People in country and suburban Victoria are sometimes ripped off by 'fly-by-night' tradespeople offering cheap, ‘today only’ deals for work on their homes including painting and roof repairs.

Many of these itinerant traders are dodgy; they travel from place to place using undue pressure to force people to agree to having work done on their home and to hand over cash up front. They then take the money and run, often leaving unfinished or shoddy work.

Don’t let this happen to you!

Here are a few simple signs to look out for. These traders:

• Knock on your door
• Offer very cheap home repair services such as driveway resurfacing, roof repairs or painting
• Ask for cash up front
• Usually disappear leaving a shoddy, unfinished job.
• Put pressure on you to do the work that day

Don’t be tempted by unexpected cheap offers. Only use established tradespeople that give written quotes.

Take action!

When a dodgy tradesperson calls on you:

• Say no!
• Take down as much information as you can, such as name and vehicle registration
• Report them to Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81 or itinerant.traders@justice.vic.gov.au
• Warn your friends, family and neighbours

Recent warnings

• Geelong and Surf Coast Shire residents warned of dodgy driveway asphalters - 18 February 2009
• Ballarat residents warned of dodgy driveway asphalters - 12 February 2009
• Wangaratta residents warned of dodgy roof repairers - 12 January 2009
• Shepparton residents warned of dodgy home and driveway repairers - 17 December 2008
• South Barwon and Surf Coast warned of dodgy home and driveway repairers - 1 December 2008
• Murrindi Shire residents warned of dodgy home and driveway repairers - 1 December 2008
• East and south-east Melbourne residents warned of dodgy goods traders - 30 October 2008
• Say no to dodgy itinerant traders - 9 October 2008
• North-east (Hume) Victorian residents warned of dodgy goods traders - 8 October 2008

Known dodgy door-to-door tradespeople
Consumer Affairs Victoria has identified the following dodgy door-to-door tradespeople:

• Joseph Yelding (also known as Joe or Joey Yelding)
• John Stewart (trading as 'Bitumen Driveways')

More resources

• Say 'No' to Dodgy Door-to-Door Traders - brochure (PDF|334KB)
• Itinerant Traders - factsheet (PDF|78KB)
• Door-to-door sales - Easy English factsheet - for people who have difficulty reading and understanding written information (PDF|227KB)
• Can you pick the dodgy tradesperson? - poster (PDF|598KB)
• Join the Fight - poster (PDF|72KB)