Garage World in Lismore shut down

VICTIMS: Mountain Top couple Don and Linda Schell sit in front of the concrete slab where their Garage World garage is meant to be standing. It isn’t, and they are $26,000 out-of-pocket.

Jacklyn Wagner

GARAGE WORLD in Lismore is no more.

Ryan O Constructions, which traded under the name of Garage World Lismore, has had its franchise withdrawn.

The NSW Office of Fair Trading has also refused to renew the company's licence after it failed to refund customers for work not completed, its owner, Geoff Ryan, has confirmed.

In a horror day for the troubled company, it also had to front the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal of NSW three times yesterday to defend itself against customer complaints. There are a further four listed over the next week.

Don and Linda Schell, of Mountain Top, near Nimbin, are customers who are still waiting for a $26,000 refund.

They signed a contract in November 2007, but when work was not started they became suspicious and lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading.

Like many customers who have contacted The Northern Star, the Schells received a letter from Garage World after the contract was signed informing them the price of steel was about to soar and they could only lock in the price with a 20 per cent deposit. Under the law, builders can only take a 10 per cent deposit.

In May, the company agreed to refund the Schells with weekly payments of $500. The couple are still waiting for their first instalment.

“I don't know anything about that,” Mr Ryan said yesterday.

He confirmed the company was no longer trading, but added it was not bankrupt, nor in the process of liquidation.

“We are not going to leave town. First and foremost we will get all the work done that we have on our books at the moment,” he said.

Ryan O Constructions has traded in Lismore, building sheds and garages under the Garage World banner, for about 20 years.

Mr Ryan revealed for the first time yesterday he was challenging a $9500 fine imposed in May by the NSW Office of Fair Trading for breaches to the Home Warranty Act.

Under the law, builders must take out insurance on jobs, but Mr Ryan said he would argue this does not apply to building on farms.

Mark Finlayson, of Goonellabah, does not live on a farm, but said he discovered during the wait for his work to be completed (it hasn't been) that there was no home warranty insurance on his shed, carport and three awnings. Once again, Mr Ryan agreed to repay Mr Finlayson the outstanding $24,000, but after the first cheque bounced he has not received a cent.