Breaching Contract/*****ing Money

Item: Property Management Diagnostics
Rating: 1
Author: Lizelle C

On 2 June 2016 we confirmed the renovations contract with Pelican Services via email for work to start at our house on 1 July. It was a big job, but according to Jan Hendrik Van Der Walt (ID ********** 099088) from Pelican Services, and now Property Management Diagnostics Pty Ltd (registration number ***), it would take 6 weeks to complete. We made 50% deposit to him, to buy all material, on 8 June 2016. He then started on Monday 4 July 2016 and told us a few weeks later, that it would actually take 8 weeks to complete. We made an agreement to do 2 weekly progress payments until the job was done. On 24 August, after weekly site visits, emails and pictures, we noticed that he was not going to finish in the agreed time and told him we would not make the next payment until he finished all the work, which was supposed to all be done by 30 Aug, according to his updated schedule. He then threatened us and said he would stop building if we did not pay him. I then went to meet with him on Friday 25 Aug at our house, with quantity surveyor Kelly Seymour, who will confirm our communication and agreement. He promised and confirmed that if we paid him, he will finish the job and we only need to make the final payment when he was done by end Sept, after he gave us a new schedule with all outstanding work. We did this as we needed to move into our house end Sep. We had made all previous payments as soon as we got invoices from him and never once did not pay, but he still decided to cheat, lie and ***** our money. I believed him and how wrong was I…he is a ****, ***** and *****. Until now, he had not done anything since September when he decided to leave and not come back to finish the work, saying that he did not have any of the money left that we paid him. Even though we paid him for almost 80% of the work up front. We phoned and still phone him constantly and even though he pitches to discuss schedule promises and plans, he never actually comes to do the work. He has given us numerous dates for when he will start again and he never does. It looks like he just gives us dates to get him off his back. I have all confirmations from him on sms and/or email. We have call logs and all email communication between us. We also have proof in pictures of all the work we did ourselves (after we paid him to do it, but when he didn’t we did it ourselves to get the house ready and better looking when we moved in) and also of what is still outstanding from his side. We have even been to his house a few times to ask why he ignores our calls, does not pitch and does not finish the work he already has the money for. His wife told us to go to a lawyer as he does not owe us anything…she obviously does not know a thing of what is going on. At the end of Dec I visited him again and he confirmed, on email that he will start 16 Jan 2017. When the day came he had numerous excuses again and told us he was registering a new company with a partner (who I overheard was a Bruce someone) and that when this happened, he would have enough money to start building at our house. He is now the MD of that company. And I know he has the money, as he told me in person he has it, after it was released by a trust. He then confirmed that again that he will finish the work and we don’t have to pay anything until he was done, due to him having enough cash flow to cover everything until it was complete. We made an agreement that we would pay him all of what was owed to him. We have never cheated him out of any money and have paid all invoices that he gave to us. I cannot believe that he behaves and works like this and then thinks he can be an MD. We will be taking legal action, filing a report, with proof of everything, with the police to get a case number and then open a SARS investigation into all of his businesses as well as personal entity. He has no back bone and no work ethic. As an extra act of ***** and to add to the lies, he also put his incorrect address on all invoices and when I drove there to collect our keys, that he was supposed to bring us on one Saturday as well as finish the work, the new owner said he did not live there anymore and that a lot of people were looking for him. He in fact lives at 29 Shiraz Villas, Bukettraube Street, Oude Westhof, Bellville. This should be a big enough reason alone that he has done this to numerous people before. We do not have money to get someone else to do the work. He has been paid, with only a small amount still outstanding, so all we want is for him to finish the work without us having to phone him 100 times a day and beg for something that is owed to us. Or pay our money back if he wants to move on with his life. He was recommended to us by Rawson Properties, Welgemoed. Here is the order of events in short: 2 June 2016 – confirm quote and work 8 June 2016 – deposit paid for building material 1 July 2016 – Jan starts work 9 July 2016 – 1st progress payment 25 July 2016 – 2nd progress payment 10 Aug 2016 – 3nd progress payment 24 Aug 2016 – met to discuss him threatening us to pay or he will stop working 26 Aug 2016 – 4th progress payment (even though work was not up to date and he then promised to finish everything without requesting another payment) 24 Sep 2016 – we moved into house 26 Sep 2016 – he needed money to pay workers and after we made this payment he never came back with any workers to actually work He did not do the below work, even though it was on the quote and we had paid for it. My husband did the work with the help of Mark Pe**** and 2 workers by themselves: · Finished paving on patio · Had Vibrecrete wall put up at back of house · Removed all building rubble · Built in cupboard doors in one room · Refinished/re-plastered all of the walls as the plastering was done only half · Redid all broken windows · Tiled in front of front door Work that has not been finished yet: · Front perimeter wall with iron balustrading in between pillars, as well as automated gate at driveway · Iron balustrading around patio · Roof over braai with ceiling and down-lights and all electrical work · New frame with windows in one room · Extractor fans in bathrooms · Doors for island in kitchen · Top lid for gas bottle compartment Work that needs to be corrected: · Tiling in bathroom is skew and done really bad – see pictures attached · Grouting in between tiles on bathroom floor is brushing off – grouting mixture not done correctly · Shower leaks · Bath is hollow · Walls he built are cracking on outside and inside · Wood top at stove has pulled skew If you have experienced this with Jan van der Walt, please contact me for us to stand up in unity against this man and to prevent him to do this to anyone else. He does not deserve to get away with this.

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