Tradie scam targets residents

THE Office of Fair Trading is warning consumers of reports of a travelling trader approaching residents in the Stanthorpe area offering driveway repairs and bitumen services.

Scammers are known to operate as itinerant bitumen layers, leaving consumers out of pocket.

"The scammers vary their approaches and mix and match their sales pitches depending on what they think will work with the particular consumers they are targeting,” a spokesperson from the Office of Fair Trading said.

"Often they claim they have bitumen left over from another job and so they can offer it at a 'cheap price today only'.

"Sometimes watered down bitumen is laid on ungraded or poorly graded ground and consumers find themselves out of pocket twice as they later have to pay another trader to have it removed and replaced.

"On other occasions the traders initially quote a low cost then a much higher payment is demanded during the work for it to be completed.

"Sometimes the scammers simply take large deposits, perform no work, and never return. Consumers have no way to get a refund as these types of traders usually vanish.

"Consumers are reminded door-to-door traders must generally not accept payment or commence work on a property within a 10 business day cooling-off period, and consumers can cancel any agreement within this period without penalty,” the spokesperson said.

If you think you have seen these traders, contact the Office of Fair Trading on 13 QGOV (13 74 68).