Uniteak - wooden floor services

Henk Hartman ***ner/manager) of Uniteak wooden floor services (based in Pretoria) is a solo operator with a truck and a helper. He had previously restored my dining room floor and although his work was pricey it was satisfactory.

Given this, I contracted him recently (mid-2018) to restore my dining table, however, persuading Hartman to return it proved to be inexplicably difficult. He did not respond to any of the five e-mails, six sms messages, numerous voicemails or to most of the innumerable telephone calls I made over a three week period. On the second of the two occasions that he took my phone call in the last week, he accused me of harassing him when I asked him to return my table whether or not he had done any work on it.

During that three week period, I tried to track down Hartman to the Uniteak address at 87 Skilpad Street in Monument Park, Pretoria - as given on the website and by the red 'pin' on Google Maps - but none of the business owners in the area had ever heard of Uniteak or Hartman. On calling the telephone number on the website the same electronic message was given, but it has never been answered by a person. The dining table was finally returned after repeated requests, however, both my **** and I have noticed that there are new marks on the table, two of which appear to have been caused by burns.

Subsequently trying to reach Hartman has proved to be a futile exercise. It is clear that having only the cellphone number and P O Box address of a contractor is most unwise because if there are problems, without a verifiable physical address items cannot be recovered and legal action cannot be taken. Relying on the physical address or telephone number given on a website or Google Maps is also foolish - both sources now show that the business has closed down (despite not ever having being known to local business persons). Visiting the premises of a contractor in person appears to be the only way to ensure that the physical address exists even if it means driving to another city.

I cannot recommend Hartman's Uniteak to any potential customers.