Several small business operators are thousands of rand out of pocket after paying deposits on mobile food trailers that were never delivered to them.
Five Bay residents told Weekend Post they ordered three trailers and paid deposits of R29,500, R37,000 and R40,000 respectively to Man of Steel owners Debbie Trollip and Peter Hattingh between January and June.
They have neither received the promised trailers — which ranged in price from R37,000 to R50,000 — nor have their sizeable deposits been returned.
The five SMME operators have laid a fraud complaint against Trollip and Hattingh with the police.
Trollip and Hattingh, however, say the delays are not their fault and that they have consulted lawyers because their good name is being tarnished.
NT Hiring and Catering Services co-owners Thandiwe and Abigail Batyi sold their mother’s car to buy a trailer for their catering business in January, hoping to start using it as a mobile kitchen from the end of February.
“I saw Peter and Debbie’s advert on Facebook pages and contacted them,” Thandiwe said.
“We asked to meet and see their work and they gave us their Forest Hill address where they were busy with a trailer that they said was for someone else.”
The Batyi sisters paid a R11,500 deposit on January 5, R500 on January 7 and a further R17,500 on February 5.
They said they were told their trailer — which cost R37,000 — would be ready in two to three weeks.
In a string of WhatsApp texts between Thandiwe and Trollip and Hattingh, Man of Steel kept apologising for the delays, but still failed to deliver the trailer.
“They made a lot of excuses, saying they were having delays and were busy with other people’s trailers.
“Meanwhile they had shown us a structure that looked like our initial design,” Thandiwe said.
In April, the Batyis asked to cancel the order and have their deposit returned.
Thandiwe said Trollip and Hattingh agreed to this, but never complied.
In a WhatsApp received by Thandiwe on April 19, Trollip said: “Hi there, I have to let money come loose out of my business account; it takes up to three weeks.”
When Thandiwe followed up on May 10, Trollip’s responded: “Morning, got a problem with my bank.
“I have to sell or get order for it before I can pay you. I don’t have the facility.
“I bought [too] much material.
“People are taking long to pay their balances.
“I will let you know as soon as I get a sale.
“Won’t take too long. Sorry for the delay.”
Thandiwe said Man of Steel also informed her the trailer had been sent for “gas installation” but, when the Batyis gave them the option to either give them the incomplete trailer and forfeit the remainder of the money or return the deposit, Trollip and Hattingh opted for the latter.
In July, they claimed to have found a buyer for the food trailer and were waiting for the money to “clear”.
SS Zonke catering business owner Noluvuyo Malumbezo said she had received R37,000 in funding from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), which the agency deposited into Hattingh and Trollip’s account on June 29.
Malumbezo said Trollip and Hattingh failed to deliver her promised 3m food trailer, which they had said would be ready in six weeks.
“I was supposed to get the trailer in August but when the time came, they said they were still busy with other orders and I would get mine in September.
“In September, when I went to their place in Forest Hill, I saw the trailer and they had marked my name on it in ink, because it was almost complete.
“But then [Hattingh] started making excuses about strikes in Johannesburg,” Malumbezo said.
In October, Malumbezo was notified by a friend who had noticed the trailer was no longer on the property.
When she followed up with Hattingh, she was told it had been sent for an inspection.
“I last spoke to them in November and was shocked when [Hattingh] sent me a picture of a structure, saying he was going to make [a new] trailer because his employees had left him,” Malumbezo said.
“Now our business can’t move forward and I can't apply for funding from the NYDA again,” Malumbezo said.
Vincent Kyeremeh sold his car to invest in a food truck business with Nelson Mandela University student Nosipho Masitha, owner of Noza’s Cuisines.
He paid a R40,000 deposit on a R50,000 trailer in April.
“We agreed the trailer would be ready by June because we had plans to start operating in July, but they only had a structure with no sheets to show us in July,” Masitha said.
Masitha and Kyeremeh said Trollip and Hattingh requested a further R5,000 in October to complete the trailer.
He did not pay the R5,000 and the trailer was not delivered.
When Weekend Post contacted Trollip on Thursday she claimed the trailer had been complete at the time when she and Hattingh had asked Kyeremeh for the R5,000.
All five business owners met with Trollip at the Humewood police station on Thursday but failed to resolve their differences.
Police Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said three complaints of fraud were lodged against Trollip and Hattingh and the case was transferred to the Mount Road police.
After Thandiwe Batyi alerting people about her experience with Trollip and Hattingh in a Facebook post, several others said they had similar experiences.
Shelly-anne Parker Laubser wrote: “This woman’s [Trollip’s] face just boils my blood. Went [through] the same thing with these people.
“My court case is now two years dragging ... actually [saw] my trailer on Wednesday with [someone] else using it.”
Chanelle Senekal wrote: “Had an incident with them also ... Take them to small claims court. Anything is better than nothing.”
When contacted on Thursday, Trollip said she and Hattingh did have the money to repay the five business operators, but the matter was in the hands of their lawyers.
“Actually, Vincent is the one who didn’t even have the money when the trailer was finished.
“Three of our trailers were taken by the police forcibly ... that 4m [trailer] was for Vincent,” she said.
Asked what had caused the delays, she said: “There are so many factors; the economy ...
“We got a letter of contravention about working at home.
“Our workers stopped working at one stage and we had to train people again; the suppliers; Eskom.
“There are so many things that affect the SA way of doing business and people just [don't see].
“It’s not that we’re not going to give the trailers, it’s just that we’re late with it.”
Hattingh said: “It’s in the hands of the lawyers and it’s a bigger thing than just [that] ... because a lot of these guys are all lying about what they do.”
When sent detailed questions via e-mail, Trollip said: “We are busy seeking legal advice, the intention was never to defraud anyone.”
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