Thursday, October 8, 2009

End of the line for Shaun Taylor?

Just back from 2 weeks in Bali as we continue to sort out the mess. There is light at the end of the tunnel, even though it's a very expensive light at least we won't have lost everything.

Meanwhile Shaun Taylor has upset the Balinese couple who were backing him in his new business venture to the extent that they have kicked him out and closed down the office of Brendethan Villas. It would appear that Brendethan Villas is no longer, and Mr Taylor is reduced to carrying out some renovation work. Personally I wouldn't employ him for anything, but then he is a most persuasive con-artist.



As there is no longer a need for warnings about doing business with Brendethan Villas I will remove this blog from the web in a couple of weeks. Just putting this on for the benefit of those who've been following the story.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

some more interesting information!

A few more interesting points about Mr Shaun Taylor's building and construction methods:
1. The contractors he used to build our house (until work stopped altogether) had only previously had experience in building government school buildings - not exactly renowned for their high quality and certainly not sufficient experience to build anything to a reasonable standard.
2. We were promised that only the best materials would be used - but the door and window frames which have been built used young coconut timber and will have to be pulled out and replaced with a timber which won't warp. In the villa next door to ours, already the doors and windows don't open or close properly.
3. We learned by speaking with the contractors that the only time any work at all was done on our villa was when we were about to make a trip to Bali - then Shaun Taylor would give the contractors some money and tell them to get something happening.
4. We have also learned that he cut corners wherever possible - for example using the wrong mixture of sand and cement so that it was cheaper but will not last long.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A warning message for villa purchasers in Lovina

Thinking of buying or leasing a villa in Lovina, Bali? Great idea! It's a beautiful place. But a word of warning - two words actually: Shaun Taylor. This guy has set himself up as a builder of villas around Lovina under the name Brendethan Villas. He also uses the name North Bali Villa Management & Maintenance.


The express purpose of this blog is to urge potential customers of Shaun Taylor or Brendethan Villas to be very, very careful. Over the past 18 months he has left a trail of destruction behind him - promises not kept, villas uncompleted, poor quality workmanship on those he has completed, a failure to face up to his responsibilities (financial, moral and legal) ... in short not the kind of person you would want to have business dealings with.


My wife and I signed a mutual agreement with him in January 2008 and paid a deposit for a villa to be built and leased to us. Work started as promised in about June - by September we had this:

There had been a few delays - illness, an urgent need to complete the villa next door (which was supposed to have been finished by now) ...but all was okay, just send the next installment and it will be definitely finished by the end of the year.








More fool us, this was a guy we thought could be trusted. Off went more money, so by December 4 it had progressed to this:



Wow, not bad for nearly 3 months work!

We cancelled our planned trip to Bali to move into the house in January, for obvious reasons. We were now promised "the end of January at the latest".

Then at the beginning of February we received an email from Shaun Taylor to say that he was now divorced from his Balinese wife, in whose name all the business dealings had been done, and that she (Ketut Santini) was now solely responsible for completion of the villas. However as he had removed all the money that had been deposited by us into her bank account, she was scarcely in a position to do anything.
Two trips to Bali later, we have an agreement with Santini which we hope will resolve the situation we now find ourselves in - at considerable financial loss to both us and her.

However, meanwhile a number of other dissatisfied customers are reporting difficulties with the villas and leases they had signed. Roofs are leaking, swimming pools are leaking, plumbing and electrical wiring are sub-standard ... and Shaun Taylor refuses to take any responsibility for these faults, hiding behind his ex-wife's name on the documents.

So by July 2009 we have progressed to this:




I will invite our next-door neighbours to comment on their own experiences - stay tuned for another horror story courtesy of Shaun Taylor and Brendethan Villas!