Melbourne tradie disappears after taking $8k from couple to build pergola

A Victorian couple are sounding the alarm after waiting more than a year for a tradie to complete a 10-day job, having forked out an $8000 deposit.

A Victorian couple are sounding the alarm over a tradie who received an $8000 deposit from them to build a pergola and deck but instead just disappeared.

Vineel and Sambabi Manikonda, aged 33 and 32 respectively, from southeast Melbourne, say their nightmare has been going on for more than a year, and they’ve even had a baby in that period of time.

They claim a builder called Brian White, the director of Gibson Homes and an asset management company, Chartered Savings Loan and Trust, has failed to complete the job or give them a refund. The builder says he is in New Zealand and dealing with family bereavement.

“He’s got all the excuses in the world, I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Ms Manikonda told news.com.au.

Mr Brian gave them a quote of $15,900 to build the pergola, with half to be paid upfront to cover materials and to start work, slated to take just 10 days to complete.

They paid the $7,950 deposit in April last year and Mr White installed several posts in their backyard in preparation.

Since then, to date, no other work has been done, and Mr White has left the country, and has not answered their calls or replied to their emails or texts for six months, since November last year.

Mr White told news.com.au he currently resides in New Zealand as his brother and father have recently passed away, and is waiting for their estates to be processed so he can pay back the couple. He could not say when this would be.

The posts in their backyard, the only work undertaken in their backyard.

Vineel and Sambabi Manikonda are $8000 in the red from the debacle.

Mr and Ms Manikonda first came across Mr White through Airtasker, employing him to renovate their bathroom in 2021.

This happened without a hitch.

“Ultimately we were happy with what he did,” the pair said.

They asked for Mr White’s advice as they had a little bit of money left over to continue renovating their house, and it was he who suggested the pergola.

This time around, though, the build was plagued with multiple delays.

At first Mr White said they needed to obtain a permit in order for works to commence.

They also had to pay an additional $385 for a soil test.

Then things escalated quickly.

Mr White said he’d lost his driving licence for three months because he was speeding, causing yet another delay.

However, court documents obtained by news.com.au show that Mr White was fined $2000, had his licence suspended for three months and was convicted on May 5, 2023, for several charges, including make threat to kill, criminal damage, assault with weapon, affray – face covering, fail to give name/address and fail to keep safe distance behind a vehicle.

Mr White claimed to news.com.au he lost this case and was charged with these offences as he was not in the country, causing the court to rule against him.

Then in June last year he claimed he had been hit by a car while riding his bike and that it would take months to recover, and he had returned home to his family in New Zealand.

At this point Mr and Ms Manikonda asked for their money back.

Mr White said he was unable to refund them until he settled his father’s estate, as his father had also recently passed away.

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Brian White has still not completed the job, which he said would only take him 10 days.

Mr White’s AirTasker profile.

Repeated texts and calls to Mr White have been ignored.

“I kept calling him repeatedly, like 12 times every day, it used to ring and no one used to answer. That’s when I thought this guy did a runner on us,” Ms Manikonda recalled.

They finally became fed up and sent the builder a final chance email in November last year, threatening legal action, such as taking their case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Mr White responded, asking for them to “please be patient” and reiterating his bike injury he was recovering from.

“I will pay you back your money you have paid so far, less the work and costs already incurred by myself,” Mr White said in an email seen by news.com.au.

“The refund will not be returned until my fathers (sic) estate is cleared in Dec-Jan.”

But five months have passed since that email with no refund forthcoming. This is the last communication they received from Mr White.

As well as calling and texting, they sent a message on WhatsApp, and also a message through AirTasker, which shows it has been read. But none of it has garnered a response from the builder.

“We have been gullible”, Ms Manikonda said, with the new mum adding that her family have been “cheated”.

A year after they paid, and with the extra costs of a newborn as well as Ms Manikonda being on maternity leave and rising interest rates on their property, the couple say the money could go a long way to help their difficult financial situation.

They have since reported Mr White to Consumer Affairs Victoria and plan to engage the services of a debt collector.

Mr White kept pushing back the estimated time he thought he would complete the job.

The couple have forked out nearly $8000 by way of deposit.

In a statement to news.com.au, Mr White said he planned to pay them back but could not commit to when exactly they could expect their refund.

“I would like to repay Vineel (Mr Manikonda) back, but right now I cannot,” he said.

“They are asking the full amount, which I do not accept, but due to the delays and trimming, I suppose it is only fair.

“I thought I would have some funds to pay them, but things get delayed and before you know it, alot (sic) of time has passed …

“I will pay back the deposit when I have some funds to do so, right now I am not sure when that will be …

“I hate what happened, but due to circumstances out of my control, this has happened.”

Mr White did not respond to claims that he was offering “excuse after excuse” in regards to why he could not refund them.

He also added that his brother had recently passed away. This had never been mentioned to the Manikondas.

“Whilst riding my bike I was struck by a car and damaged my rotator cuff, my knee, my elbow and my hands,” he added.

“I still today cannot raise my my right arm above my head nor can I use any muscles in the arm.”

He also claimed he did not receive Mr Manikonda’s multiple calls to him every day as he was in New Zealand and not receiving international numbers.

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Originally published as Melbourne tradie disappears after taking $8k from couple to build pergola