A Victorian family are furious after they claim they forked out $12,200 to build a pergola in their backyard, only for the tradie to vanish and cease contact with them.
Mark Baghdassarian, 40, and his partner, wanted the outdoor structure built in November last year in time for summer.
But now, months later, they’ve been left with five holes and some ruined plants, and nothing else to show for the thousands they paid the tradesman to get the job done.
The Melbourne dad-of-one claims the builder said he needed money for a deposit, to secure building materials and pay the wages of other labourers. But after handing over the money, he claims the builder disappeared and stopped returning his calls.
In a bizarre twist, the tradie insisted he was “a good kid” and that he wasn’t “shonky” — just days before he ghosted them.
“I felt personally like I’ve been robbed,” Mr Baghdassarian told news.com.au. “It was emotionally distressing for me.
“We’ve just had our kid, he’s just been born, that was devastating.”
The couple went to the police but authorities told them it was a civil matter.
He is now speaking to the media to warn others about the experience.
Mr Baghdassarian found a man called Johnathan L on Airtasker who agreed to come over to their Cranbourne East home and give them a quote for the cost of building the pergola.
In early November, ‘Johnathan’ attended the site. He wore a uniform that had ‘Paul’ on the front of his shirt. Later on, the tradie gave them his bank account details where his name was listed as Paul Koustoulidis.
“I started calling him Paul and he responded favourably,” Mr Baghdassarian explained.
It’s understood the tradie’s real name is Paul Koustoulidis.
Paul gave them a quote of $18,720, with building works expected to be finished in seven to 10 business days, which the couple accepted.
Paul issued the quote on a piece of paper with a watermark for a company called Trade Craft Building Solutions.
An ASIC search extract of the company shows that it was shut down in 2010 and its business registration has been cancelled.
Trade Craft Building Solutions has no connection to Tradecraft Building Services, which should not be confused with this company.
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On November 5, the day building was supposed to commence, Paul asked for them to pay for the entire job upfront.
“I thought ‘hang on a second, the entire amount for the whole job? I wouldn’t know if I’d see you again,’” Mr Baghdassarian said.
They negotiated and in the end the Melbourne dad and builder agreed to a $5000 deposit.
The tradie also suggested the couple process the money directly into his bank account rather than going through Airtasker for a slightly lesser fee.
“He sent photos of materials he would be using, planks of wood, nice looking pieces of wood. I gave him the $5000 later that day.
“Shortly after me paying him, he came out and dug five holes, demolished several plants that were in the way.”
And that was it. To date, no more work has been done on the site. In fact, Mr Baghdassarian has since had the holes filled in and abandoned the project as he can’t afford it after the money he’s lost.
Soon after they paid the initial deposit, Paul asked for more money from the couple — and they complied.
“He was convincing,” Mr Baghdassarian said.
Paul said he had learned he had to ‘settle’ his accounts with his supplier and needed an extra $7200.
“At this point I’m thinking I’ve given you $5000, if I don’t give you the extra $7200, maybe he won’t have the money to get the materials,” the frustrated customer said.
“My bank account paused the transfer saying beware of scams, I had to call the CBA.”
But from there, things went downhill quickly.
In text message exchanges shared with news.com.au, Paul repeatedly asked for the $7200 payment, encouraging his client to ring his bank to speed up the transaction and use the instant payment system Osko.
“Pay it to me so we can finalize (sic) this sh*t please,” he wrote.
Mr Baghdassarian claims Paul also increased the overall price of the project from its original $18,000 to $24,000.
In the texts, Paul said he was “a good kid” when Mr Baghdassarian questioned him. He also claimed he had a sick child which was why he needed the money fast.
“I’ve promised people I would start there (sic) jobs asap and promised days if it gets pushed back one more day,” Paul texted in one exchange.
“I’m f***ed, I don’t do shonky sh*t with people my word is everything in this game”.
In a later exchange, Paul added: “I don’t like the way u spoke to me after I was honest with u on top of that mark I charged u half cause (sic) I’m a good kid”.
The tradie insisted he wasn’t desperate for money, saying “if this is all about money I’ll send it back cause (sic) I don’t need it.”
He also texted: “This is the new quote if ur happy I’ll come start if not I’ll take material back get refund and we go separate ways im not putting up with this sh*t”.
Mr Baghdassarian eventually said he wanted to cancel the project and Paul agreed to pay him $500 a week until the debt was paid back.
And yet, “I haven’t received a cent,” the distraught father said.
“I gave him two methods of payment, PayID and BSB and account number.”
But the builder claimed in a text he hadn’t received any method of payment.
The couple paid lawyers to send a letter of demand in the hopes the money would be paid back.
So far, there’s been no response.
Mr Baghdassarian also hired a private investigator to dig up more information on the builder but suspects he has since blocked him.
When news.com.au called the number, it had been disconnected.
An Airtasker spokesperson said Johnathan L’s profile had been cancelled after news.com.au flagged his behaviour.
“An initial consultation for Mark’s task was booked on Airtasker for $7.90, however, it seems that Mark and Jonathan made a decision to conduct all further dealings off Airtasker,” an Airtasker spokesperson said.
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“While the task you mentioned took place outside of the Airtasker Marketplace, we always do our best to help people out, and based on the breaches to our community guidelines, we have made the decision to deactivate Jonathan’s account.
“The safety and security of Airtasker customers is our top priority and we have a number of systems in place to protect our customers in the unlikely event that something goes wrong.”
alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au
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