DONT HIRE FRIENDS OR FAMILY'S FRIENDS

In my teens I got equated with some people that I genuinely thought were good people. After a long while of moving abroad and back we lost contact. Eventually I moved back to PE and bumped into them. I had previously been ripped off from a builder from a family member's relative that agreed to do change my garage into a granny flat. Because he was from a family referal,i didnt expect to be ripped off, but I was. On telling my long lost friends what had happened and they were in the trade, I decided to hire them. They were going to renovate and add extentions to the granny flat. I paid them a R70 000.00 deposit on 22 March 2017, and by September when they hadnt done anything, I asked for the return on my deposit. They refused to give it back and now I am legally pursuing the matter because it is likely they had spent my deposit on a new venture they opened or used as calateral.They are called Coastal Projects and claim to work as Partners. The electrician is Vernon and apparently is the owner of coastal projects and the builder is Riaan Botha. Its been 8 months now, I have been asking for my money back from 4 months back already. They have completely messed around my year.So much so, that I dropped out of my studies to focus on this dilemma. My plan was to have my flat finished by june to rent out. I am in the strong view that they used my money as a deposit or calateral to purchase the bar The Thirsty Turtle. So, my advise, would not to do business with such thieves.