Sub-contractors and officials with the Central California Better Business Bureau all told Action News the owners of Abbey Flooring and Design Center packed up much of their merchandise and office equipment without a word to anyone about why.
Sandra Meachum. a single mom, just trying to remodel her master bedroom and bathroom is now left with a construction mess. Her walls are open to the outside elements. There are holes in her floors and exposed wires.
"Frankly, I was just absolutely sick to my stomach," she said. "I just couldn't believe that so much of my money I had saved is here... It's without a contractor, without a finishing date."
Meachum said she paid that money to Glennyce and Gary Cropper, owners of Abbey Flooring and Design Center.
"These people have walked away with, not only my money, but I found out they didn't pay their sub-contractors," Meachum said.
Several of those sub-contractors outside the store front said they're each out about $12,000 to $15,000.
"I'm a very small company and I rely on that income to support my family and to keep the business going," an unidentified contractor said.
The Central California BBB said Abbey's doors were locked up earlier in the week. When a BBB employee confronted Glennyce Cropper they say she only had a few words for him. "They have closed the business and the corporation is dissolving," said BBB President Blair Looney. He told Action News the Croppers are long-time prominent business owners here in the Valley. Looney said until now their current store had a clean record.
"We have no history of complaints with them," he said. "Nothing to indicate that there was a problem from a customer stand point."
That means nothing to Sandra Meachum. "There's no more money. I just have to resave money and try to move forward," Looney said.
We reached out to the Croppers by phone and went to their listed address in northwest Fresno, but we could not get ahold of them.
Action News uncovered public records showing the couple filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on their old business in Clovis in 2001.
It appears they opened the Abbey's Flooring store in 2008. The BBB said anyone who may be out money or left with unfinished business should contact them.
