Dust Factory: Contractual non-compliance and deposit not refunded

These are the facts regarding our encounter with Guy McLaren, aka Dust Guy t/a Dust Factory.

On 21 September 2022 Guy McLaren, the sole owner of and worker at Dust Factory, based in Centurion, visited our house. We had asked him for a quotation to renovate our kitchen units. During this visit he said that he was busy with two jobs, and that it would take him about ten days to complete them.

We received his quotation on 22 September 2022. On 27 September 2022 we paid him the requested 60% deposit.

Guy McClaren arrived at our house on 10 November to collect the drawers he had to restore and to take measurements.

On 20 December he promised per Whatsapp message to install and complete the job on 3 and 4 January 2023. I contacted him on 2 January to confirm his time of arrival the next day. On 3 January 2023 Guy McClaren left me a voice message to tell me that he was on holiday in Tzaneen.

On 2 March 2023 the said Guy undertook to do the contracted installation on 6 March. He failed to arrive on 6 March, and left a voice message on Whatsapp to say that he would do the work on 8 March.

On 7 March my wife and I set out and tracked Guy McClaren down at his Centurion address, as we wanted to confirm the progress with the contracted work. We found him and the Dust Factory workplace. Very little work had been done on renovating our drawers.

We had renovations starting in our kitchen on 16 March. On 7 March the said Guy undertook to finish his contracted work for us before 16 March.

On 10 March 2023 Guy McClaren sent us a letter, cancelling his contractual obligations and offering to repay the deposit in four monthly instalments. On 14 March he returned the items he had collected on 10 November 2022. Two pieces were not returned, and one piece had been cut down to the wrong size.

Guy McLaren failed to pay the agreed to 25% refund in March 2023, and then offered to repay the deposit at an amount of R200 per month. He made two repayments of R200 each. No further payments were made, and he still owes me R5 600 on the date this review is posted.