A concreter has been accused of doing a runner on multiple jobs around the South Island — pocketing thousands of dollars in the process.
The Fair Go programme has received several complaints about Samuel White, who also goes by 'Samuel Howard', after he was paid to do concreting jobs in Invercargill and Blenheim.
The 26-year-old recently advertised his services on an Invercargill community Facebook page, which led to Yvette Balloch and Catherine Newton hiring him for work in the month of March. Both customers agreed to pay Samuel 50% upfront.
Catherine told Fair Go that Samuel made a promising start at her property. "He got a digger in and dug it out deeper and put in all the boxing and everything."
But she says it wasn't long before Samuel started asking for more money.
Both she and Yvette grew concerned when he stopped showing up on-site and wasn't getting back to them.
"I kept texting him and texting him and I said 'look, I know it's hard and you're busy and everything but it would be nice to hear from you,'" Catherine explains.
Yvette says Samuel eventually visited her place in late April and apologised "saying 'look this job has taken way too long' and that the next fine day he'd get back into it and get it done.
"Well we had perfect weather over that entire time and we never saw him."
By now, Yvette had paid Samuel $12,250, while Catherine had handed over $10,500.
Fair Go has also heard from a customer in Blenheim who paid Samuel $6300 for a concrete pad.
Mike Godsall says Samuel "poured the concrete, set it and then disappeared", leaving behind thousands of dollars in work still to complete.
When Fair Go got in contact with Samuel White, he had little to say about the jobs in Invercargill, telling reporter Kaitlin Ruddock that he didn't know "anything about them really".
But when questioned further, he then argued that Yvette and Catherine paid him "50 per cent of the money, I did 50 per cent of the work. And they refused to pay me the other 50 per cent, that's the honest truth".
Samuel's explanation doesn't add up with the $8000 Yvette and Catherine had paid in extra instalments, which they have proof of and Fair Go has seen. He's refused to answer further questions from Fair Go.
Meanwhile, word had spread to Martin Black of the NZ Concrete Contractors Association. When he learned of the situation in Invercargill, he got busy organising a group of local contractors to help finish Yvette's driveway.
Wagener Construction, Sam Howley Concrete, Brad Warnock, Rohan Mahon Plumbing, Wilson Concrete Pumping and Precision Concrete Cutting all giving their time for free while Allied Concrete donated $7000 worth of concrete.
Catherine's friends and family are pitching in at her place to finish the job there too.
For advice on choosing the right tradesperson, check out this article from Fair Go.
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