By Kyra Gillespie
Pakenham grandmother Iris Spencer is one of several customers thousands of dollars out of pocket after a granny flat business went bust.
Ms Spencer, who is living with leukaemia, saved for years to purchase a flat she could call home at the back of her daughter’s place in Pakenham.
She purchased the home from Hallam factory Express Homes for $28,000 with the hopes of moving in around Christmas last year.
After the family endured countless building delays along the way, the final blow came upon discovering the company was liquidated in May.
Iris fears she will never get the flat or her money back.
“He [company owner Gaetan Barallon] said it would be ready before Christmas last year, and then we had problem after problem,” Ms Spencer said.
“He then told us that they needed an extra five thousand to complete it – that was days before he went broke.
“Then we were told that the granny flat was stolen from the warehouse, and it just so happens that he had turned the alarms off, didn’t lock the door and turned off the video cameras.”
The Hallam factory is now abandoned and its former landlord, Andrew Chessells, said he’s had “a lot of unhappy people” show up for unfinished homes that had already been paid for.
The flat came under the category of a ‘dependent person’s unit’ and was intended to give Iris the space she needed to cope with her many illnesses while receiving care from her family.
Daughter Jessica Walsh, on whose property the flat was to be situated, said she is still in disbelief about the whole situation.
“They were due here on May 4 to lay the footings for the unit and I got an email from them at 6.30am to say the concreter allegedly cancelled,” Jessica said.
“That’s when I decided we’d better pick up our materials, because it was going back and forth so much and if I just had the materials I could have hired any concreter to do the job.
“He said we could pick up the materials on the Sunday, but there was lots of stuff we couldn’t get to, and he didn’t respond to my emails and calls until the Tuesday when he responded and said it would all be with the liquidator. It happened that quickly.”
Now they are stuck with half the amount of materials they need to build the kit home, no compensation and a whole lot of questions.
They say they have since connected with 42 other paying customers who were also promised the same unit.
On top of the whole ordeal, the family continues to fork out for additional costs.
“When they apologised for about the third time about more delays they agreed to provide storage for mum’s things she had bought before Christmas,” Jess explained.
“They said they’d provide storage, then the date they were due to pick up her things came and went.
“He said to just get storage and that he would pay for it, and now all her stuff’s in here and we are the ones paying the $350 a month.”
“It would almost be cheaper to chuck it all out and start again,” Iris added.
“It hardly makes buying an air conditioner for $700 worth it when we are paying $350 per month to store it because we have nowhere else to put it.
“All the things I bought will have run out of guarantee by the time I even open the box.”
Company owner Gaetan Barallon, is also the Consulate General of Seychelles in Melbourne.
He allegedly told Ms Spencer that he had been suffering from depression when questioned over his company’s tardiness.
“He even made me empathetic to him telling me he ended up in hospital over Christmas because of depression and that he couldn’t be left on his own,” Ms Spencer said.
“I’ve suffered depression – it’s the number one of most of my medical conditions. But I still had something to look forward to with my own little unit on the way.
“For him to say that and for me to sympathise, and then all the things that have gone on since … it all feels like a big lie.”
Mr Barallon has been contacted by the Gazette for comment.
The family are desperately searching for a local surveyor to help them get the unit built.
If you, or anyone you know could help Ms Spencer, please send your details through to kyra.gillespie@starnewsgroup.com.au
