By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A DANDENONG NORTH pensioner has warned about the dangers of paying cash upfront to a local refrigeration installer.
Svetla Nikolova paid a $1700 deposit towards two air-conditioners to trader Neil Turner in October – with another $600 to be paid when he installed the units.
Having failed to receive the promised units, Ms Nikolova won a compensation order from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal against Turner on 24 March.
Turner, who didn’t appear at the hearing, was ordered to pay $1747.74 within 14 days; the deadline being last Monday.
Last Thursday Turner told the Journal he would refund Ms Nikolova within 28 days.
The order follows a Consumer Affairs Victoria public warning notice against Mr Turner on 31 January.
The notice advised potential customers not to pay any money to the Mr Turner before goods were supplied.
It warned that it had received further complaints against Mr Turner alleging he “failed to supply goods for which deposits were taken and not refunded”.
As well as wanting her money back, Ms Nikolova said she wanted “people to stop Neil Turner doing what he’s doing”.
“So many people are getting hurt by him,” she said.
Mr Turner, who told the Journal last week he lived in the Dandenong North “vicinity”, said he owed money to only two people including Ms Nikolova.
“Anyone owed money will be repaid in full. That will be worked out by the people who took over the finances of the business.”
Another person who has had dealings with Mr Turner, Greater Dandenong councillor Loi Truong, said he obtained a VCAT order last year against Mr Turner for failing to supply promised lighting work in his milk bar two years ago.
But without knowing Turner’s address, Cr Truong said he had been unable to serve the order for $1700.
“I thought he was ill and he didn’t have the money to start the job. After I paid him, he didn’t return my calls,” Cr Truong said.
“I’m not so much upset about the money. He should be stopped from doing it to other people.”
When asked about Cr Truong, Turner said: “Who? I know nothing about it. Anything’s possible… you never know in this life.”
The CAV public warning followed a successful prosecution against Mr Turner in June.
At the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court, he was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $1400 in legal costs and $8850 compensation to three customers after taking deposits for coolrooms and an air-conditioning unit but failing to deliver.
Mr Turner said last week he was on a payment scheme to reimburse the three complainants.
He said he had “truly” mended his ways and that he was under “psychiatric analysis” to find out the underlying cause of his past practices.
