The consumer watchdog has issued a public warning about a marble laying company that allegedly took deposits but did not deliver the service.

In a reaction, the company owner said he was working on paying back the deposits and the situation had been brought about by illness.

The company was named by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority as Bottega del Marmista Limited, whose director is Joe Azzopardi.

It is located in Triq Ħaż-Żebbuġ, Attard, and operates from Durumblat Road, limits of Mosta.

In a statement to the media the authority said Mr Azzopardi, through his company, was “requesting deposits from consumers for marble works and laying of marble, committing himself to execute and deliver the works and material within the period indicated by him but failing to do so, while retaining the deposits to the consumers’ detriment”.

This was repeatedly established by a number of decisions of the Consumer Claims Tribunal from where it resulted that Mr Azzopardi failed to abide by the obligations he had taken upon himself, the authority said.

Times of Malta tried to contact Mr Azzopardi for his reaction using company contact details listed on online directories. However, the mobile number and landline listed were found to be inactive as was the company website. An e-mail sent to the company e-mail address returned back to sender with a “failure notice” notification.

However, Mr Azzopardi later made a comment on timesofmalta.com saying “every effort” was being made to pay the deposits back to the last 12 persons that sought the services of the authority.

“This situation came along after bouts of asthma and related illnesses and thus we had to close doors last September 2012. We paid about 20 deposits back and we await funds from debtors so that we can close this matter,” he said.