Home Improvements and Tradespeople
Deposits for kitchens, bathrooms, windows and driveways where the work never started, stopped halfway, or was done badly.
These are the claims that cause the most distress, because the sums are large, the trader is often uncontactable, and the house is frequently left in a worse state than before the work began.
Two things make them more winnable than people expect. First, the chargeback clock generally runs from the date the work was due to be carried out, not the date the deposit was paid, so a deposit paid months in advance is often still in time. Second, where any part of the payment went on a credit card and the contract value exceeded $100, Section 75 can make the card provider liable for the entire contract, including what it costs to put the work right.
The practical advice before anything else: photograph everything, do not let anyone start remedial work until it is documented, and get a written quote for putting it right. That quote is evidence of your loss.
The problems that come up most
Drawn from the claims we actually run in this area, not from a generic list of consumer complaints.
Large deposits taken for work that never begins
Traders who dissolve the company and re-form under a new name weeks later
Part-completed work that has to be stripped out before it can be redone
Verbal specifications with nothing written down
Cash requested for the balance, which removes card protection from that part
What clients in this sector achieve
These are the outcomes engagements in this sector are scoped to produce. They are written into the proposal so success is defined before the work starts, not assessed afterwards.
- Deposits recovered months after payment, using the correct start date
- Remedial costs recovered as consequential loss under Section 75
- Whole-contract liability established from a part payment on a card
- Evidence preserved before remedial work destroyed it
Where sector programmes usually start
Services Not Provided
Work paid for and never done, or done so badly it has to be redone. Builders, installers, courses, memberships and professional services.
Section 75 Claims
On credit card purchases between $100 and $30,000, your card provider is equally liable with the retailer. That is statute, not a scheme rule.
Faulty or Misdescribed Goods
What arrived is not what was advertised, or it broke almost immediately, and the seller will not put it right.
Retailer or Provider Insolvency
The company you paid has gone into administration. Joining the creditors' queue is rarely your best option, and often not your only one.
Engagements in this sector
$6,200 kitchen deposit recovered from a $200 card payment
The installer took a deposit, missed three start dates, then dissolved the company. The provider initially refused because only $200 of the $6,200 had gone on the credit card, which…
- Total recovered
- $6,980 Total recovered
- Card payment that triggered liability
- $200 Card payment that triggered liability
- To reverse the initial refusal
- 11 days To reverse the initial refusal