Cheated by "Pro" Kandua connected us with

We just got taken for a ride by the pro (Blue Water Pools and Home Improvements) Kandua connected us with. We paid over R32K for our Koi pond to be renovated but the "pro" Bruce Mutch took our money and has disappeared, leaving the job incomplete. We had to pay a 75% deposit but then Bruce kept on coming up with stories and asked for advance after advance until we had paid well over 75%. We are now sitting with an empty brick and cement shell for our pond extension and don't have the new pump, new filter, water feature, fibre glassing, glass tank filter, pond chemicals, piping and connections or even any of the materials (except for what is in the shell). Meanwhile, the pro just never came back one day and we are now having to find someone else (definitely not by looking on Kandua!!!).

Kandua advertise they vet the pros for you, so you can trust them. As a result, we didn't look into Bruce or his company beforehand. However, after we were cheated, we did a simple Google search that revealed Bruce Mutch has been cheating people out of money for many years, using at least 3 different company names! What kind of a vetting process does Kandua use, if they didn't even see what took 5 mins to find?

We've learned an very expensive lesson now, so please don't make the same mistake we did. NEVER TRUST KANDUA and rather find your own pros and vet them yourself.