Alex Sousa (or Alexis Sousa) is possibly the biggest con artist in Manitoba... My wife and I found his name on the internet and hired him to redo the floors in our house. He was very personable at first and offered some good (but not great) advice. We picked out all the flooring and had it scheduled for him to start the following Monday.
About a day before he was scheduled to begin the job, he called me up and told me he needed full payment (even though we already gave him a deposit of 25%). When I asked him why he said that his crew was already booked on another job and that it would be easier to get them over to my house first if I was a "cash customer".
Even though I know I shouldn't have (hindsight is 20/20), I met up with him and gave him a cheque made out to his company "Free Style Floors". He told me he needed the cheque made to his name not the company so I changed it.
Monday rolled around and my wife took the day off work to stay home and be there when the crew arrived. With each hour that passed she grew impatient and pretty soon I was asked to give Alex a call.
For the remainder of the day all I got was excuses "a car broke down, a guy is sick, etc.."
By 6pm that day he promised if his crew didn't show up the next day he would personally be there.
No one showed.
The next day I called my bank and asked them to recall the cheque. They said they couldn't because he already cashed it so I asked him to either get down and fix my floors or return the money. He said he would be there the following day.
Again, he never showed.
A week passed by and I tried calling him again. He didn't answer the phone. It just kept going to voicemail and he never called me back.
I also at this point realized I didn't even have an address for him.
I called Winnipeg Police but was told it was a civil matter. I then called my attorney but we've never been successful in contacting him. He's no longer at the address my attorney found and while his phone is still in service and he continues to advertise, I can't reach him.
Even when I called from another number the second he heard my voice he just hung up.
Stay away from alex sousa and free style floors!
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