YOUR STORY: This is about dishonest tradies.

I have just been through partial renovations which had to be halted because the tradesman I dealt with was dishonest and took advantage of me for being an older generation female.

Just one example out of all those who came to my home: a plumber.

He made me pay in full at the end of the plumbing work.

He did not tell me this up front.

But once you have paid, there is very little chance of reimbursement once you realise you have been stung.

Here is what happened.

There was a pipe leak. He fixed it.

Then he tried every tap in the house to ensure they were working. All good so far. Not likely!

He told me that the backyard tap was not working and he could book that job in at a later time.

I agreed, thinking that it wasn't urgent. Next morning, the toilet wouldn't flush!

This was the only water outlet he had not checked in the house.

I still didn't think anything was wrong so I called him and told him.

I said "Look I have a doctor's appointment, I will be back as soon as I can".

I raced to the doctors and raced straight back as he said he was coming straight away.

I was gone for about 20 minutes.

He was there and had already finished the job.

I was charged another call-out fee.

After he left, and I had already paid the bill, I realised what he had done, (maybe by now you have too).

He had deliberately not told me that the toilet pipe was also affected, not just the backyard water tap.

This meant that he received two call-out fees for a combined job that took him less than one hour to fix.

I rang his boos and explained the situation

 He immediately said, "Look I will refund the extra call out fee, if you leave it at that and it goes no further".

I was willing to go along with this deal. I just wanted my money back.

This deal was made last Saturday. I rang thee boss back during the week asking where the money was and assured by text that a cheque would arrive by the end of the week.

I am still waiting ...