A&J Building & Renovations.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cFunnily enough, I almost felt a little bit better because I thought \u2018oh, I\u2019ve been a fool\u2019 but really I think we\u2019ve all been fooled. It\u2019s because we\u2019ve always trusted people and especially here in Ashburton. With people doing those sort of jobs, there has to be some trust between you and that\u2019s been broken by this man,\u201d de Wys said.<\/p>\n
A Tinwald couple told RNZ they hired A&J Building & Renovations for a bathroom and laundry repair job that Jessett left unfinished.<\/p>\n
They said that left them at least $10,000 out of pocket, including materials they paid for, the cost of hiring new contractors to fix or restart poor-quality work and the cost of visiting a laundromat for weeks.<\/p>\n
Some of the money was meant to go to a local electrician, who also told them he had not been paid, the couple said.<\/p>\n
A scaffolding company and a roofing supplier told RNZ they were both owed thousands by A&J Building & Renovations.<\/p>\n
![\"Hilda]()
Hilda de Wys later hired another roofer to do the job and discovered that at least five other people in the town also claimed to have lost money to A&J Building & Renovations. Photo \/ RNZ, Louis Dunham<\/p>\n
Electrical apprentice Meagan Bell said she had worked alongside Jessett at an Ashburton site last year and recommended him to a colleague for a home roofing repair job.<\/p>\n
She said Jessett started the job but did not finish it and her workmate was not refunded the $2000 in cash they paid for materials.<\/p>\n
\u201cAaron would [say] \u2018yup I\u2019m going to come around this weekend\u2019 and then he wouldn\u2019t show and then \u2018oh, sorry, man, I\u2019ll come around next weekend\u2019 and then he wouldn\u2019t show,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate that he\u2019s taking money from people and not doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell and her colleague had cut their losses but de Wys\u2019 daughter Roberta Risk said she was furious.<\/p>\n
She had complained to police and the Commerce Commission and was in the process of lodging a Disputes Tribunal claim to try to get her mother\u2019s money back.<\/p>\n
![\"Aaron]()
Aaron Jessett of A&J Building & Renovations said he took “full responsibility” for the money owed but his customers say they are yet to see a cent. Photo \/ RNZ, Louis Dunham<\/p>\n
Risk said police told her it was a civil matter and there was little they could do.<\/p>\n
Police declined to comment without a privacy waiver from Jessett.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Commission said it had received a report about A&J Building & Renovations and Jessett that was yet to be assessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe consider our enforcement priorities and enforcement criteria when determining whether to take a concern further. While we cannot investigate every concern, they collectively provide us with crucial intel and data on trends,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Risk said she did not want anyone else to lose money.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s managed to get away with it. It\u2019s just been baffling really because it\u2019s a small town and I wouldn\u2019t imagine someone thinking that they could do that and not come unstuck very quickly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It had been immensely stressful seeing her mother\u2019s savings drained and knowing her house was still leaking for weeks, Risk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater was pouring in whenever it was raining and she\u2019s got arthritis and she\u2019s having to get up in the night and change the towels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lost a lot of sleep. It\u2019s been very stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Roberta]()
Roberta Risk. Photo \/ RNZ, Louis Dunham<\/p>\n
RNZ made several attempts to contact Jessett to discuss the complaints.<\/p>\n
He sent one short reply via social media but did not respond to subsequent messages or emails.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m at fault and take full responsibility and I\u2019m working out a plan to pay everything back,\u201d the message said.<\/p>\n
Jessett did not specify what he was at fault for.<\/p>\n
The A&J Building & Renovations Facebook page has been removed but the company remained a registered business.<\/p>\n
RNZ has viewed a TikTok video posted by Jessett in recent weeks that offered investment advice.<\/p>\n
De Wys said she did not believe she would get her money back but hoped Jessett would see the pain he had caused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hope he comes to his senses one day and realises just how many people he\u2019s been ripping off and hurting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Consumer NZ said people should check tradespeople\u2019s experience, licences, insurance, guarantees, examples of work, availability and any red flags online before hiring them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"De Wys said nothing happened for weeks after she paid a $4328 deposit and scaffolding went up. She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6117,74,43769,8988,138,1345,236545,232,22504,11556,111,139,69,90,9769,2742,22505,184140,4524],"class_list":["post-467440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aaron","tag-after","tag-barred","tag-builder","tag-business","tag-home","tag-jessett","tag-jobs","tag-katie","tag-losing","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-owners","tag-thousands","tag-todd","tag-unfinished","tag-want"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}