A painter and decorator went viral after taking ‘revenge’ on a customer who allegedly refused to pay for a completed garden fence painting job — sparking debate about tradesman rights and payment disputes

A painter and decorator took matters into his own hand after a customer refused to pay him after painting their garden fence. Furious and left out of pocket, the disgruntled tradesman decided to take action and get his own back after the customers refused to settle the bill.

He’s now issued a stark warning to anyone unhappy with a service or who attempts to avoid payment.

With summer here and more hours being spent outdoors, it’s the perfect time for some garden improvements. A homeowner hired Finishing Touch Sprayers to refresh their garden fence.

They asked for the original brown wood to be changed to a stylish dark grey. However, after the work was finished, the customer claimed they weren’t satisfied and therefore refused to pay.

The furious painter, who had “worked really hard” on the job, decided to take revenge.

Tradesman takes viral revenge after customer refuses to pay

In a TikTok video, he showed his followers the disputed grey fence. After the customer failed to pay, the worker announced: “Can’t pay, we’ll take it away.”

He then applied paint stripper to the fence before using a pressure washer to blast it clean, restoring the panels to their original golden brown colour. “Took our paint back because [the] customer wouldn’t pay,” he stated.

He then asked his viewers: “Would you do the same?”. In a follow-up post, he revealed: “They’re asking me to come back and paint it again, saying they’ll pay double the amount up front now.”

The viral clip prompted a wave of reactions from viewers.

One person remarked: “Never understand why people think they can just not pay for work done…no one has any morals anymore.”

Another quipped, “Looks better now,” while a different user commented: “I’ll never understand why people ruin their fences with awful grey paint. I bet they were glad they didn’t pay now.”

Another TikTok enthusiast chimed in with praise, saying: “You did them a favour, looks fab.”

However, another viewer sought to clarify, pointing out: “You think a pressure washer took the paint off? He clearly added a paint stripper then pressure washed it off. Hence the before look.”

Consumer rights experts outline your rights with tradespeople

Consumer rights specialists at Resolver have weighed in to outline your rights when working with tradespeople.

According to a spokesperson: “If the tradesman failed to deliver what you expected when undertaking work you need to ensure you raise the issue with them as you notice it. It is important not to let lots of little things add up and fester as then they became hard to resolve. First raise the immediately and if you can keep a record of issues that you have raised and what was agreed.”

Their guidance concludes with: “If you do not pay then the tradesman has the right to remove what they have done or they may take you to Court. You should therefore be fair and reasonable in your approach.”