Contractor accused of ripping off clients

"In January we asked him to renovate the pool. He only came to remove the old paint and applied a new coat of paint in February, but disappeared shortly thereafter. We paid him all his money in January already and he used every excuse in the book not to complete the job."

April 10, 2017

Zianne Leibrandt 2 minutes read

Renovations to the swimming pool have come to a standstill.

NEWCASTLE – Employing a reliable contractor might not always be as simple as it seems.

Theresa van der Merwe and her father hired a contractor to repair and renovate their swimming pool.

“In January we asked him to renovate the pool. He only came to remove the old paint and applied a new coat of paint in February, but disappeared shortly thereafter. We paid him all his money in January already and he used every excuse in the book not to complete the job.”

He allegedly blamed the rainy weather for not completing the work. Ms van der Merwe claimed the paint had started peeling off within a week. After phoning the contractor several times to ask when he would complete the job, he simply just never pitched up again.

“I do not believe what he has done was right. We paid him all his money and he just hasn’t done a thing. After my experience, I have heard from many other people he had done them in too. Is this what he does? Takes money from old people and disappears?”

Despite several attempts to have her money refunded, the contractor allegedly refused to do so. She also had to appoint another contractor to complete the work, which cost her even more money.

The contractor admitted he had taken his time to start the renovations because of inclement weather.

He claimed he had forewarned Ms van der Merwe he would not be able to fix the pool if it started to rain, because water would damage the coat of paint. He alleged she had pressurised him to start the job nevertheless.

“I advised her rain would cause more damage to her pool, and I did not want to start the job until the weather and rain had completely cleared,” he emphasised.

After he had applied the coat of paint, it started to rain incessantly, preventing him from working on the pool. During the same time, he had to attend to urgent roof leaks experienced by other residents after heavy downpours.

“I was planning on continuing with the pool as soon as all the water from the rain had dried up. You cannot paint a swimming pool if the cement and foundation are moist.”

He was shocked when he discovered Ms van der Merwe took to social media to vent her anger at him. As a well-known contractor in town, he was concerned his business would suffer.

When asked if he was going to refund Ms van der Merwe, the contractor said he did not have to, as the money was payment for work he had already done.

In the meantime, Ms van der Merwe has consulted her lawyer in an attempt to resolve the matter.

Read full story in the Newcastle Advertiser newspaper.

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