For Your Information : Please take the time to read this

I contracted Securezy after seeing an advert, under the name of a company called Steel Born, for low cost steel frame housing on one of the online classified sites. The person whose contact number was listed by the name of Jano, indicated that I should contact his father and provided me with the details of Mr Ian Venter of Securezy. Interested in the model they were using I made contact and received a quotation from Mr Venter. I was satisfied with the quotation, the schedule of works proposed and assurances that my requirements with regard to windows, doors, basic finishes etc would be met, and on that basis paid a 70% deposit in early November for the work. While the work did not start exactly as scheduled, apparently due to a problem with a vehicle en route to the site, I was encouraged when a team arrived and spent a few hours clearing and leveling part of the site. My plumber arrived to lay the necessary pipes which admittedly took far longer than expected, but on completion, Mr Venter was informed that work on the foundation could commence. The recent rainy weather also caused some delays, however, finally a date for the commencement of the work was set. This was one of three dates set by Mr Venter, none of which saw the scheduled work commence, neither he nor Securezy’s team of contractors or sub-contractors, or any other representative of the company ever returned to site.

This despite numerous emails, phone calls, discussions and text messages, wherein none of the revised dates and opportunities to remedy the lack of delivery were met. Numerous commitments and promises have been made, none of which have been met to date, from commitments to return calls, to scheduled cement deliveries to commencement of work on the foundation. As a last resort before I severed the relationship, Mr Venter and I spoke and during this call he asked for another opportunity to remedy the lack of delivery. I indicated that a condition of any consideration in this regard would be the provision of the contact name and details of any sub-contractor appointed to deliver the cement for the foundation to verify whether the delivery was in fact scheduled and paid for as claimed.

Once again, despite numerous follow up text messages from me and responses from Mr Venter promising to send this information by a specific time, no details were forthcoming. After I made the effort once again to contact Mr Venter telephonically, he promised once again to send the information, however at that point it was after hours and too late to get in touch with anyone to confirm delivery. During subsequent discussions with Mr Venter it was then agreed that I would be refunded the full value of the R45,000 deposit I paid upfront on the basis of the invoice issued by Securezy. In this respect, a payment agreement between myself and Securezy was signed, with a commitment that the funds would be transferred in tranches with the first tranche due by 18 December 2017. This transaction never took place, and subsequently, despite numerous attempts to contact Mr Venter and speak with him directly, I have been either ignored or fobbed off the text messages and emails that provide numerous excuses, but no substantive engagement with the lack of delivery on promises. After numerous attempts to contact Mr Venter, another commitment was made in writing by email to make the payment today, 19 December 2017, however no assurances were provided in this regard and no payment has been made. Numerous offers made to Mr Venter via text message and email to engage with me on further remedies were ignored.

Through a report on the company obtained from Lexis Nexus, I subsequently learnt that the company Securezy does not list Mr Venter as a member/director, but does list his son as the only director/member. This is contrary to the information contained on the payment agreement issued by Mr Venter which states that he and his son are directors/members. As such, it would appear that Mr Venter misrepresented his credentials to me through the payment agreement; and further his signing of the agreement may have no legal standing unless he was mandated by the member/director. I confronted Mr Venter with this information in writing, but to date, an explanation in this regard has not been forthcoming. It should also be noted the actual operating address of the business which is represented on the company website and in the company registration documents as a completely different address, and further my attempts to find the premises at the address listed on the company website failed.

Attempts to contact Mr Jano Venter, the director of Securely Pty Ltd as per the company registration documents, have also been to no avail.

I am exceptionally disappointed in the poor quality of service from Securezy and the lack of honesty shown by Mr Venter as evidenced by deadlines not met and scheduled contractors not arriving as per commitments made during our numerous engagements by text message, email and telephonically. Further, Mr Venter made promises with regarding to refunding the full value my deposit which were not honoured. In order to recover my deposit, I will now be taking legal steps against Securezy and Mr Venter and further steps to report his behavior, and that of the company Securezy Pty Ltd to the relevant authorities.