I have often wondered why, when it is possible to do a decent job, so many people choose to take shortcuts that can only end up in litigation.

Many suppliers of property or building services use knock-and-drop publications to advertise each week. Pick up any knock-and-drop and you’ll see screeds and screeds of ads aimed at convincing unsuspecting homeowners that they offer a professional service.

It’s not just builders either. There are ads for carpet installers and cleaners, blind manufacturers and installers, furniture suppliers, upholsterers and, naturally enough companies supplying a host of security services.

Let me say, right now, that there are some really good companies using knock-and-drop magazines. The good companies provide an excellent service and create a great reputation for themselves.

Service matters, as does their reputation.

Then there are the not-so-terribly-good ones and the really bad ones who don’t know how to do a job properly, don’t really care about their reputation and simply want to make a quick buck.

So let me tell you the tale of Radical Security Solutions and you can make up your own minds as to where this company fits in.

A friend of mine (I’ve written about her before) called Barbara Milroy watched as lightning struck her home in Waterkloof and blew apart the security beams, part of the electric fencing and the electric gate motors.

The gate motors had worked for more than 25 years, (with the odd part being replaced through natural wear and tear) but the lightning bolt was just too much for these old units.

The lightning fried the motors. They had to go off and rest in peace in that great used-gate-motor-graveyard in the sky.

So, armed with the full agreement of her insurers, Barbara set about getting quotes from several installers. Not knowing anyone in this industry, she grabbed her most recent copy of Homefinder and selected what she thought would be reputable companies for her shortlist.

Apparently the type of motor she needed was no longer available so she had to get new gate motors as well as a new mechanism to open them.

After briefing various sales representatives, getting the quotes (all, oddly enough, within the same ballpark figure) she made a decision.

Unfortunately for her, the company at the top of her list was working on a big contract. Its representative said that they would be unable to do anything at all for at least the next few weeks.

Barbara spoke to the representatives she’d seen and asked him to advise her on the quotes that she’d received and he told her, quite categorically that the motors offered by the other installers would not work on her gates. But because he couldn’t do the job, she crossed him off her shortlist and chose the second company instead.

That was her first and biggest mistake.

She asked Radical Security Solutions, run by a chap called Riaan Herbst, to do the job. When she met him, she says, he seemed like a really nice guy who knew what he was doing.

He was pleasantly spoken, drove a neat and clean little van and appeared to be eminently qualified for the work that needed to be done. He recommended that she fit a Vector system made by a really reputable company in Pretoria with an excellent reputation for quality products and services.

When Barbara said that she had been told the Vector motors wouldn’t work on this type of installation Herbst assured her this was not true and the new motors would be fine.

She agreed to let him do the job. That was her second mistake.

Herbst arrived promptly and fitted the new motors as agreed. She then paid him in full via electronic funds transfer. That was her third mistake.

Predictably, the motors started giving trouble immediately.

Within the first month the gates stopped working, kept jamming, would stand half open (or half closed) and it was utterly infuriating for her because she’d spent a lot of money on her new gates and motors.

Each time the gates failed or jammed, Herbst was called out. And each time he had another excuse. “It was just a setting,” he’d say. Or “leaves interfered with the beams.”

The excuses were actually inane and nothing more than a half-baked explanation aimed at pacifying an increasingly angry homeowner called Barbara.

So when the gates broke down yet again, I suggested she contact the manufacturers and get a technical chap to examine the work and make some recommendations on how best to fix the problems.

And the true story of the faulty gates began to unfold.

Centurion (who make the Vector motors) confirmed that, first of all Radical Security Solutions is not one of their recommended installers. Secondly, Centurion said the type of motors used were completely unsuitable for this type of installation and thirdly, the way the motors had been installed were not what the manufacturer’s specified in the installation instructions.

Finally, Centurion said that the motors would continue to give trouble until eventually they packed up completely. The only solution was to install different motors or reinstall the Vector motors correctly, which would mean that both gates would have to be moved to a completely different spot.

Clearly the installation had been botched.

Barbara then called an independent installer for a second opinion and he confirmed everything that Centurion had told her. Both the manufacturer and an independent installer agreed that the way the motors had been installed was wrong.

So armed with this information, Barbara phoned Herbst and told him what she knew. Immediately after that conversation Herbst refused to answer any other calls from her mobile or home phone.

She left innumerable messages pleading with Herbst to call her so that they could sort out the problem. But she never got a single call back.

Herbst obviously recognised her numbers and put his own phone in the cubbyhole of his car (or some other more undignified place) until it stopped ringing.

So she phoned him using another number and, hey presto, he instantly answered the call.

In a carefully measured conversation Barbara told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had:

- Installed the wrong motors;
- Done a bad job;
- Could not and would not be trusted to ever work on her property again;
- Must refund her enough money to have the gates moved professionally by someone who knew what they were doing and refund her so that she could have the Vector motors correctly installed.

That was his ‘way out’.

She said: “Riaan, repay enough of my money to let me get the job done properly and I will go away.”

He said he’d discuss it with his partners and then said that all he was prepared to do was move the gates himself.

Having fitted the wrong motors, done a bad job and not even followed the manufacturer’s specifications he expected her to give him another chance.

Quite correctly, Barbara refused.

The level of trust had been smashed and he’d smashed it.

So I guess it’s now a dispute that the Small Claims Court will have to settle when it eventually gets there.

You must remember, though, that Barbara is a synonym for ‘bull terrier’ so I have no doubt that she will probably get back what she’s owed.

The real point is that a job worth several thousands of rands could have been done properly in the first place, would have guaranteed a profit for the installer, would have prevented all the extra call-outs that had to be made and would have created a satisfied customer who’d have no hesitation in recommending his services in future.

My point in relating this tale is that there are many thousands of charlatans out there who rip people off by promising to deliver a service and then don’t do so. They want the money but don’t do a decent job.

I’m sure every reader of this column has had a similar tale of woe and I would love to hear all these stories because I think we, as consumers, need to act against unscrupulous rogues.

The building industry and many of its sub-contractors including swimming pool builders, security systems installers, waterproofing companies, landscape gardeners and many, many more promise to do specified work and never fulfil their promises or comply with the specifications either.

And there is no forum for homeowners to protest.

So I want to set up (with the help of other enterprising people) a website and forum that exposes all suspect sub-contractors and fly-by-night operators in the building industry.

That way, anyone who is being ripped off has a way to report a company or an individual and to register a complaint. And, anyone who wants to can check whether a firm has been named and shamed on the website.

Unless we work together to bring consumer rip-offs to an end, we will continue getting robbed by smooth-talking, apparently competent rogues who’ll do anything to get their hands on your money, my money or Barbara’s money.

So I would encourage those who’ve been ripped off by someone in the building industry to let me know. Just e-mail me with all the facts.

Let’s name and shame these rogues.

Barbara’s case is the first on my list but I’m sure that, within a few weeks, there’ll be many more.

So let me know – and let your friends and acquaintances know that I’d like to know too.

*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and doesn’t pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him on paddy@neomail.co.za.