Firstly, there is the assumption that the supplier will act with ‘reasonable care and skill’. This causes the greatest number of disputes and complaints simply due to the subjective nature of what is reasonable, and for this reason a court will take into account the nature of the service, the nature of the supplier and all other relevant circumstances. For example, if you opt to pay less to have a trainee cut your hair and you were aware of this, you would have little come back should that trainee do a poor job. If, on the other hand, you believe you are buying the services of an award-winning professional, your expectations are going to be much higher. Where substandard work has been carried out, you may well have incurred greater potential costs to have the work put right, so it is not enough simply to ask for your money back. In such circumstances, it may be more appropriate to pursue a claim for damages.
What about contracts for services?
- They are taking forever to do the work!
- It cost me a fortune!
- The price was significantly higher than the estimate
- The job was done as a ‘foreigner’. Do I have any rights?
- How much can I claim in damages?
Join our 
Got father in law to complete block drive, told us it would cost £600, including materials. He was unable to get the correct materials so we purchased them – these cost £380. He is now trying to charge us another £400 for his time. The job he has done is very poor and he has cut many corners by just laying the block on sand with a bit of cement. When we mentioned to him about the quality of his work he went mad and was very abusive. Do we have to pay him the rest of the money?
Mistaken for the official UK licensing website I paid £50 pound to http://www.drivinglicense.uk, but later found I need to pay £50 seperate to DVLA for my provisional license. I requested for a refund and was informed that their policy doesnot allow refund. I contacted the same day before anything could have been done by them to charge me.
do not use a wayne smith,cowboy builder from Barnsley.
in Barnsley we have britains most prolific conman,people have committed suicide because of him ,homes and lives are destroyed This cowboy wayne smith claims he pays thr local authorities off to allow him to continue his crimes,smith is not gas safe registered but that does not stop him.a meeting is to be held in march to lobby central government to listen and take action, At least 100 of smiths victims will attend.
I stupidly paid £4500 up from for a conservatory to be built, the work was due to be completed on Dec 16th 2014 but by that point we only had the foundation wall built. We are now in March 2015 and it has been a constant struggle all the way and for the last month he is not answering his phone.
I have consequently rang the building that his company operates from and he has left there owing them money, they said he has gone into liquidation and they had found out that he had set up a new company in another name. When i investigated this i found out that he has had several companies over the last few years.
I have lost all hope of having my conservatory finished by this man but he is still operating and taking money off people but he will have no intentions of completing the work.
Please Advise as they were not a local company and i have no idea of what to do next.
Go to the Citizens Advice find out what your Consumer Rights are .
Report him to Trading Standards. The CA can advise you where you stand legally.
Here is a link that will give you some advice. Copy and paste this into your browser. http//skin.mwalimubora.co.ke/dealing-with-dodgy-tradesmen-or-builders. of what he has done.
Take photos, keep a diary. Get 3 quotes from other builders so you know how much it will be to finish the work. look on the checkatrade website for companies near you
Good Luck!
Denise
I engaged a builder through web side, found one, he seems honest man, we draw the contract,every thing written down, agreed with quote, but he was taking to long also sending one guy every day who was working, like plasterer, decorated, tiling, carpentry etc, I knew he will take for ever to finish the job, I objected that you said you will bring 4 guys but again one person, he replied pay me more I bring more people, then he took the guy and brought the trucks and took all his belongings plus my stuff too. 35% work was left, I had to engaged another builder to finish his left over,the work started on the 13th.March, I am still working with builder now.
Please help me to catch this Con man.
Kind regards
Seema Sarwar
Hi
You can go to, or telephone the Citizens Advice to see what your rights are as a consumer. You can report him to the Trading Standards Office.
There are many websites offering advice. such as . http//skin.mwalimubora.co.ke/dealing-with-dodgy-tradesmen-or-builders. Keep a diary and photos of everything he has done.
There are so many people in the UK who have has the same thing happen to them. Me included!
Good Luck
Denise
I chose a builder to do a renovation on a 1 bed flat. I chose him from the My Builder. Com web site. His testimonials from other customers were quite impressive.
He quoted a 2/3 week time scale to compete the work. 7 weeks passed. I was abroad for 3 of them. When we arranged to meet for the handover my jaw dropped. His workmanship was dreadful…. When I told him this he threw a tantrum, stormed out & said he would not be returning. He had 10k of the 16k we hadagreed on. I have since had a surveyor & 4 other builders to come & see his work. They are appalled. What little work that he has done, has to be re done. The flat is far from finished. His plumbing & electrical work is beyond anything we have seen…. I chose a ” Cowboy Builder” who has conned me, a widower of £10,000. To add insult to injury he is now demanding an apology for calling him a con man. He is also wanting me to pay him a further 5k even though the whole flat is a disaster area & the refurbishment is unfinished. Quite frankly I would rather go to prison then pay him a penny more.
I just want to expose for what he did but do not know how to go about it.?
Hi
Not sure if you have resolved this issue. I am in a similar situation now! Like you my builder had business cards an impressive website with reviews that I now believe to all be fake! He too was/is a complete con-man.
You are not alone this happens all the time and is a huge problem. Phone the citizens advice or better go and see them to see what your rights are. You can report him to the Trading Standards Office, via them.
You can start a claim with the small claims court. If you claim for under 10,000. You do not need a solicitor to do this Citizens Advice may be able to help you complete the form.
DO NOT pay him any more money. As a consumer you are entitled to have the work completed to a standard that shows reasonable skill and care has been taken.
Get as much evidence as you can. Write down everything that has happened. Take Photos Get quotes from other people to repair work.
You can report him to the police. He has broken the law, not you.
I do hope you get it sorted. It is all so stressful. I am in the process of gathering evidence myself now. You still have enough time to do this.
Best of Luck
Denise
I have this exactly, except I have paid £13,000 to a man who did work that sounds exactly the same as your builder. I have been told I have to strip everything and start again…… Did you manage to get any money back?
We have had a roofer to fix our garage roof. However we are not happy with his workmanship as the flashing he applied is coming away and is loose. I have contacted him and he has refused to put the job right.
Thanking you in anticipation of a reply.
I have experienced the same problem with a roofer /builder in the Harpenden/Luton area. My garage wall is soaking as the flat roof hasn’t been done properly. The builder promised time and time again to return and rectify it but has never done so. They have now changed their company name so I assume the original company is bankrupt and they have set up again.
Had the misfortune to use Able Group Locksmiths in Stockport on 27 December. Replaced one cylinder lock £239 for 1 hours work. Overpriced exploitation of vulnerable people.
Do not use GLASGOW SLIDES. They supposedly fit sliding wardrobes in your home but their work is shoddy and too terrible to describe. They are unreliable and after 6 months of messing us about, walked off the job. We were very lucky to find a good joiner to finish and fix what they had done. They talk big but Do Not Deliver. This is a warning to anyone in the Glasgow or surrounding area as I wouldn’t want them to go through what I did. Find a trusted traider or a recommendation from a friend.
I try everything since January to find the cowboy builders & thief All i have are mobile number & email Address
No reply from either of them. Came recommended from neighbour but they refuse 2 help me .Plumbers stole material +35 meters of copper they sold
I am a pensioner and cannot pay someone else to repair the bad job Who can find one of them home address .My solicitor can’t help me .Need help Mrs J Haystead
Run a mile from Jim Peters from Thornliebank, Glasgow. I stupidly paid him £5400.00 to refit my bathroom. It is a complete disaster, shoddy workmanship just doesn’t cover it. Materials I think he picked up at the local dump. This man was actually recommended to me.
Think I’ve had the same Guy. Do you have any info on him?
We payed whitakers painting and decorating to come and paint and wallpaper our stairs and landing total cost was 300 with doin job he used 6 rolls of paper as advised but shouldn’t of been more than 4 rolls it was brick effect he never matched the brick work looked atrocious and damaged paper with ladders then patched over top he lapped over as couldn’t do full lengths on wall and ripped the paper in places I have taken pics of the work he’s promised to refund still waiting after excuse after excuse to not pay he offered to redo work but said no as he’s incompetent to do it and apparently with 19 years experience looked like a child had done it and left me out of 300 and a mess what can I do about this as he keeps changing name of company from whitakers painting and decorating to mcj painting and decorating to get my cash back I’m not the only one who he’s done this to and given empty promises to I have photographic evidence of the work thank you mark 07818399166
I employed someone to build me a bespoke kitchen and bedroom, his work got progressively worse ! Iv paid for the kitchen and he didn’t finish the snagging list. I have refused to pay for the unfinished, shoddy bedroom fitments but he is now threatening to take me to court to recover £5,000, where do I stand ?
Jonathan P Walker COWBOY BUILDER
This person is the worst, he traded as REEF Homes and built unsafe houses, the last one took 140,000 to put right, this is borne out by the litigation, the out of court settlement and the planning officer of Beverley in East Yorkshire.
He has since changed his name to Moorcroft (Lund) Ltd and building the same unsafe properties as he did before. He will be caught again but he just changes his company and moves on. He has connections in the Council as he was a council Leader and his family take turns to hold that position (his uncle is now in that position) his family are the biggest landowners and his wife has the Nursery also in the village, also the Beverley council keep giving him planning permission, so something is wrong there as well.
Please can you help as someone will get hurt of even killed if he is not stopped, I have tried but the village council under the family control override it.
is weatherseal a dodgy company i thought they wer legit
Cowboy cross please guys just be away might not be bad company but the lad that works for them is dodgy as u can get tuck me over a year to sort out his mess yes he’s bad hope company see Denver and let him go or he will. Ring em down
In 2012 we bought a frameless glass shower with all the necessary fittings and expensive panels instead of tiles as I’m disabled and I wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning grout. I bought from a very expensive shop in an expensive area as I mistakenly thought that would mean a good job. The saga is very long but basically they have been back 9 times because of leaks, 2 of which has come through the downstairs light fitment. They have put so many plastic or metal around the hinges and door that it will not close, it is open a full finger size. The solid tray cracked and leaked and their own plumber has said it is not a surface crack. Unbelievably the shop said trays are guaranteed for a year. They want to put in a new cubicle and tray at my expense. This month i have had a plumber look (not shop) and he has said the tray plug was sitting on a void with no support. The mess of the doors speak for themselves and having removed the floor covering the leaks have proved to be further around the bathroom than I thought.
Because everything has to be removed including the panels I have been quoted £4,600. Do I have a redress against the shop, its a year now since I have been able to use the shower. Any help and advice would be most welcome. Thank you, sarah s
I need to report a person called Andy biddle who has not fitted my guttering in my house right…It is still leaking he has been round a few times to sort it but still leaking and dose not come round anymore to sort it…..Can you give me some advise how to stop this person doing jobs for others when he is not good at all….Thanks…Ake
I recently had a roofer to install dry verges on my roof. I had an appointment the morning he started , but came home later and saw him wedging the plastic verges on one of my gables. I stupidly did not challenge him as I assumed that this was standard practice. But later my neighbour had a similar job done. I took particular notice how the installing took place and saw that a row of tiles were taken off each gable edge and the plastic verges nailed down onto the roof battens.
I now realised that I had been hoodwinked and contacted “Consumer Direct who said that I needed to get in touch with someone to check the work. This has turned out very difficult not least but scaffolding has to be assembled and the work done ,completely opened up to expose the problem . I’m at my wits end thinking of it , I’m 82 and I suppose I was seen as an easy toouch