Faulty Concreting Job - Who Do I Complain to/Open a Case with?

Lthejazman on 09/04/2018 - 00:26
Last edited 09/04/2018 - 17:28 by 1 other user

About three months ago, I got an outdoor section of my house concreted. Shortly after I noticed that waterway coming towards my house instead of going away from the house. I pulled my level out, and the concrete was clearly leaning towards the house (i had clearly stated to the concreter that i wanted it leaning away from the house so water would travel away). The concreter also failed to fulfil my request of inserting a drain in a high flood area which he agreed to do. He did the job all in 1 day by himself, without a break, and many people have told me it should have been done by 3/4 people over several days. I have tried contacting the concreter many times, but have been ignored. He has opened my messages as a "read" badge is displayed, but he has not replied at all. Is there an ombudsman i can file a report with? Anything I could do to get this job fixed?
I live in Victoria, by the way.

Further info I forgot to add: He even forgot control joints (contraction joints) and had to pay someone to cut lines in. The concrete is already cracked heavily in many places that are nowhere near the control joints.

UPDATE: I have just seen that others are having the exact same problem as I. Yet to get a reply from anyone as to what they did as a solution. He ignores texts and phone calls then claims to have family issues after a while, whilst posting photos of jobs he is working on and completing.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • garetz on 09/04/2018 - 01:58
    +1

    Fair trading.

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 07:36

      Awesome! Thanks! :D

  • chumlee on 09/04/2018 - 07:04

    Vcat is your only option but if you have already paid him i would just move on and get it fixed out of pocket

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 07:36

      Somebody suggested that, but i don't believe thats a fair thing. You can't just do shit jobs and get away with it just because a customer has paid you know? Theres gotta be some guarantee or back up for a customer in the event that something like this happens.
      Thank you for your reply :D

      • 87percent on 09/04/2018 - 10:25
        +4

        Welcome to the world of tradies

      • chumlee on 09/04/2018 - 10:50
        +2

        If you want to follow through then get a quote on how much to have the job fixed to the way you requested it be done, the file an application at vcat. Assuming he doesn't show up you will get a judgement and you will probably need to get it enforced at the magistrates court as he may not comply with the order.

        Take the magistrates court enforcement documents to Sheriffs office and have them serve a seizure warrant to seize asssets to the value of your order.

        It's a long process. Rusk you could lose if he does show up and say that he did the job as per your request. Do you have any evidence backing up the specs of the job you requested?

        • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 17:26

          What a process! But thank you so much for your time.
          No evidence, just going by the assumption that nobody wants water running towards their house/sliding doors leading into a house. I mean, the side footpath he concreted is completely wavy and completely out of whack. Its like a 5 year old poured. He didn't even put any control joints. He paid someone to come down because he forgot and they had to put lines in with a concrete saw.

  • Ryanek on 09/04/2018 - 07:55
    +2

    Make sure fill out every possible online review you can find and give a bad testimony.

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 08:40

      Thanks! This will definitely be done as I'd hate anyone else to deal with this guy.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2018 - 08:35

    Depending on how much the job costed you, you can decide if it's worth going to court. Send him a letter of demand first see how he responds.

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 08:38

      Cost about 3k. Sent him plenty of letters, texts, phone calls… and nothing back. Court probably wouldn't be worth it, but the job is so shit, it would need to be completely done again in my opinion.

      • stirlo on 09/04/2018 - 09:08

        Yep, not worth going to court, can try VCAT though…

        Did you watch him do the job? I remember watching tradies on my parents reno and being that doesn't look right, not questioning at the time, and then my parents having to hire a new tradie and pay 50% more just to fix the mistakes the first one made . Just because they say they can do the job doesn't mean they'll always do it well/better than you.

        • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 17:22

          He had all the equipment… he levelled it out, well i thought he did, but as he didn't even take an eating or drinking break and smacked it out in a day, i think fatigue got the better of the bloke. Nothing looked wrong at the time-he looked professional and looked to be doing the right thing. He'd shown us photos of what he has done and gave us his facebook page to see his jobs and yeah, looked real good so we assumed he would have done a good job.

        • stirlo on 09/04/2018 - 20:55

          @thejazman: yeah sounds like you just got unlucky then. If he’s a reasonable guy think of a compromise that will work for you (aka not tearing it all up, maybe grinding it or something) and ask nicely. If he’s a professional he probably doesn’t want trouble (especially if he knows he got tired and stuffed up) but I would understand why he would be reluctant to redo the entire job from scratch if it was a signiifcant cost to him.

        • thejazman on 10/04/2018 - 13:35

          @stirlo: We've tried it all. He doesn't want anything to do with it.Not answering phone calls, not replying to texts, not replying on facebook.. nothing. Its like we're invisible. We've tried through friends as well and i've come to the conclusion that this guy is a shocking phone call answerer.

        • stirlo on 10/04/2018 - 14:03

          @thejazman: :(

        • thejazman on 10/04/2018 - 15:12

          @stirlo: I thank you deeply for your time and effort in helping me attempt to solve this case of mine. It is really appreciated!

  • oscargamer on 09/04/2018 - 08:54

    How did you pay?
    Did you get a receipt?

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 17:20

      Cash, and yeah receipt was issued.

      • oscargamer on 09/04/2018 - 19:35

        Was there an abn on the receipt?

        • thejazman on 10/04/2018 - 13:33

          Sure was an ABN on it.

        • oscargamer on 10/04/2018 - 19:21
          +1

          @thejazman:

          Then VCAT for you.

          You could also consider seeing if he is a member of a professional organisation and talk to them about the standard of his work.

  • thepigs on 09/04/2018 - 10:07
    +1

    wow $3000 for a day's work. are you sure he wasn't a lawyer?

    • thejazman on 09/04/2018 - 17:19

      There were 2 parts to the job. He did a slab for an indoor shelter… which was just tiled over anyways, and then the outdoor pergola part. This guy took no lunch break, or no drink breaks. He had someone help him pour but as soon as that was over he left.

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