Michael Connolly demands money and does a runner! 

We hired Michael Connolly in Cork under contract to complete work in our garden for a price and time determined by Michael.  

Michael requested a payment upfront before starting which we obliged, this was our first mistake! Then another without delivering the work to meet that payment and wanted to be paid upfront once again.

 When I told Michael the work isn't in line with what he promised he became very aggressive. He said he was 'Disgusted' and 'Tools were going down!' even though the progress of the work was short of where it was supposed to be. 

As good people, we felt sorry for Michael as he said he was ill and agreed to pay Michael in advance and in good faith as he promised he would finish the work. 

Michael's lads gathered outside my house while my partner was home alone on the day we agreed to pay Michael for their money.

Soon after the cash was handed over, we had large gaps of no workers at our house despite being paid in advance to be at our house.

When weeks had gone by with nobody at our house, we called to Michael's house, we were welcomed inside where we met his family and we spoke to Michael about not turning up to work, Michael responded that he was ill and said 'I have been given 12 months to live, but I PROMISE to finish your job, and I will be there on Monday, I don't want to be falling out with anyone, I am a man of my word!'....

Michael did not turn up to work on Monday and when I called Michael after 10am, he said 'Don't ever F****** call to my house again, I will be a different man, you will see"

In April 2024, Michael told us he is not returning and he had spent the money we gave him. On another phone call shortly after, Michael then demanded that we pay him more money for 'unpaid VAT', even though our contract has inclusive of VAT and signed by Michael. 

We asked Michael for the money back for the work he did not complete and he replied, 'You are having a laugh'. 

After all of our trouble with Michael, we called to another house we saw Michael working before ours and they have had an identical story to ours. Money being paid and the work being left unfinished and a stressed home owner who feels like they have been swindled and ashamed of themselves for trusting Michael. 

In the short time that this has been here multiple other people have made contact with us and we recommend you continue to do so, customers and suppliers have reported identical scenario's with Michael and this is getting bigger and stronger as the days go by! 

We paid Michael over €20,000 in cash to Michael to create a safe space for our dog and future kids. 3 times a day we need to cross a street to bring our dog to the toilet as our house is an unfinished construction site for months.

The photos below show how Michael has walked away from our house with our life savings in his pocket. 

We're taking legal action against Michael personally, we are also suggesting that revenue investigate how Michael handled the money we (and others) gave him. 

We created this to raise awareness of how Michael Connolly does business in our communities. 

We feel like we have been robbed of our money and misled into handing money to Michael Connolly who was unable/unwilling to deliver what he had promised to do in exchange for money, we hope that this will not happen to others in any area of our beloved Cork City. 

Do not rush in to a job, take your time before you make a decision who to trust with your money, be patient, talk to previous customers, visit current jobs of that builder and pay when the job is done to the standard you are happy with.