Welcome to Verde Valley Source, the new best news page for our region. Today we are exposing a systemic operation by a local business called Luxe Services which is operated by Jonah E. and Max Johnson. What started as a simple dispute over an unfinished yard project has uncovered a massive web of deceptive business practices targeting homeowners across the Verde Valley.
I experienced this firsthand when I hired them for local yard maintenance. After taking a $770 payment they abandoned the job with only a fraction of the work completed. When confronted with the evidence and asked to either finish the work or provide a refund they became combative and outright refused to take accountability.
Our investigation shows this is not an isolated incident. Luxe Services relies on a calculated model of deception to lure in new victims. They aggressively solicit positive recommendations by offering illegal discounts to customers in direct exchange for five star reviews. This artificially inflates their ratings and directly violates Federal Trade Commission guidelines regarding commercial endorsements so they can bury the complaints from the people they actually ripped off.
When victims try to warn the community on neighborhood apps like Nextdoor the operators of Luxe Services deploy a targeted retaliation campaign. Max Johnson operates duplicate accounts in the exact same neighborhood to mass report anyone who speaks out. They weaponize the automated moderation systems to get whistleblowers suspended so the community warnings disappear and the scam can continue in the shadows.
If you live in Cottonwood or Clarkdale or anywhere in the Verde Valley you need to protect yourself. Never hand over cash upfront to unverified contractors and make sure you get every detail in a binding written contract. Verde Valley Source is committed to holding bad actors accountable, so if you have been scammed or intimidated by Luxe Services please send us your receipts and share your story below.