Left in the lurch by no-show sole proprietor: Deon Coetzer

Name: Deon Coetzer Company name: DC Creations and Renovations Contact details: ********** / **********

My husband and I first met with Mr Coetzer at the end of May 2018 to discuss renovations on a property that we considered buying. Mr Coetzer came highly recommended and provided us with a fast and professional estimate quote at the beginning of June. We decided to purchase the property and the sale concluded mid-September: we again contacted Mr Coetzer for an updated quote to start renovations as soon as possible (the renovations needed to be completed before we could move in). After a few emails, phone calls, Whatsapp messages and a final face-to-face meeting on Wednesday, 3 October, we accepted Mr Coetzer's quote and agreed that he would start with the renovations on Tuesday, 9 October.

When confirming on Monday, 8 October, what time Mr Coetzer would start work the following day, we received a Whatsapp message simply stating that he could no longer take on our project "due to unforeseen circumstances" - no explanation, not even a phone call. We tried several times via Whatsapp messages and telephone calls to reach Mr Coetzer to find out what had gone wrong and if we could work something out so that he could still continue with our project. We urgently needed the work done as we wanted to move in ASAP and had already told other contractors who also quoted on some of the work that we would not be requiring their services. After an email exchange, Mr Coetzer finally contacted us telephonically explaining that "he could not give our project the attention it deserves owing to personal issues".

He made NO attempt to accommodate us after we had been dealing with him for more than 4 months. He did not provide a concrete, satisfactory reason why he could no longer honour the agreement made between us and was very vague over the telephone. We thus urge any prospective clients to be extremely careful when dealing with Deon Coetzer or his company DC Creations and Renovations: he comes across as very competent and accommodating but then literally the day before he needs to start with a project leaves you in the lurch. No sole proprietor can afford such unprofessional behaviour when they rely on word-of-mouth. We would not recommend running the risk of doing business with him - it is simply a waste of time, money and energy.