Cemented Driveway scam

RosieRo

I don't know if this is in the right board or not, please feel free to move it if necessary.

My Mam had some fella round to cement her driveway, he did the work and she paid him €2000 as requested and he said he'd be back to skim it and make it smooth but he never returned.

My mother has called him several times to no avail he just keeps saying he'll come over and of course like all scam artists it's nothing but filthy dirty lies.

The driveway is a wreck, other companies have come out to see it and said they would have to dig the whole thing up and gave my Mam a quote of around €3000.

The scam artist runs a non-registered company it turns out. I don't really know if I should even attempt to take him to the small claims court because of this or what I should do. Any ideas?

This person has taken advantage of my mother who lives alone and I'm sure she is not the first or indeed the last. I'm only raging that someone would take advantage of her in this way. How can I make sure this scumbag doesn't do this again?

thefinalstage

RosieRo wrote:

I don't know if this is in the right board or not, please feel free to move it if necessary.

My Mam had some fella round to cement her driveway, he did the work and she paid him €2000 as requested and he said he'd be back to skim it and make it smooth but he never returned.

My mother has called him several times to no avail he just keeps saying he'll come over and of course like all scam artists it's nothing but filthy dirty lies.

The driveway is a wreck, other companies have come out to see it and said they would have to dig the whole thing up and gave my Mam a quote of around €3000.

The scam artist runs a non-registered company it turns out. I don't really know if I should even attempt to take him to the small claims court because of this or what I should do. Any ideas?

This person has taken advantage of my mother who lives alone and I'm sure she is not the first or indeed the last. I'm only raging that someone would take advantage of her in this way. How can I make sure this scumbag doesn't do this again?

Break his back. Failing that report him to the Garda. If I was in that situation I would go with option A...

yop

Report him to guards and talk to a solicitor, he cannot get away with this, she has to have something to protect her.

Talk to Joe Duffy, consumer affairs etc

RosieRo

thelastangryman wrote:

Break his back. Failing that report him to the Garda. If I was in that situation I would go with option A...

Sure then he'd get disability money for the rest of his life, I can't have that. Perhaps his legs, they'll eventually heal.

aidan_walsh

RosieRo wrote:

I don't really know if I should even attempt to take him to the small claims court because of this or what I should do. Any ideas?

I'd take this as a route to start on.

Bad workmanship is one of the areas the SCC works on. By charging €2000, he left himself just on the upper limit that you can use the Small Claims process, it will only cost you €9 whether you win or lose the claim.

More information here.

thefinalstage

RosieRo wrote:

Sure then he'd get disability money for the rest of his life, I can't have that. Perhaps his legs, they'll eventually heal.

Yeah but that means he can eventually work again..

Then break his legs again. Win/win

knighted

revenue commissioners-hit him where it hurts -quickest course of action is if u can get the reg of his van -(probably untaxed )pass it on to the revenue and social welfare with ur story -i wouldnt normally have a problem with someone doing a job for cash but this lad sounds a scumbag for ripping ur mother off -

snappieT

aidan_walsh wrote:

I'd take this as a route to start on.

Bad workmanship is one of the areas the SCC works on. By charging €2000, he left himself just on the upper limit that you can use the Small Claims process, it will only cost you €9 whether you win or lose the claim.

More information here.

Actually, what happens if he doesn't turn up?
Perverting the course of justice? Jail?

RainyDay

snappieT wrote:

Actually, what happens if he doesn't turn up?
Perverting the course of justice? Jail?

I got a small claims court judgement against a tradesman who took a deposit of a couple of hundred quid years back, but enforcing this judgement (i.e. getting the money) is a different issue altogether. There is a long drawn out process to get a judgement enforced (there was a thread on Askaboutmoney.com describing this process), so I just gave up.

Stevo_76

Hi there

I'm just after coming across this thread now. A similar thing happened me last year. A builder from Walkinstown who was supposed to build a some decking in our back garden asked for an advance "to buy some materials" and we foolishly handed him over a cheque for €900 (of course, no receipt was given). The deck was supposed to be built within a week of handing over the money, but all that was done was our garden was dug up and some gravel put down where the grass was and the deck was supposed to be built over that. No sign of any deck and no-one called around for 4 weeks. After chasing him for 4 weeks, I eventually got hold of him and told him I wanted our money back. 4 weeks later, and still no sign of our money, so I took the case to the Small Claims Court. He didn't respond, so be default we won the case. He still didn't pay tho. A decree was sent out by the Sheriff's office, but still no cash. We eventually got the decree back from the Sheriff's office with it stamped "No goods" on the back, meaning he simply ignored all correspondance from both the Small Claims Court and the Sheriff's office. This has been going on since this time last year. My wife eventually got him to call her last week by leaving a message with his wife at his home (he didn't recognise her name/number and obviously called her back because he thought it was about a possible job). He told her he would give us €750 which we agreeed to, but the following day rang her back to say that he would only give us the cash if we would send a letter to the Sheriff's office clearing his name and when he got the letter, he would forward on the money. Unfortunately I was away when he called her and have been trying to call him since to say that's not acceptable. I've been trying to get in touch since, but his mobile is constantly switched off and there's no space left for any messages or when I call his house phone one of his family answers the phone to say that he's either gone to work or not home from work (even at 9.30 in the evening!).

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is the Small Claims Court seems to favour the person who the claim is made against, as he/she can simply ignore all correspondance and nothing will happen to them. What's the point?! (Apologies for the long drawn out story above - just wanted to give you the details.)

I'm now going to contact the Gardai to see what they say. He effectively stole €900 from us - surely that's a criminal act and they have to be able to do something about it. Failing that I'm bringing the case to the District Court where he will have to turn up to court and face legal costs and if necessary further than that. By not responding to the small claim, he has effectively admitted liability, so in theory shouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Also, is there anywhere that you can name and shame cowboy builders - I'll gladly do it to warn anyone else who might come across him.

eth0_

So he stole 900 euro from you, and then tried to bribe you? And not even for the full sum owed?

Definitely contact the gardai!

Sonnenblumen

Simple background checks to determine reliability, quality of workmanship and comparative quotes. A lttle effort saves alot of heartache. But people are fooled a lot and opt for the 50% discount offers from 'we're working in the neighbourhood' cowboys.

Proper homework is alot less time consuming than dealing with the consequences of a cowboy effort.