Deborah Llewellyn is angry with herself for handing over money. Photo / Michael Craig
Handyman goes to ground after people part with cash for jobs around home A tradesman who was publicly accused of ripping off clients is back, and appears to be up to his old tricks.
In 2005, four people approached Fair Go saying they had given John Rea a $500 deposit towards work to be done on their houses. They never saw him again.
Rea was bankrupted that year - the second time he had been bankrupted. Now, Birkenhead woman Deborah Llewellyn says the same thing has happened to her.
Rea had dropped a flyer advertising that he was available for home handyman jobs. She employed him to fix her waste disposal. While he was there she asked for a quote to tile some stairs.
He asked for two-thirds of the cost of the job, $500, as a deposit to confirm she wanted him to do the work. He never returned. Llewellyn says her calls and texts went unanswered but eventually she received a text saying he would refund her money at $50 a week, to start last Friday. "He did the first job no problem and I guess that lulled me into a false sense of security," Llewellyn says. She was angry she fell for it. "My husband said, 'Why did you give him that much money'?"
