Perimeter fencing gone wrong

When looking to get quotes for putting a perimeter fence up around our property, we came across Vramaar.com, who seemed like an attractive company who can serve as the middle-man between us and the contractor.

At first all went well. We were assisted by the director, who provided us with several quotes as we refined our particular idea for what we wanted in the end. Once we decided on which quote to go with, we paid the required 70% deposit (on 5 May 2021). It was our understanding that the bulk of the deposit was meant for the materials needed (vibracrete, steel, cladding), and that the job would take around 7 days to complete. The vibracrete part of the fence was actually set up within about 7 days (by 12 May), and we felt that this part of the job was reasonably well executed.

But then all went slowly downhill from there. By 24 May we received no communication from Vramaar as to the remaining part of the job. My wife had to pick up the conversation with the director again (via WhatsApp, the director's preferred mode of communication it seems), and pointed out that one of the trees needs to be sorted out as it was in the way of where the driveway gate would need to be, as well as in the way of the expected cladded part of the fence still to be setup. I also heard nothing from the contractor up until this time (he also preferred to communicate with us via WhatsApp), who we learned to have subcontracted someone else to do the vibracrete part (initially thought they worked for the same company). Anyway, the director said that she will get in touch with the contractor.

Now, in the interest of keeping this review short, we wanted to get the point across that we felt that we ended up doing what we expected Vramaar to do: that is to regularly check up on the progress of the project with the contractor and keeping us in the loop. Each time we allowed some days or weeks to pass, and then asked for an update, we would either get some excuse from Vramaar about the weather being an issue (there were plenty of rain-free days), or the steel being scarce (initially it was, but then apparently the measurements were off), even though the contractor told us that everything was ready, they just needed a day or so to complete the job. The contractor even mentioned that they were now suddenly busy with a half-a-million rand project that needed their attention. Very unprofessional on the whole. We eventually got the track for the driveway gate installed (had to be redone I might add, since poorly done the first time).

So, after numerous empty promises made by the contractor to us (who has apparently passed away unexpectedly in the last few weeks), and failure to speak to the director via the phone on two occasions (never received a call back), after months of waiting we are finally deciding to go public with this experience. The ombudsman is now involved, and we will see what comes from that. As it stands, we definitely did not yet receive the rand value of what we paid thus far, and are requesting a refund from Vramaar. They have not responded to any of our emails about finding a resolution (e.g. securing a new contractor for us), nor bothered to phone us back.

We are extremely disappointed with their overall level of service. Looking back, it's funny how the director used the words "cannot believe people these days, with work being so scarce", when referring to the contractor, yet here we are dealing with the same lack of service from them.