Chasing a Ghost

Dear Scott,

Just before Covid hit, I paid a $3,000 deposit for a new fence. Then Covid hit, and everything stopped. After restrictions were lifted we got in contact with the fencer and he started all the excuses under the sun about why he wasn’t able to start the job. He finally admitted he was not going to do it. We asked for our deposit back, we still have not got it. We have told him we will take the matter to small claims court but this has made no difference to him. The trouble is we only have his first name, his bank account details, his phone number and his company name. What can I do?

Danielle

Hi Danielle,

You can do an ASIC search on his company name and find his registered details, and with that possibly take him to a small claims tribunal (like VCAT in Victoria).

So by all means, give it a go.

Having said that, he sounds like a crook. And it also sounds like this isn’t his first rodeo. So you could end up spending a lot of time, energy and emotion chasing this guy … and you still may never get the money back.

Look, I don’t want to sound too woo-woo, but sometimes you just have to let these things go …

So if it were me, I’d put that energy into finding a good tradie who’ll build you a good fence.

(And know that, one day, that guy’s going to get his nuts nailed to a fence.)

Scott.