SouthernCrossAI/Reddit-posts · Datasets at Hugging Face

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I've been having a look at some campsites in various parts of NSW that I want to hike around come year-end (assuming the weather actually gets better), but have noticed there is a $6 booking fee for each campground. I would be looking to camp at a different campsite each night, so, even though e.g. if I were to go hiking for a week it would still cost less than $50, I'd prefer not to pay it and have the flexibility to decide to camp anywhere during a trip.
Does anyone actually check if you've booked the campsite online? (In the context of semi remote places, e.g. some of the campgrounds in the high plains areas or the budawangs)
It's been a thing for over two years now at least. I'll skip on the theories about why. Everyone's moved to State Forest areas.
> you could turn up to one that's booked out and not have enough time to find elsewhere.
Even better is when you rock up to a remote site 100kms from the nearest mobile coverage area and get told it has to be done online.
Can't say for certain, but you could turn up to one that's booked out and not have enough time to find elsewhere. You could also set everything up and the person that has booked turns up. Do you want to now pack up and move elsewhere?
My Brother booked one (I think in QLD) turned up to find someone else in his spot. They thought he was joking when he told them to move on. It took them two hours to get the hint that they needed to move.
My experience with the checking has been that they’re all different. Some (generally speaking the better attended, better maintained ones) will have semi-regular ranger patrols, or a caretaker living onsite. I don’t know for certain whether they’re checking car regos and bookings, but they could be.
Some of the more remote ones, or ones where there are quite a few camps within a region but I’ve somehow chosen the shit one with no amenities and no one cares about, are less likely to have an active ranger.
That said, I was the only person at a fairly remote site for four days, and on day 3 a ranger showed up. He pottered around, checked the dunnies, came over for a chat, and specifically asked me if I had a booking. They were pretty chill; I’m not convinced that they would have done anything if I’d said no, but I imagine they could have if they wanted to.
What bothers me the most about making bookings is that "all campgrounds are fully booked" and then you get there and there's clearly plenty of space left.
There website say the reasoning is to prevent the spread of COVID, but this is no longer a valid excuse, and we no longer need to stick to COVID sized crowds in our campgrounds.
busting a nut perhaps?
Tried to enter a Coles at about 8 before midnight. There's people still inside. Manager is having none of it. All I want is to grab some ginger beer, and I'd easily be out before midnight. I assure him. I appeal to his discretion. Nothing doing. I ask for his name. He gives me his name. I ask for his superordinate, he declines to give me his/her name. At this stage, the conversation becomes circular. He's simply dismissing me. I take a shot at him, "look at you - so tough as the manager". He lumps me in with the drug addicts and homeless that frequent the area, "go sleep on the street". Now I didn't get offended because I'm sure he gets it all the time, but I don't think the jabs were commensurate. When he responded further to my original remark with "look at you". I said, "look at me? I would have let you into the store instead of wasting the time discussing it out here." My comments were germane to his abusing the position; his comments were made re my physical appearance. I don't think that's right.
I don't think either of you come off great in this situation. Call it quits and be at the store earlier.
If it was kids nappies it would be a different story but all this over ginger beer is a bit much.
Coles customer service 1800061562.
Post about it on reddit
He doesnt have to let you in the store. Its not a right
Definitely sounds like OP was being an ass. There's two sides to a story, but if OP looks bad telling his side, imagine how bad he will look when manager tells his story.
OP Complaints to customer service won't bare much weight with you provoking the manager "Look at you - So tough as the manager" is provoking him. You started it.
He would not have let me in either way. It was an 11km journey (after a movie), 2 modes of transport. They are the only ones that I know to stock that flavour. At the end of the day, he could have let me in. All would have been avoided. But he was profiling me at the door, as is evident by his comments.
Well, that's why he gets away with it. I have no recourse. He knows that. "I want to speak to the manager". "I am the manager". "Yes, but who's your manager?" I gave you my name, I don't have to give you his name -- google it". He doesn't tell someone to go "sleep on the street" unless he knows he can get away with it.
I'm not disagreeing with that. The right thing would have been to let me in the store instead of extinguishing the time I could have used to pick up the ginger beer, creating a negative situation at the door. It's simply a shit go. I'd have let anyone into the store if they could have assured me they'd be quick. He denied access because he confused me for one of the problematic people that frequent the store. He made a mistake, but doubled down with the comment. It would be the equivalent of having a go at him for being Indian.
What can he say? Something in me must have been giving me the wrong vibe. The truth surfaced. He could have handled it in a more tactful way, but he was inflexible about my running in for a minute. No people skills. And there's racist overtones in what he said. The homeless population in the vicinity of the store are white. I have a slim frame, long hair, beard, high cheek bones, etc. It would be like me saying "go eat with the rats". I think that would be extraneous to a comment about his actions, and quite offensive.
Again, he doesnt need to let you in the store
Ive heard that “just one thing “ ALL the time when i worked retail. All the time
Ive also heard “its my right “ and “you have to serve me” etc
>Something in me must have been giving me the wrong vibe. The truth surfaced.
>
>He could have handled it in a more tactful way, but he was inflexible
>
>No people skills.
The same could be said about you.
You're giving off a lot of "the customer is always right" vibes in a way that I'm surprised you didn't also say "Don't you know who I am? You can't treat me like this"
"look at you, so tough...." is often used as a prelude to a fight, so while he shouldn't have reacted the way he did, I wouldn't be surprised if he took it as a threat and reacted poorly
I think his perspective would be along the lines of "He was late so I didn't let him in, he got aggressive and verbally abusive, trying to intimidate me into letting him in. At that stage I didn't react the best way, but ....". Which is how I read your behaviour.
I believe I've got him by the short and curlies on the comment. At the very least, I should get an apology. That'll injure the young man's ego. I just need consumer affairs or an ombudsman to take it on. There's no point escalating it with Coles; they'll protect their own. It's funny how everyone is ignoring the comment, but if it were a white dude discriminating against an Indian guy...
I asked nicely several times to enter. He wouldn't allow me. I asked to speak to his manager. At this point, there's no getting in. Yes, it irks me when people can't see passed their own ego. No, there's no irascibility. This is when I made the comment. I wasn't near him; I had conceded that I wasn't getting in. He'd been biting his tongue, and it was clear in the way he had treated me. "Are you going to get something specific?" "Can you be out in two minutes?" Can you come back tomorrow?" That's people skills.
A day or two before, I was in another Coles. 2 girls run in at 11.59pm. "It's okay. Don't run". That's how the staff attending to the entrance handled it. It's not like there's a slew of people trying to enter after them, nor was that the case in my instance. And it's not like I was making a habit of it; he's never seen me before. I can appreciate that he wants to close and go home, but perhaps it doesn't help when you are prejudiced against the homeless and those with substance abuse problems - and you then transfer that prejudice to your customers. If he saw me as what he considered to be a person, he may have demonstrated some empathy in letting me in.
You are basically rosa parks
ok
Cool story, bro
Im at my wits end. I hired a Concreter on the 12 Aug 22 to do my driveway. My driveway is 40meters long so it’s a significantly long driveway. He asked for a 40% deposit which I paid him. Transfered from my bank to his. Once he got the deposit he disappeared into thin air. I needed so many things that needed to be scheduled such as electricians to do the wiring for lights electric gates and I needed to know how he would want me to organize it, the plumber for drain off etc etc etc. But as I said once he got his deposit he disappeared. Wouldn’t return my calls wouldn’t reply to my text messages. His email address just bounced. This went on for 2 weeks with no response. I mean at one point I even thought maybe he’s had an accident or something.
So I went to the address he provided on his invoice with the best of intentions. Just to say “hey I need to really know urgently how you want me to organize all these other tradies who too will need access at different stages of the build process”
Turns out it was his house and he wasn’t home. However I get a text from him saying his neighbor reported to him that someone matching my description was outside his house. And what was I doing there. How dare I turn up there.
I got really flustered and explained my predicament to him. Pointing out that I had been trying to contact him for weeks on end in multiple ways with no response.
I actually felt relieved in a way that it was his house. I thought surely if he was out to scam me he wouldn’t put his home address on the invoice. He told me he was out of Sydney and would be back a couple of days later and would be in touch.
Couple of days later nothing. Days go by still nothing and no replies to my calls or texts. Meanwhile I have the electrician hounding me to find out when he needs to come around. The lighting people wanting to know when to deliver the 60 bollard lights that were to be installed. The gates supplier etc etc etc.
The work on the driveway was meant to start on 12 Sept. The date came and went. He then texted me to tell me he won’t be working on the driveway and that he would return my deposit. We are now at the end of October and nothing. I keep on texting practically begging him to give me my money back. I threatened to come over to his house and ask for my money, I threatened to call the cops to his place. Nothing seems to matter. He doesn’t care. He even went so far as to tell me to go to fair trading he didn’t care.
However it gets better. I called fair trading and they asked me to go to the cops to lodge a claim. I decided to go to the cops and relate what had transpired. And the cop who I spoke to basically turned the whole thing around and made me look like the criminal. He was so rude and arrogant and quite scary to be honest. Basically saying I was intimidating and harassing the guy and that he could charge me and put me in jail. I showed him my phone about how he disappeared as soon as he got his deposit, all my attempts to get in touch and he turns the whole thing around and makes me into the baddie. Not a word about acknowledging that this person who had decided to pocket over $10,000 of my money was the actual criminal. I mean he even saw the text where this guy told me, in writing, he wasn’t paying me back!!!
So now what do I do? I had to scrap and save for 4 years to put the money together for the driveway only to have nearly half of it stolen with no hope of getting it back.
If anyone has any suggestions I’m listening
I suggest you use two new lines to make paragraphs on Reddit mobile.
Did you have any paperwork? Any domestic construction job over $5,000 requires a written contract https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/trades-and-businesses/construction-and-trade-essentials/guide-to-home-building-contracts
Fair trading is the gov body that is tasked with helping in your situation. If you can be reasonable & organised, they will help 100%. Good luck.
{Edit: I'm sorry FT sent you to the cops, and that the copper wasn't kind. Again, if you have your paper trail organised & easy to follow, then presenting your case is more straight forward. Contemporaneous notes (writing down things as they happen) are well respected, much better than "this is how I remember it", so see if you have messages & etc to add to your timeline. }
I would start by converting all of what you wrote above into a detailed chronology of factual events. Add the dates and times, and where there is paperwork or a document such as a text message or email, print that off and out it in a folder in date order.
This will clarify to you and anyone who helps you what the timeline is.
Then go back to fair trading and start the discussion again. This is their thing to look at.
Also the other comments so far are useful.
For those of you wondering on the bollards. They are very short much closer to the ground and not very bright. So as to not disturb the neighbors. Not all of them are for the driveway some are for other areas of the property. There is a lot of bush around and it gets very dark at night as there are no street lights.
You could put in a complaint with the [Law Enforcement Conduct Commission](https://www.lecc.nsw.gov.au/) about the behaviour of the officer. That won't help directly with the $10k but may push your local area command to actually investigate the matter.
>60 bollard lights.
>driveway is 40meters
That's a lot of bollards..... Why so many? Could you use 1/2 and save $5k supply/install?
Also: the auto gate is another $5k, so get the conduits in but delay the gate until you get your deposit back.
Police have set up units to look more into these types of crime and ways to engage those unit directly, rather than through the local station.
And report the other cop to the Police Ombudmans
Call your bank and get them to reverse the transfer and find another concreter imo. It's not like omnishambles is going to lift a finger.
Sorry this has happened to you. Decent, reliable tradies in this country are so hard to find.
If only he could have poured you a paragraph.
40 odd meters, bollards at 1.5m centres to close in driveway from vehicles gives around 54 bollards (80/1.5). So 60 doesn't seem out of realm of possibility.
He needs to land his plane.
Thank you for your input. So how do I find these said crime units?? If thats the case then it would really help me out
I have put in for a recall of the funds, but they said they are waiting on the other bank to decide whether to release the money or not. Do you know how the recall system works. It doesn’t seem to sound very reliable. I mean just because one foundation is asking another to return funds…… why would they….??
I am willing to discuss (over a nice schnitzel meal at a pub in Bathurst): that half that number would illuminate the drive nicely.
I will go even further and say only having lights on one side would be just as useful. 40m of driveway with 15 bollards (at most) would be my recommendation. 40m / 15 = 2.7m spacing, so at most it is 1.35m to the nearest light (on one side of the driveway). Option to zigzag along the 40m from left to right, meaning each light is 5.4m from the next on that side, but I reckon that looks a bit weird.
But, end of the day it is OPs house, so they design what they like.
I can't tell you whether or not it's reliable, I don't know how the banks decide. I've used it a handful of times over the years and it has generally sorted me out. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, this Fair Trading page has [advice on how to proceed](https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/building-and-renovating/resolving-building-disputes).
Bank recall is totally inappropriate.
It's a civil matter between a contractor & client.
>illuminate the drive nicely.
By the number I say it isn't based on illumination but instead what I wrote about. 1.5m spacing is standard to block vehicle traffic.
So the concreter has charged a fee, and then refused to perform any form of service. Not like the client has cancelled or given incorrect information that has cost the concreter time and money, but apparently it is a civil matter between the contractor and the client? OK, whatever.
The contractor isn't being civil, he's a dog. Completely appropriate, yfi.
Found the tradie who doesn’t like it when the money gets taken back.
>but apparently it is a civil matter between the contractor and the client
Yep. Customer needs to formally request a full refund for "no services provided".
You do know that civil can mean
>relating to private relations between members of a community; non-criminal.
I was saying OP should take him to small claims court / mediation.
Fuck that, the dickhead 'creter has no right to take a customer deposit if they have no intention of doing the job.
I'm just saying (to the best of my knowledge) that asking the bank to ask the other bank to reverse the transaction seems like the wrong way to do it.
If you bought $50 of groceries at Woolworths, but they charged you $500, would you expect the bank to sort it? Or would you get the store to acknowledge their mistake & issue the credit/refund? Obviously if they don't deal with it correctly then you start a civil proceeding (mediation, fair trading, etc etc).
Brilliant, yes I do (twas a play on words)! and I'm struggling to see where you've mentioned Small claims court/mediation previously!? 🤷‍
Getting a bank to reverse the transaction would be the fastest and easiest way, if unsuccessful it doesn’t cost him anything and he can pursue a civil claim.
[removed]
Your comment was automatically removed because you linked to reddit without using the "no-participation" np. domain.
Reddit links should be of the form "np.reddit.com" or "np.redd.it"

I've been having a look at some campsites in various parts of NSW that I want to hike around come year-end (assuming the weather actually gets better), but have noticed there is a $6 booking fee for each campground. I would be looking to camp at a different campsite each night, so, even though e.g. if I were to go hiking for a week it would still cost less than $50, I'd prefer not to pay it and have the flexibility to decide to camp anywhere during a trip.

Does anyone actually check if you've booked the campsite online? (In the context of semi remote places, e.g. some of the campgrounds in the high plains areas or the budawangs)

It's been a thing for over two years now at least. I'll skip on the theories about why. Everyone's moved to State Forest areas.

> you could turn up to one that's booked out and not have enough time to find elsewhere.

Even better is when you rock up to a remote site 100kms from the nearest mobile coverage area and get told it has to be done online.

Can't say for certain, but you could turn up to one that's booked out and not have enough time to find elsewhere. You could also set everything up and the person that has booked turns up. Do you want to now pack up and move elsewhere?

My Brother booked one (I think in QLD) turned up to find someone else in his spot. They thought he was joking when he told them to move on. It took them two hours to get the hint that they needed to move.

My experience with the checking has been that they’re all different. Some (generally speaking the better attended, better maintained ones) will have semi-regular ranger patrols, or a caretaker living onsite. I don’t know for certain whether they’re checking car regos and bookings, but they could be.

Some of the more remote ones, or ones where there are quite a few camps within a region but I’ve somehow chosen the shit one with no amenities and no one cares about, are less likely to have an active ranger.

That said, I was the only person at a fairly remote site for four days, and on day 3 a ranger showed up. He pottered around, checked the dunnies, came over for a chat, and specifically asked me if I had a booking. They were pretty chill; I’m not convinced that they would have done anything if I’d said no, but I imagine they could have if they wanted to.

What bothers me the most about making bookings is that "all campgrounds are fully booked" and then you get there and there's clearly plenty of space left.

There website say the reasoning is to prevent the spread of COVID, but this is no longer a valid excuse, and we no longer need to stick to COVID sized crowds in our campgrounds.

busting a nut perhaps?

Tried to enter a Coles at about 8 before midnight. There's people still inside. Manager is having none of it. All I want is to grab some ginger beer, and I'd easily be out before midnight. I assure him. I appeal to his discretion. Nothing doing. I ask for his name. He gives me his name. I ask for his superordinate, he declines to give me his/her name. At this stage, the conversation becomes circular. He's simply dismissing me. I take a shot at him, "look at you - so tough as the manager". He lumps me in with the drug addicts and homeless that frequent the area, "go sleep on the street". Now I didn't get offended because I'm sure he gets it all the time, but I don't think the jabs were commensurate. When he responded further to my original remark with "look at you". I said, "look at me? I would have let you into the store instead of wasting the time discussing it out here." My comments were germane to his abusing the position; his comments were made re my physical appearance. I don't think that's right.

I don't think either of you come off great in this situation. Call it quits and be at the store earlier.

If it was kids nappies it would be a different story but all this over ginger beer is a bit much.

Coles customer service 1800061562.

Post about it on reddit

He doesnt have to let you in the store. Its not a right

Definitely sounds like OP was being an ass. There's two sides to a story, but if OP looks bad telling his side, imagine how bad he will look when manager tells his story.

OP Complaints to customer service won't bare much weight with you provoking the manager "Look at you - So tough as the manager" is provoking him. You started it.

He would not have let me in either way. It was an 11km journey (after a movie), 2 modes of transport. They are the only ones that I know to stock that flavour. At the end of the day, he could have let me in. All would have been avoided. But he was profiling me at the door, as is evident by his comments.

Well, that's why he gets away with it. I have no recourse. He knows that. "I want to speak to the manager". "I am the manager". "Yes, but who's your manager?" I gave you my name, I don't have to give you his name -- google it". He doesn't tell someone to go "sleep on the street" unless he knows he can get away with it.

I'm not disagreeing with that. The right thing would have been to let me in the store instead of extinguishing the time I could have used to pick up the ginger beer, creating a negative situation at the door. It's simply a shit go. I'd have let anyone into the store if they could have assured me they'd be quick. He denied access because he confused me for one of the problematic people that frequent the store. He made a mistake, but doubled down with the comment. It would be the equivalent of having a go at him for being Indian.

What can he say? Something in me must have been giving me the wrong vibe. The truth surfaced. He could have handled it in a more tactful way, but he was inflexible about my running in for a minute. No people skills. And there's racist overtones in what he said. The homeless population in the vicinity of the store are white. I have a slim frame, long hair, beard, high cheek bones, etc. It would be like me saying "go eat with the rats". I think that would be extraneous to a comment about his actions, and quite offensive.

Again, he doesnt need to let you in the store

Ive heard that “just one thing “ ALL the time when i worked retail. All the time

Ive also heard “its my right “ and “you have to serve me” etc

>Something in me must have been giving me the wrong vibe. The truth surfaced.

>

>He could have handled it in a more tactful way, but he was inflexible

>

>No people skills.

The same could be said about you.

You're giving off a lot of "the customer is always right" vibes in a way that I'm surprised you didn't also say "Don't you know who I am? You can't treat me like this"

"look at you, so tough...." is often used as a prelude to a fight, so while he shouldn't have reacted the way he did, I wouldn't be surprised if he took it as a threat and reacted poorly

I think his perspective would be along the lines of "He was late so I didn't let him in, he got aggressive and verbally abusive, trying to intimidate me into letting him in. At that stage I didn't react the best way, but ....". Which is how I read your behaviour.

I believe I've got him by the short and curlies on the comment. At the very least, I should get an apology. That'll injure the young man's ego. I just need consumer affairs or an ombudsman to take it on. There's no point escalating it with Coles; they'll protect their own. It's funny how everyone is ignoring the comment, but if it were a white dude discriminating against an Indian guy...

I asked nicely several times to enter. He wouldn't allow me. I asked to speak to his manager. At this point, there's no getting in. Yes, it irks me when people can't see passed their own ego. No, there's no irascibility. This is when I made the comment. I wasn't near him; I had conceded that I wasn't getting in. He'd been biting his tongue, and it was clear in the way he had treated me. "Are you going to get something specific?" "Can you be out in two minutes?" Can you come back tomorrow?" That's people skills.

A day or two before, I was in another Coles. 2 girls run in at 11.59pm. "It's okay. Don't run". That's how the staff attending to the entrance handled it. It's not like there's a slew of people trying to enter after them, nor was that the case in my instance. And it's not like I was making a habit of it; he's never seen me before. I can appreciate that he wants to close and go home, but perhaps it doesn't help when you are prejudiced against the homeless and those with substance abuse problems - and you then transfer that prejudice to your customers. If he saw me as what he considered to be a person, he may have demonstrated some empathy in letting me in.

You are basically rosa parks

ok

Cool story, bro

Im at my wits end. I hired a Concreter on the 12 Aug 22 to do my driveway. My driveway is 40meters long so it’s a significantly long driveway. He asked for a 40% deposit which I paid him. Transfered from my bank to his. Once he got the deposit he disappeared into thin air. I needed so many things that needed to be scheduled such as electricians to do the wiring for lights electric gates and I needed to know how he would want me to organize it, the plumber for drain off etc etc etc. But as I said once he got his deposit he disappeared. Wouldn’t return my calls wouldn’t reply to my text messages. His email address just bounced. This went on for 2 weeks with no response. I mean at one point I even thought maybe he’s had an accident or something.

So I went to the address he provided on his invoice with the best of intentions. Just to say “hey I need to really know urgently how you want me to organize all these other tradies who too will need access at different stages of the build process”

Turns out it was his house and he wasn’t home. However I get a text from him saying his neighbor reported to him that someone matching my description was outside his house. And what was I doing there. How dare I turn up there.

I got really flustered and explained my predicament to him. Pointing out that I had been trying to contact him for weeks on end in multiple ways with no response.

I actually felt relieved in a way that it was his house. I thought surely if he was out to scam me he wouldn’t put his home address on the invoice. He told me he was out of Sydney and would be back a couple of days later and would be in touch.

Couple of days later nothing. Days go by still nothing and no replies to my calls or texts. Meanwhile I have the electrician hounding me to find out when he needs to come around. The lighting people wanting to know when to deliver the 60 bollard lights that were to be installed. The gates supplier etc etc etc.

The work on the driveway was meant to start on 12 Sept. The date came and went. He then texted me to tell me he won’t be working on the driveway and that he would return my deposit. We are now at the end of October and nothing. I keep on texting practically begging him to give me my money back. I threatened to come over to his house and ask for my money, I threatened to call the cops to his place. Nothing seems to matter. He doesn’t care. He even went so far as to tell me to go to fair trading he didn’t care.

However it gets better. I called fair trading and they asked me to go to the cops to lodge a claim. I decided to go to the cops and relate what had transpired. And the cop who I spoke to basically turned the whole thing around and made me look like the criminal. He was so rude and arrogant and quite scary to be honest. Basically saying I was intimidating and harassing the guy and that he could charge me and put me in jail. I showed him my phone about how he disappeared as soon as he got his deposit, all my attempts to get in touch and he turns the whole thing around and makes me into the baddie. Not a word about acknowledging that this person who had decided to pocket over $10,000 of my money was the actual criminal. I mean he even saw the text where this guy told me, in writing, he wasn’t paying me back!!!

So now what do I do? I had to scrap and save for 4 years to put the money together for the driveway only to have nearly half of it stolen with no hope of getting it back.

If anyone has any suggestions I’m listening

I suggest you use two new lines to make paragraphs on Reddit mobile.

Did you have any paperwork? Any domestic construction job over $5,000 requires a written contract https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/trades-and-businesses/construction-and-trade-essentials/guide-to-home-building-contracts

Fair trading is the gov body that is tasked with helping in your situation. If you can be reasonable & organised, they will help 100%. Good luck.

{Edit: I'm sorry FT sent you to the cops, and that the copper wasn't kind. Again, if you have your paper trail organised & easy to follow, then presenting your case is more straight forward. Contemporaneous notes (writing down things as they happen) are well respected, much better than "this is how I remember it", so see if you have messages & etc to add to your timeline. }

I would start by converting all of what you wrote above into a detailed chronology of factual events. Add the dates and times, and where there is paperwork or a document such as a text message or email, print that off and out it in a folder in date order.

This will clarify to you and anyone who helps you what the timeline is.

Then go back to fair trading and start the discussion again. This is their thing to look at.

Also the other comments so far are useful.

For those of you wondering on the bollards. They are very short much closer to the ground and not very bright. So as to not disturb the neighbors. Not all of them are for the driveway some are for other areas of the property. There is a lot of bush around and it gets very dark at night as there are no street lights.

You could put in a complaint with the [Law Enforcement Conduct Commission](https://www.lecc.nsw.gov.au/) about the behaviour of the officer. That won't help directly with the $10k but may push your local area command to actually investigate the matter.

>60 bollard lights.

>driveway is 40meters

That's a lot of bollards..... Why so many? Could you use 1/2 and save $5k supply/install?

Also: the auto gate is another $5k, so get the conduits in but delay the gate until you get your deposit back.

Police have set up units to look more into these types of crime and ways to engage those unit directly, rather than through the local station.

And report the other cop to the Police Ombudmans

Call your bank and get them to reverse the transfer and find another concreter imo. It's not like omnishambles is going to lift a finger.

Sorry this has happened to you. Decent, reliable tradies in this country are so hard to find.

If only he could have poured you a paragraph.

40 odd meters, bollards at 1.5m centres to close in driveway from vehicles gives around 54 bollards (80/1.5). So 60 doesn't seem out of realm of possibility.

He needs to land his plane.

Thank you for your input. So how do I find these said crime units?? If thats the case then it would really help me out

I have put in for a recall of the funds, but they said they are waiting on the other bank to decide whether to release the money or not. Do you know how the recall system works. It doesn’t seem to sound very reliable. I mean just because one foundation is asking another to return funds…… why would they….??

I am willing to discuss (over a nice schnitzel meal at a pub in Bathurst): that half that number would illuminate the drive nicely.

I will go even further and say only having lights on one side would be just as useful. 40m of driveway with 15 bollards (at most) would be my recommendation. 40m / 15 = 2.7m spacing, so at most it is 1.35m to the nearest light (on one side of the driveway). Option to zigzag along the 40m from left to right, meaning each light is 5.4m from the next on that side, but I reckon that looks a bit weird.

But, end of the day it is OPs house, so they design what they like.

I can't tell you whether or not it's reliable, I don't know how the banks decide. I've used it a handful of times over the years and it has generally sorted me out. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, this Fair Trading page has [advice on how to proceed](https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/building-and-renovating/resolving-building-disputes).

Bank recall is totally inappropriate.

It's a civil matter between a contractor & client.

>illuminate the drive nicely.

By the number I say it isn't based on illumination but instead what I wrote about. 1.5m spacing is standard to block vehicle traffic.

So the concreter has charged a fee, and then refused to perform any form of service. Not like the client has cancelled or given incorrect information that has cost the concreter time and money, but apparently it is a civil matter between the contractor and the client? OK, whatever.

The contractor isn't being civil, he's a dog. Completely appropriate, yfi.

Found the tradie who doesn’t like it when the money gets taken back.

>but apparently it is a civil matter between the contractor and the client

Yep. Customer needs to formally request a full refund for "no services provided".

You do know that civil can mean

>relating to private relations between members of a community; non-criminal.

I was saying OP should take him to small claims court / mediation.

Fuck that, the dickhead 'creter has no right to take a customer deposit if they have no intention of doing the job.

I'm just saying (to the best of my knowledge) that asking the bank to ask the other bank to reverse the transaction seems like the wrong way to do it.

If you bought $50 of groceries at Woolworths, but they charged you $500, would you expect the bank to sort it? Or would you get the store to acknowledge their mistake & issue the credit/refund? Obviously if they don't deal with it correctly then you start a civil proceeding (mediation, fair trading, etc etc).

Brilliant, yes I do (twas a play on words)! and I'm struggling to see where you've mentioned Small claims court/mediation previously!? 🤷‍

Getting a bank to reverse the transaction would be the fastest and easiest way, if unsuccessful it doesn’t cost him anything and he can pursue a civil claim.

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