common. You can cut out the ruined pressboard and replace it with the same thickness plyboard cut to fit.
Honestly though, people who used to live in conversions built them themselves. If you're going to be driving all over the US, you need to know how to work on your own conversion at any given moment. Now with social media, people see these ideas on pinterest and decide they want to live that way not knowing the difference between a nail and a screw. Every conversion is unique and the person that built it is the only one who can work on it.
@@BigReggie yeah man. That is what campers are for, for people who didn't spend a lifetime in construction or under the hood of a car. There's only ONE owner's manual to your 5th wheel, and it's in your head. lol
Unfortunately, most people do not know how to actually do the work and expect to be able to get a decent person to make it for them.
@@roberthicks5454 That's what campers and rvs are for. Conversions are unique to the original creator. Say you drive 2000 miles and something breaks, that means you're 2000 miles away from the guy who can fix it without tearing it back down to frame to see how it works.
As long as they know the basics, that’s ok. The builder should go over everything anyway so they know.
@@ThereBeGoldInThemTharHills Campers and rvs are made for camping and short term use. They are not made to withstand years of inhabitants. Also people like the ability to customize their space and make it what they want. A factory built, will never offer that. I'm a girl who is very alternative, no I want full control over the flow and look of a space from color and materials to appliances, décor, and multi-purpose furniture. Would I build myself? No. However, I can hire someone who has the tools and the know-how to help me build it and understand how to fix things when things go wrong. Also, being there to document it will easily solve that problem.
It really sucks that they got scammed. The whole vanlife and living on the road isn't as glamorous as social media makes out to be. Better renting an RV when you need it.
@Bruce Cole Why would they care about resale value????
@Bruce Cole Its not about resale, which it would actually have if it was fully done correctly. People that do this to their bus do not expect to get lots of money back from it they want to live in it.
@@sekou3758 Why wouldn t they? is the least they can do.
I got to agree with you Will.. my wife and I are 3 1/2 years into a nomadic life in a van. We’re happy with it and we have a good handle on what we are doing, and my work makes the lifestyle work, however we would recommend it only for about 1% of the people who actually think it’s a great idea. A lot of people get hopped up on Instagram and UA-cam and think it’s all rainbows and roses, when there is a lot of discomfort and uncertainty that can be in the life.
@@giovannisocci8793 When you’re doing custom work like this you can’t expect to have good resale value…..
Once you made your tiny home, you’ll be thankful with less bills to pay. And sorry for this couple, sad that their dreams got wrecked. Hopefully they get to do it eventually, they seem like nice people :(
STILL can’t believe how GUIDABLE people really are !!!!! WAKE UP PEOPLE !!! If someone gets SCAMMED and did NOT do DUE DILIGENCE in finding out about your contractor …..
I'm with the legal system on this one. If you don't have the proper certification, this can be a potential fire hazard, and this here really violates the etiquette of engineering.
I'm lost for words why someone can just run their own business and have no idea on how someone can just slap on electric wires where their is water! And I quit studying engineering, it's common sense that water and electricity doesn't mix!
@@GameRunnerd, it very much matters. His partial knowledge is correct here.
@@GameRunnerd I haven't dropped out of school completely, I changed majors. Even so, safety and etiquette is essential and should be common knowledge.
Despite that even if I changed from electronics to music business and business management
@@GameRunnerd so you agree that a scumbag like him can make a business? What if someone's mobile home suddenly catches fire and that same problem happen to seven to eight of his consumers.
That could legally not just get him sued, but can possibly get him into a jail sentence involving the death upon several of his consumers, and knowing full well that his incompetence is responsible for those possible few fatalities.
well it's because those who afforded the service *DON'T* know what to do and are probably just going with the trend.
they are a very easy victims for crooks and con artist.
if that's your house and probably your ONLY shelter, YOU should probably know the ins and outs of it. (because worst case scenario, you can't ask for help with the same person everytime your car broke esp if your vehicle is thousand miles away from that said mechanic)
you have 100k, you can probably afford a phone capable of YTs and stuff for DIY, afford some portable materials (which can be reused later on)
if you lack mechanical/technical skills (or are just lazy and only want the finished product) which makes it an excuse not to get your hands on that.
AND THEN you try to find, but please do RESEARCH.
Why isn’t this POS behind bars?????
If he says that he’s not responsible for that contractors work then he’s not genuine in owning up to his mistakes!!!! The guy worked for YOU SO HES AN EXTENSION OF YOU AND YOUR COMPANY!!!!!
Exactly. Everything we subbed out, was understood, it would be inspected 1/3, 2/3 and upon completion. If it was not up to our standards, we would fix it at THEIR EXPENSE. 19 years in business never had a complaint. Contractors and Banks loved us.
There's no doubt after the first bus he would've known this crap where company owners are claiming a employee is the reason for their issues truly confuses me I've never known that to be the case
He took the money. He is responsible. Jail time and a few good beatings will show him the error of his ways.
He's responsible for every contractor that he engages.
Never trust people who have to contract out work. If you own a business you should have what you need who you need on site plain and simple. Can't do that then you shouldn't be doing it.
Why hasn't the BBB or State Attorney General ? Lock the guy up
Never buy an old school bus, or an old transit bus. They are completely worn out by the time they are auctioned off. They are a money pit.
That guy looks and sounds like a snake oil salesman.
This is why my Skoolie is a minimal build; I did almost all the work by myself as an old lady. Looks like an antique gypsy caravan inside, but it's safe, doesn't leak, and I don't owe anyone a dime. I feel so badly for these folks, and sad that a company would throw Skoolies into a bad light. It's a viable option for many who couldn't afford a home of their own otherwise.
Right on! Safe travels to you!
I completely agree! I bought a used van and did the conversion myself! When something stops working I know how to diagnose the problem and fix it myself. I know for a fact that my wires are correct and that everything is as it should be. Is it perfect? Does it look like a modern apartment? Nope. But it works and it’s safe and beautiful to me
@Tee King --- That's really remarkable. I know two 'old ladies' (70+ years) who would be able to do something like this; which I know since I've advised and physically helped them (specifically since I have an extended range of diverse and specialised tools) with quite a few of their projects over the years. Being autistic and having become obsessively interested (over the past sixty years) in quite a lot of things once my father had started working on getting my obsessive attention away from music and electricity and mathematics and chess exclusively, my autistic brain constantly comes up with the weirdest 'knowledge' and ideas; which both of them drew upon rather deeply. You should have documented your progress and put it on youtube. You can still make a video of your finished project and show it to us - rather detailed, if you will - and tell us how you did everything. I'd really be quite interested. 'Old ladies' doing this sort of thing, can certainly not be something which is in oversupply. Additionally - since you're probably not the sort of person with round hands (our local expression, at least, for people who are technically challenged) or having the propensity of sitting on them, future projects (such as equipping your bus with solar electricity and an extensive reservoir for water in the roof, say, and a solar system for heating it) would be as interesting to see a video of. You probably have at least one teenage grandson (or teenage tomboy granddaughter) who'd enjoy helping his or her grandmother with the video project. UA-cam is rife with advice on making video's.
@@janverlorenvantemaat4835 just go to her channel. She has a 7 minute video tour of her bus/home. It quite nice!
Do you have any tips as to where to start :/
I can't believe that anyone with half a brain would spend $75,000.00 on any school bus conversion. You can buy a top tier motor home for much less and have the piece of mind knowing it was built by professionals and is safe. School buses are not designed to be used as motor homes. Everything about them are designed to be used as a school bus. But some people have more money than common sense.
A top-tier motorhome of that size is going to cost you well over $75k, unless you’re getting an old one with an unknown maintenance record and the potential of a whole heap of costly problems.
I have been in the general construction business for most of my life, I was a welder fabricator, painter on custom cars and motorcycles.. I know exactly what it takes to put an electrified, conditioned, plumbed house, on a Bus chassis....BUT, I have not tackled a Bus conversion because there are some things Im just not comfortable doing.
Just so everyone understands! These victims will literally have to pay someone simply to rip EVERYTHING out just to verify no fire hazards are hidden before the second build can start!
I was going to say that , have to strip it down to bare
From the videos I've seen they don't really have to rip anything but more just push them aside because it's likely not secured that well.
It's called a "botched job" and yes it has to be redone. Nothing they did can be used. Everything basically has to go in the trash. Nothing's cut right. It's just a big mess.. The buses are probably trash now too. Because they ain't even worth putting that money into the 1st time. There will be no 2nd time. Bet on that one.
are they gonna sue the og company who did it bad?
On the plus side, demo is actually easier than construction. They could totally take it out themselves rather than pay if they have the time
Unhappy customers don't destroy businesses, shady owners with poor business practices and downright criminal services destroy their own businesses. I wish all who have been scammed by Ben Potts the best in their lawsuits and other civil actions.
I hope every customer Sue's this clown!
There should be criminal charges filed!
So glad we did most of our own Skoolie conversion 🥺 This story is heartbreaking
Due to the large amount I don't know why he wasn't filed on in civil court
He has civil suits pending. Do you think he has over a million in the bank to pay us all back???
Only takes one. But he can close business & not pay anyone.
@@jaybee5832 What about criminal Court?
What about Judge Judy?
So if enough people file law suits against him, could the mounting judgements drive his company into bankruptcy?
This is really sad... I saw someone comment stating "using the wrong gauge wire is not sub-par work, its lethal ignorance or negligence" yeah I happen to be an attorney and I absolutely agree. That is HUGE and I don't think people are giving enough look at this specific example of electrical work. The gross negligence marketed as professional work is absolute blasphemy.
It's not even that hard to pull up a chart of what gauge wire you use for what amperage. Literally charts on the stuff man. Don't play with electrical if you can't abide by the rules, it's the only thing hooked up to every home that can directly lead to death.
Blaspheme is when you SPEAK AGAINST the WORD OF GOD!!! for you all worldly people it's just negligence...
Not only are you wrong, you are a liar.
@@Look_What_You_Did okay kiddo whatever you say.
You know you can by a brand new one from a factory for the same price, and they're actually really nice inside.
Oh nice happy and satisfied customers nice knowing his family and close friends
When you hire a company to build something,repair, or any contracted job you don't pay in advance. That's the real issue here. Why would anyone think that's ok.
Exactly. People who are very unaware unfortunately get got. You know there’s shady contractors everywhere that prey on the weak.
Sad but true.
It's the same as people who deposit money to strangers' accounts on Facebook and wait for their goods to arrive, only to not get them then be blocked by the seller. Cash on pickup is the only way to go. Same with a bus conversion. Let them do the work and when it's done, call the owner and they'll go pay for it and take it away. If it's not done, or not done properly, no pay.
It's not true, customer should have to pay something down, you just need to make sure you're working with a reputable company
@@jdbjoshua i have never payed any kind of contractors anything in advance. I can understand a down payment on a vehicle or a house,but the amount these people are paying is ridiculous.
“In no way would we… that’s stealing”, great! you’ve paid back one person of dozens you’ve completely scammed and you just admitted stealing is exactly what you’re doing!
Most bus conversions I've seen are ripped offs they spend less than 10 grand and sell it for over 30. My friends paid 40 grand for a bus worth 10 at the most.
75K ? we have friends that bought a 71 passenger bus to convert for 8k and then spent about another 20 k on materials and 20k on labor. The bus looks professionally done, they did a lot of things themselves but hired contractors for the woodwork, plumbing, electrical and exterior paint. All of the people they hired did the work as a side job and would work on the bus mainly on the weekends so it took them about 5 years from start to finish. They are both retired and sold their home and have been living full time in the bus for 3 years driving from the west coast to the east coast spending time near their grandkids and just seeing the U.S. If I was going to spend 75-100k I would just buy a mainstream motorhome.
Really wish I could get a story like this done on my boat that I took to a place in Florida. Took it there in January, finally left in April because they were destroying my boat and not getting any of the work done right. From cushions being several inches short, to spending 4 months installing a deck wash pump that's a few hour DIY project, to backfeeding my solar panels, destroying my bathrooms, damaging the fiberglass, USA Yacht tech at the Catamaran Boatyard in Key Largo was just a freaking nightmare experience.
ive watched a story about boat owners getting scammed in fl. Might be the same guy
Burn their lawn
they were busy joyriding your boat. smh
Yachts look like floating trailers inside
😂🤣🤣
Tell Batman about it.. maybe.. make it some kind of word game..?
Who builds a skoolie in a suit? This has "used car salesman" written all over it! Questions to ask: Where are the project managment plans for each skoolie? Where is the expense tracking for each project?
Con men dress well to help inspire confidence in their schemes.
I thought that, too.
You don't need any of that stuff when you have morons throwing their money at you.
@@stuwest5862 ahh you again! Being a dick head still I see. Taking up for your boyfriend
Like Elizabeth Holmes. A front woman with a big idea expecting others to make it work all the while taking money for the entire project and producing nothing. Same BS.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, everything else is all jacked up!
This is truly sad . I hope these victims get their money back .
Why would you spend $100k to convert a school bus into a mobile Home when you can buy a used RV in good shape that once sold for about $250k for about $100k.
RVs depreciate quick, are cheaply made so will break down quicker and aren't as easily for customization to your liking. School Buses are also safer since their bodies are pure steel and not fiberglass. It also has an initial, cheaper entry cost for the vehicle itself.
I agree , RVs you can find at a great deal on Craig’s and offer up .. I found my 30 ft for $800 !! And have had over ten people try to buy it from me
"without being refunded back or helped or spoken to directly"
I love how these get less and less helpful as his list goes on lol
Why would you spend 100K on a bus conversion when you can literally buy a really nice 2020s 35 to 40 foot motorhome for just over half that, and then buy you a nice new economy car to tow behind it and boom there you go
How can he not be charged with a crime?
Honestly thats what they get for jumping on the bus conversion trend. The whole POINT is to do it yourself - Cheap. Not to pay someone close to a 100 grand so you can be trendy. Rich people always have to ruin it for everyone LOL
Does this recording count as evidence of him saying he’s going to refund me my 29k and the 6k for my bus he stole and sold to someone else?
Hi Ben, hope your head feels hot.
YES, keep it as evidence. Then present to your attorney. ❤️❤️❤️ I'm praying for all of you. WOW JUST WOW.
just emailed the court and I can have the judge play it
Exceptional ❤️❤️❤️
Lol yes. My first thought is that he admitted to paying everything back and made huge promises, and this will absolutely used against him.
Should be! This business is sorry.... hope you get your money back!💯👍♥️
Old school busses can make good additional storage space or extra bed rooms
This video is scarier then most horror movies if you know anything about electricity
I cant imagine how people get away with this multiple times. The guilt would be heavy.
They aren’t people, they’re literal demons on Earth here to harm others.
They don't feel any Guilt because they don't have any CHARACTER and Lack Morals ‼️🤷
@@fatonyalmitchell3281 idk, i think they do the scam for lack of morals, but inside they have to know its wrong. They dont do the right thing but surely they know what the right thing is. I guess there is people who dont care about the guilt but its hard to imagine. Not hard to imagine scamming but the part about not letting it bother you.
@@andrewut7ya511 I definitely understand your gripe ‼️I have a special needs son and im trying to do something similar to This for vacation ETC but Yess definitely piss me off ‼️ and I have fought several people about mis treating people ugh 😩 I can't stand it ‼️ However hopefully when you know better u do better ‼️.... 😊
I would feel zedo guilt ripping a moron willing to pay $100k for a school bus build.
"We gave him $75,000". Just buy a damn RV for half of that
My father built a camper out of an old school bus. Had a bunk bed, a bed over the driver's seat and a master bed that was in the middle off to the side- either a sofa during the day or a table. The table itself was a McDonalds table and bench chairs. Bus had a toilet and even a shower, stove, etc. Nothing "fancy", but completely livable.
Can not remember if there was an oven or not, but I wouldn't doubt it. This was back in the early 80's. The only thing for sure it didn't have... power steering. You got man arms trying to parallel park that baby.
At least they still have their home....
Be grateful... My family's home was stolen with everything we owned in it.. We have to start over and hopefully we get approved for 10 areas land to start a homestead off grid... it's not easy But we are so grateful to be alive and stay be together!!.... BLESSED BE
Man that guy just gives off some slick snake oil saleman vibes, "Try my snake oil it cures all has vitamins minerals mercury and red flannel" - 1mil ways to die in the west (paraphrased)
As a skoolie owner I am sorry to hear this has befallen other skoolie folks, I hope you get something back but I won't suggest you hold your breath.
Glad I did not involve others in my build.
Please spread the word so others don’t go through the same thing. Such “business” should be sued and never allowed back again.
This bus is the equivalent of Joe Bidens build back better.
@@mrbojangles9841 still a level above Donny's hotel and casinos
🍦
"not gonna leave nobody high and dry". Wow... Now there's a slip of the tongue that is very telling.
He didn't run away. He is still there. He still answers the phone. Looks like he is not a thief, just a bad manager.
This owner should face 25 years in prison for causing close to 2 Million dollars damage.
This kinda stuff happens way to much in San Antonio and that guy is a hell of a tap dancer lol
Yes! I noticed the tap dancing shoes he was sporting 🤣
It’s time they’re held accountable for their actions
That's the most forces full "got to keep smiling so they don't see through my lies" face I have ever seen
4:14: Any business that blames its shoddy work on another party is an immediate red flag because the very idea is for a business to have control over its choice of contractors. In addition, the idea of someone having a business is that they will be their own everything --- not contract the work out to a bunch of multiple parties.
I wouldn't agree with your last statement. Not every business has to be 100% vertically integrated. However, depending on your written agreements with a third party to procure material and services, that third party may be held liable for contractually negligent work. The principal contractor-- the "schoolie renovation" business in this case-- has the duty to ensure their contracts appropriately manage liabilities. If the business owner weren't a complete fraud-- which, he is-- his contracts with these blamed third parties would have his wronged customers made whole, unless he decided to bear the risk of those contractors himself.
@@twally87 Well, yes, I can see that the control issue of businesses is somewhat subjective and gray. But it's still a valid question to bring up in a situation like this.
@@MyNathanking the control issue of THIS particular business appears subjective and gray. But the point I made in my above comment is that in a good business that practices legitimately, there is NO subjectivity or gray area about who is responsible for mistakes and negligent work. However, in a just society, the customer is never responsible for it.
This actually happened to us…
I am a 61 year old United States Veteran, and I lost my house…
So I bought an older motor home…
My disabled wife, and I had planned to live in it…
Washington State, decided that recreational vehicle parks, were not like mobile home parks, despite being primarily monthly tenancies, they decided to classify their residences as being transient, stripping them of rights, and they no longer have residences, or even protections, under Washington State laws…
And, they are being pushed out of their long term tenancies, and into homelessness…
This is not the same
@@Unkn0wnv1rus no, but it is related to the idea of people being in these older vehicles…
How did you not see the connection, or even the caution, being expressed?
Washington State has homestead law. You can homestead your RV/Truck, but you need to contact the county you are homesteading your RV/Boat/Truck in. Recent lawsuit said they cannot tow/forcibly sell these items as they are a home
Anyone who chooses to live in a state like California, New York, or Washington, can't be surprised when something like this happens: you were happy to pay taxes to support a regime like that as long as you weren't on the receiving end, don't complain now that you are!
@@wilfdarr A lot of us are voting against that garbage.
There's a reason Washington is as close to free as it is. All the farmers, hunters and outdoors people are doing their best to minimize that garbage.
Rather than pushing good people to move out, it would be better for a lot of good people to move in and steer things in the right direction.
Cali is a lost cause though lol
They should have spent that $100k on a nice new RV. I bet they will never do that again 😂😂😂
Easy to tell you’ve never priced out new RVs. $100k will only get you a small, entry level class C, nothing close to a similar size
Wow no accountability, he claims the customers (who were robbed) destroyed his business. WHAT ? His inferior unchecked unskilled employee(s) destroyed his business.
Imagine paying 100k for a school bus conversion instead of a luxury rv. 😅
Yes. It's kinda hard to feel sorry for thoses peoples.
Right? I was so confused why anyone would do that. Rvs go for about the same price...
He’s a complete con artist TX needs to shut him down…
Up here, flood vehicles can never be registered again. Flood/fire = parts only
This is absurd. Why would someone pay $100,000 for a bus conversion? There's plenty of RVs on the market.
Being trendy cost you you're dreams. Buy a truck that can pull a travel trailer you might spend 75K$.
It will be all brand new and under warranty.
Thank you so much for sharing our stories and helping bring awareness to the dangerous and deceitful practices of Lone Star Skoolie and Benjamin Potts Rodriguez. Hopefully he won’t be able to victimize anyone else after this.
Why live in car?
@@z.2 what’s wrong with you
@@z.2 well, a bus is basically a big ol’ car, so, that is what we were trying to do. Once we finish gutting the abomination LSS made of our bus and rebuilding her I’ll let you know how it goes 😉
@@vaughnfluff3344 isn't buying a rv cheaper
@@z.2 What a ridiculous comment
$100k would’ve bought a perfectly fine production RV. Lame.
This is probably why most people with these types of homes seem to make them themselves.
Your customers "destroyed" your name?? No, YOU destroyed your own name.
This happens ALL OF THE TIME in the RV business. It’s a shame really, thanks for helping these people KSATnews.
This happens all of the time in any business. From career politicians, people who run fortune 500 companies on down to the guy at "Car Clinic" who swears you need a new head gasket.
Who can we trust?
That is exactly why i quit my job at an RV business they screwed so many people its sick from constant leaks to nothing fitting right and sometimes faulty wiring.. not to mention just ghosting good clients.
Seeing this kills me, Im a trucker and would love to Retire remodeling busses, doing condo conversions of all kinds...ID break even or come out of pocket to make it more than right just to see the smile on Families Faces and most of all the word of mouth on my integrity......I hope those Families got some of their money back at the least..
You should spend that money on a TINY HOME not a glorified homeless drug van.
Damn, a man in a nice suit just scammed the hell out of these couples. That man has no experience or expertise in the department of renovating a bus. Just listen to him talk… he doesn’t have a clue or care. This man needs to be jailed.
4:50: NO! NO! NO! By admitting that he took on more work than he could handle he is admitting that he didn't know what he was doing right from the start. Don't trust this horrible man to fix anything.
I've seen startups do the same thing in the software development field. They run low on money, so they approach new investors with the promise of new features and use that money to pay for the features they're behind on. Of course they then run out of money to implement the new investor's features so they promise newer features to find new investors, rinse and repeat...
He didn't "take too many customers", he ran out of money or went over budget on previous commissions so he accepted new commissions for more funding, falling further behind to where every possible corner needed to be cut and every shady shortcut taken.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
I hope you all get justice and reimbursed.
Let’s be honest, your mobile home dreams were ruined when you bought a school bus fix for 75k, you could buy an awesome RV for that price. No amount of conversion will make a school bus worth 75k
I'd also make sure that those 'happy and satisfied customers' are encouraged to get their busses inspected by someone in the know so they don't die from electrical fires or worse.
Disregarding the weird idea of living on the road like a van-hobo, What dingus gives someone 75k without knowing any of their previous work? Simple case of a bad choice.
Bruh I’m suprised this guy showed his face for an interview it’s pretty clear he is just a criminal, not caught by police yet