What to do when a tradesman disappears?

elemenopee

Hi there,

I wonder if anyone out there can help my friend;

She had a problem with two areas of the roof on her terraced house. She had a few different builders / roofers do quotes and chose one firm to do the job because she was impressed with their apparently thorough survey of the problem.

Long story short, they showed up (all 4 of them!) before Christmas for two days to fix the problems. They appeared to do alot of work and even got her to climb up the ladder a couple of times to show her stuff they were doing. She asked them to drop in the photos they had taken (for insurance company) and receipt after Christmas, but she went ahead and paid them 900euro in advance of receiving those documents.

When they hadn't delivered the photos and receipt a week after Christmas, she started calling their phone numbers only to find both land line and mobile disconnected. And she has no address for them. AND the leaks are continuing.

She has had 2 other roofers round to look at the work and they say it is really badly unfinished - no flashing, no sealing etc and that it will cost 1300 to do the job properly.

The original roofers phones are now disconnected and she doesn't have an address for them.

Any advice on what she can do would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Slig

This really isnt a construction matter anymore. If they disappeared halfway through a build, its common practice but they wont get paid until the job is done so...

I think your friend should contact a solicitor

elemenopee

Sure, she's thought of that, but in light of the 900euros already lost, the 1300 she may have to pay to get the job fixed (she's been so unlucky with this rainy windy weather), she simply can't afford to get into legal costs.

Really, I was just putting a feeler out to see if anyone else had a similar experience and could tell us what they did to remedy the situation.

DOCARCH

Does she have a company name/name of anybody?

This is an old scam you see a lot on TV (you know those hidden camera ones). I'm surprised they didn't break a few tiles/slates with a hammer while they were up there and charge her extra!

smashey

elemenopee, I'm sorry to hear of your frien's problem but this has only one possible outcome and that is to pursue them through the legal route.

As Slig said, your friend should contact a solicitor.

Locked.

muffler

Thought I recognised this.

elemenopee when I lock a thread I seriously dont expect you to come along and open another identical one (minus the snipped text). Infraction given.