Repairman: Gerhard Lottering comes forward
Lottering attempts to defend his honour, calling his misdemeanor "not that bad".
A man approached the Record on Thursday 27 March, introducing himself as Gerhard Lottering, the alleged crook repairman “that everybody has been making comments about”, in an attempt to defend his honour.
His surprise phone call from a private number interrupted the journalist’s hunt for lunch. He is accused of being a conman who walked away with clients’ money, without delivering decent repair service.
He referred to comments made to the online article Local repairman fools residents, 13 February.
“I never have advertised with the Record,” he said, denying proof, in the Record’s possession, of an invoice from ‘Airconditioning Refrigeration Appliance Repairs and Automation Services’ with his name (and the cellphone number people associate with his business) on it.
This same ‘Airconditioning’ title was advertised in the Record during December 2013 and January this year, as evidenced by the print editions and confirmed with the Classifieds Department. Both numbers on the invoice are not being answered and he claimed that he has had the number he was calling from (later revealed to the journalist) for four years. He also claimed to have given his clients different invoices after hearing a description of its layout, but this is yet to be seen.
“I have done people wrong, but it’s not that bad,” said Lottering and attempted to get the journalist’s sympathy.
By his own admission, he still owes a previous client R2 000.
Did the journalist speak to the real Gerhard ‘Gert’ Lottering, and is he the conman that residents claim has conned them?
Read the entire interview in the next print edition of the Record.
