Taryn V.

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Sanlam Trust, a wholly owned and managed subsidiary company of Sanlam Limited, was appointed to administer my late father's estate. Over 7 years have passed since his passing, and we, as the nominated beneficiaries, found it necessary to involve the CEOs of both Sanlam Trust and Sanlam Limited, as well as the Deputy Justice Minister, The Master, The Chief Master, and the Financial Institute of South Africa. We've even had to maintain external counsel at our own expense. All these efforts were triggered by our concerns about what we perceive to be discrepancies in the estate's management, which have resulted, in our view, in financial disadvantage to the estate and ourselves as its beneficiaries, due to actions we believe may not fully align with the executor's fiduciary responsibilities.

One notable incident involved a liability waiver that I signed in my time of grief and mourning in favour of Sanlam Trust. Years later, after careful review, it was acknowledged by Sanlam Trust that this document was not legally valid, despite previous suggestions to the contrary by a senior member of the company. We're still working through a range of other issues and, despite proposing a resolution that is, in fact, more favourable to Sanlam than ourselves, we have yet to receive an acknowledgment or response.

Despite numerous requests, some necessary documents and explanations about certain expenses borne by the estate, which we question the necessity of, have yet to be provided to us. The Administration of Estates Act stipulates that an executor and their agents are required to always act in the best interest of the estate and its beneficiaries. However, the financial impact on the estate due to actions taken during the executorship suggests this principle may not have always been strictly adhered to.

We find ourselves wishing our father hadn't entrusted his estate to Sanlam Trust. We feel that instead of the legacy he intended to leave us, we have been saddled with an ongoing challenge that overshadows our memory of him. This difficult experience, coupled with the need to continue seeking clarity, has prolonged our grieving process, and denied us the closure we need, which is an ongoing source of distress.

Even when this ordeal finally concludes, we suspect we'll still have some distance to go before we can fully reconcile our father's loss, as our memory of his passing has been undeniably tarnished by our prolonged dealings with Sanlam Trust, and by association the entire Sanlam Group. Their apparent unwillingness to adequately address and rectify the situation, a matter which they had the sole legal authority and responsibility to manage, has left an indelible impression on us.

Update July 2023: small claims found in our favour, Trading Standards have intervened, and I'm pleased to report that Mr. Walters is taking responsibility for his actions and repaying us on a monthly basis. I believe a person's character is determined not by their failures, but their ability to own up to their mistakes. On this basis, I have increased my star rating in recognition that Mr. Walters is taking steps to right his wrongs.

Hired Tony Walters of the Modern Landscaper in July 2020 to prepare groundwork for a garden office, so my husband could work from home during COVID. He was then to return to landscape the entire garden as we live in a clay rich area so it was a bog to walk across. Things started out good but around mid October 2020, he downed tools to go work on another job even though we had paid him just over £10,000 by this point, on the understanding that he and his team would be working solely on our garden. They left our driveway a complete mess and despite repeated requests and promises to clear it before Halloween when we were expecting guests, they never followed through which was a source of much embarrassment as we had lots of people walking past our house daily for the village Halloween event to try keep morale up for the local kids during this time.

By the time they returned it was mid December so we had to sit Tony down and said it was clear to us, that they weren't even halfway done and were never going to complete before Christmas (despite the fact it was supposed to be finished before Halloween). So it was agreed they would make things neat and tidy so our garden was somewhat useable over Xmas, and the waste was carted away.

My husband had to work abroad for two months in Jan & Feb 2021 (something we had made Tony well aware of long in advance), and I am bed bound and was starting new treatment while my husband was away, so I couldn't accommodate them during this time. Something we had also made Tony aware of, so we agreed he'd return 8 March 2021. March came, Tony didn't. It was always next week, next week, next week, until he finally came back sometime in April 2021 (something he tried to put on us that we stopped him from working on our garden for almost 4 months when WE had to chase him to return since March, but of course entitled types always take something THEY'VE done and try twist it to put the blame on the other party to suit their needs).

Since his return we counted a total of about 6 full days worked in total, so our garden was barely changed from the state he'd left it in Dec 2020. In the end Tony parted us from £17,000 for a job that has been since quoted as needing at least £15,000 to make right. I wish the story ended there but one thing that kept playing on our minds was that he had barely delivered any of the materials, we'd been forced to pay for upfront. We repeatedly followed up on this, even calling his supplier to confirm the porcelain was in stock—which they did—and they said if Tony ordered it that day (Wed), it would arrive by Friday. Tony agreed to do so, but the next morning he reneged on this agreement and said he wanted to take us up on our previous offer of mediation. At this point it became clear, he either didn't have the money to pay for materials, or had no intention of completing our garden, and mediation was merely a stalling tactic, so we refused.

At this point we began to look into his business history (free to view on Companies House) and found that he had a previous company, FEM Fencing and Landscaping Ltd struck off by companies house for never once submitting a return and it also had a county court judgement (CCJ) against it. We then found another company called Absolute Landscaping XL Ltd, also in the process of being struck off, also with a CCJ, and no returns ever filed. This we felt begged the question - how much must a Director have to hide if they won't even submit a confirmation statement, never mind their actual tax returns to HMRC?

We also found he had at least 5 known CCJs against him personally as he was now operating as a sole trader, and what HMRC refer to as a "Phoenix Director"… someone who sets up companies and as soon as they burn their reputation, set up a rebranded company from the ashes, and carry on doing more of the same.

After this I left a negative review on his Facebook page and shortly thereafter received a barrage of verbally abusive messages from his friend, housemate, and colleague Jamie Richards (attached), accusing us of never having paid Tony. Word reached us that Tony Walters himself, was going around telling this same libellous story to our neighbours so eventually I had to post proof that we had paid him on our village group page, and warned others not to use him. He had also openly admitted to us that he purposefully stays with friends to avoid bailiffs as most of his CJJs appear to be unpaid, dating back to 2014. Yet his Modern Landscaper Instagram account was at that time full of fine dining pictures, holidays, and lavish gifts for his kids, which ours and other people's hard earning savings and cash have clearly paid for.

Since posting on our village group, I have had dozens of people reach other to me sharing similar stories: Tony demands a large deposit of £8,000 "for materials", never starts the job on time, and progress is always slow. One woman reported paying him this £8,000 deposit and he still hasn't turned up to begin the work. When I think of the number of vulnerable elderly pensioners that are prime targets for someone like Tony Walters who conducts themselves in this manner, it really makes my blood boil, as they have a limited income and no means to go out and make more money to make up for their losses, so will likely have to forgo things like heating during the winter and reduce their overall expenses.

Since then have found a few other dodgy things like we paid a Mr Tony A. Walters according to his bank details, but on the last census he reported his name as being Tony CW Walters. I have reported this to Action Fraud for further investigation. We made the mistake of not checking whether he had insurance, so if an accident had happened on our property, we would have been personally liable which makes it all the more concerning that he brought his son on site while open cutting blades were in operation. Fortunately nothing went wrong, but the potential for catastrophe was high and I still feel anxious knowing someone could have easily been injured.

I can go on and on but I think this much is clear: he is a purposeful scammer in my opinion, who does a few good small jobs in a location at a good price, sets up his signs everywhere, so you think he can be trusted, then targets those who are drawn in by his cheap quote and conman charm. If you look at his (now deleted) website and Instagram, you'll also notice that a lot of pictures are taken at night, which I can confirm, conceals a multitude of poor workmanship while appearing to look professionally finished so we will also have to pay for the steps he created to be redone as several slabs have now come loose within only a few weeks of being installed. Many of the pieces were also cut too short and the height between the stairs is not even, so the whole lot requires redoing. The closer we look, the more you notice has been poorly finished and once seen, it sadly cannot be unseen.