The owners of a Carrollton coffee shop say they were conned out of roughly $168,000 after the company they had agreed to franchise with failed to develop their store as outlined in a written agreement. And they believe they’ll never get the money back.

Ricky and Alicia Benefield, owners of Benefield Coffee Co. in the Westover Square shopping center on Maple Street, originally signed a franchise agreement with Cuppy’s Coffee, Smoothies and More in February of 2007. According to that agreement, the Benefields would pay franchise fees to Cuppy’s and, in return, the company would pay to remodel their store and install all of the necessary equipment. appliances, furniture, even artwork.

Cuppy’s would do all the necessary remodeling and development of the store leading up to the grand opening, and once the work was complete, all the Benefields would have to do was open their doors and start making coffee, according to the Benefields.

But it didn’t work out like that.

As part of the franchising agreement, the Benefields received pre-approval for a U.S. Small Business Administration loan totaling roughly $250,000. Of that, they paid slightly less than $168,000 to Cuppy’s for the build-out work. When it came time for the work to start though, there was a problem.

“They said they were so busy they couldn’t get to us,” said Alicia Benefield. “They kept saying next week, next week, but it’s like next week never came.”

Being a handyman, Ricky Benefield decided he would turn the delays in the build-out process into an opportunity to save money on startup costs. He dipped into the remainder of the SBA loan and began preliminary work on the store under the premise that he would be reimbursed by Cuppy’s for any work he completed which the company had originally signed on to perform.

Throughout the first half of 2008, Benefield would work on a section of the store, finish it and then contact Cuppy’s. He said the company told him time and again it was bogged down with other franchisees and simply could not complete the work, at the same time encouraging him to personally do as much work as he could. They assured him it would be worth it, he said.

Through the summer of 2008 and into the fall of that year, Ricky Benefield worked to put the finishing touches on the store, having completed the entire build-out independent of Cuppy’s. By that point, the Benefields said, not only had the company failed to hold up its end of the franchising agreement but it failed to return a dime of the money the Benefields paid for the build-out, and they were given no explanation.

In spring of 2008, Cuppy’s changed management, with Dale Nabors taking over as chief executive officer, succeeding Robert Morgan, and shortly thereafter, the company relocated its headquarters from Fort Walton Beach, Fla. to Muscle Shoals, Ala. After the move, the Benefields say nearly all communication with the company ceased. Phone calls were not returned, and after awhile the phone number listed for Cuppy’s was disconnected and its Web site taken down.

In October, the couple filed a complaint with the Small Business Administration, but according to Alicia Benefield, they were told these types of investigations could take years, if they were ever resolved at all. Since last November’s grand opening, the Benefields continued efforts to find a lawyer to file a class-action lawsuit with some of the other roughly 80 franchisees who paid for build-outs that were never performed, to no avail.

“We were told we needed more than a lawyer,” Alicia Benefield said. “This is bigger than that.”

Based on the franchisees who say Cuppy’s failed to perform contractual build-outs, Alicia Benefield said, the company has collected more than $30 million for work that’s not been performed.

Efforts to organize a class-action suit have yet to materialize, though, she said, for the sole reason that it’s been an uphill climb finding an attorney with the know-how and the gumption to take on such a high-profile case. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. The statute of limitations is limited to two years, meaning the Benefields have less than a year to begin litigation or risk never seeing any of the money they originally paid the company.

They don’t expect any compensation for what’s been taken from them.

“I have no feeling we’re ever going to get any of that money,” Ricky Benefield said.

“That money is gone. That money is gone,” Alicia Benefield said.

On March 31, Nabors was arrested by the Colbert County, Ala., Sheriff’s Department on felony charges for writing bad checks. Nabors had a warrant out for his arrest in Okaloosa County, Fla., that stemmed from two bad checks he allegedly wrote in early 2008.

Before his first hearing on the charges, the Benefields said they confronted Nabors on the courtroom steps, demanding to know what had been done with their money. They said that Nabors replied only that the money was gone

With no more answers than when they had made the trip to Alabama, the Benefields returned home, though they hadn’t given up. Alicia Benefield said in the last month and a half she’s been in constant contact with a number of lawyers she met through the franchising information Web site bluemaumau.com. Those attorneys are in the process of reviewing their case before deciding how to proceed.

Although Benefield Coffee Co. is doing well after seven months in business — it’s now independently owned and operated — the trouble and the sleepless nights have taken a toll. The money used to complete the build-out had originally been planned to be used as a rainy day fund. But it’s not about the money anymore.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to send [Nabors] to jail,” Alicia Benefield said. “It’s that important.”