Roof scam? - Urgent help pls

Rebelbrowser

A "roofing contractor" called on spec to my parents today asking if they needed work done. By chance they did have a small repair job but when the contractor began work, they apparently found around 100 broken tiles which needed replacement. In replacing these (there and then) they found an underlying problem which requires a near total roof replacement. They asked for a total of 4k for the first phase of the work (completed on the day) and are now doing the bigger job which will be done in 1 day and costing another 14k. They gave a leaflet listing a company with addresses in Cork, Dublin and Limerick and have a legitimate looking website. My parents unbelievably went to the bank today and withdrew 4k in cash which they paid and are waiting on the contractors to arrive tomorrow, expecting to pay the balance. The roof is now part exposed so repairs are urgent, either way.

I presume this is a scam, has anyone heard of anything similar? Or know what the approx. cost of this type of job would be (big roof, 2000 sq ft bungalow) Even if damage was legitimate I cannot see how any 2 day job could cost this much? (4 men on site today, 6 tomorrow)

I am happy to PM company name. Any helpful suggestions appreciated, I am very worried about this as they are coming back in early morn and parents are very vulnerable.

ABajaninCork

I'm surprised you're even giving this a second thought! Tell the contractors that you'll be getting the roof surveyed independently, and will find someone else to do any necessary work. Have someone with your parents when they call, as moral support and back up.

And be prepared to call the Gards if necessary.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Pm company name and area. Cold calling people sounds strange tho

ABajaninCork

No reputable roofing contractor I know of would cold call customers. There's been reports of scam artists hitting the elderly in North Cork City lately. Are your parents in that area?

DO NOT PAY THEM UPFRONT!!!

fear corcaigh

As a carpenter who has spent the best part of 10 years doing roofs I can honestly say stay as far away as you can from these guys. When they call again send them back where they came from, as said previously have support for your parents there and be prepared to call the gardai. If the roof is exposed a little a decent tradesman will seal it up again easily and reasonably for I'd say no more than a days wages for 2, max 400 euro.

I have re tiled and re slated numerous roofs with the occasional rafter needing replacement, Very rarely have I seen a whole roof needing replacement, unless the house was derelict.

Again do not part with any more money.

Ask for a vat receipt for the 4k that was given. Ask for insurance to be produced, ask to see previous jobs hat they carried out. I'd doubt you will b supplied with any.

Rebelbrowser

Thanks for all the replies. This is actually in the South suburbs but this lot claim to be from Mallow. Obviously I think its a scam but the website is surprisingly professional looking which seems like a touch of sophistication you wouldn't expect from this type of scam. That said apart from the website i can find no other reference to the firm on the internet. (good or bad).

I think I will call the local gardai to see if they know anything. Given these guys got money yesterday I actually doubt they'll turn up ever again. Big priority now will be finding someone to keep the roof waterproofed until somebody professional is around to rectify matters (next week presumably).

dave1982

Yeah call the Guards would be good idea

Scammers who are making a profit would have no problem forking out cash to create a legitimate looking website.Its a investment in a way they give people their card you go look at the website and all seems legit.

kingtut

Rebelbrowser wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. This is actually in the South suburbs but this lot claim to be from Mallow. Obviously I think its a scam but the website is surprisingly professional looking which seems like a touch of sophistication you wouldn't expect from this type of scam. That said apart from the website i can find no other reference to the firm on the internet. (good or bad).

I think I will call the local gardai to see if they know anything. Given these guys got money yesterday I actually doubt they'll turn up ever again. Big priority now will be finding someone to keep the roof waterproofed until somebody professional is around to rectify matters (next week presumably).

If they do return make sure you get the reg of any vehicles they are using !

Milly33

OHH your poor parents jes did they give them the money.. Most defiantly do not give them any money even for the work they done say they are going to report them and sod off. Sounds like a scam defiantly, all of the above is good advice special about the VAT invoices and they should have a company number to track them..

Don't suppose the chap who called was a burly kinda heavy set man? We had this chap call to the house before (my dad is a contractor) and anywho he called and asked for Dad I said he wasn't in. He was a heavy man, black hair looked dyed, and I think he had an English accent. Anywho I asked what message to leave as he looked well dodgey so he said he knew dad from a few years ago and he wanted to know if he had any work that he needed done and mentioned a tar machine that he had. I was like wtf, complete chancer the tar machine was stolen by a local gang of travellers and whatever way he put it he more or less suggested it was them who took it.. Very odd man he left a card for tar and paving driveways..

Post up the company name most even just to warn others

h2005

Milly33 wrote: »

OHH your poor parents jes did they give them the money.. Most defiantly do not give them any money even for the work they done say they are going to report them and sod off. Sounds like a scam defiantly, all of the above is good advice special about the VAT invoices and they should have a company number to track them..

Don't suppose the chap who called was a burly kinda heavy set man? We had this chap call to the house before (my dad is a contractor) and anywho he called and asked for Dad I said he wasn't in. He was a heavy man, black hair looked dyed, and I think he had an English accent. Anywho I asked what message to leave as he looked well dodgey so he said he knew dad from a few years ago and he wanted to know if he had any work that he needed done and mentioned a tar machine that he had. I was like wtf, complete chancer the tar machine was stolen by a local gang of travellers and whatever way he put it he more or less suggested it was them who took it.. Very odd man he left a card for tar and paving driveways..

Post up the company name most even just to warn others

Don't think you're allowed post names on here.

cantdecide

A relative got caught in this kind of thing the year before last. His roof actually was in an awful state (rain pouring through with tons of rot) and he ended up paying many thousands to have it repaired. He paid enough to have the work done properly and professionally however, the 'contractor' pretty much just did enough to make it appear as if he had completed the repairs but when it started leaking again almost immediately, it came out that he'd barely done anything to the roof all. The roof had to be knocked and rebuilt and should have been from the word go.

michael999999

It probably isn't even there website!

There probably using the name of a reputable company they found online, and had some business cards printed out to match!

Roquentin

there was an insulation scam as well. They were offering to pump beaded insulation in between your cavity walls. But they only did a half arsed job. It didnt fill up the cavity properly

Sam Mac

Common scam, especially in the UK. Featured on Watchdog a good few times. A person comes to fix a small enough job at first, then purposely breaks or damages stuff so you pay out more by the end of it all. Stay well away and inform the Guards. Definitely get their van reg no. too.

Rebelbrowser

Thanks for all the posts. Just to confirm this was a scam. We managed to fire the scammers but not before they cost my parents a fortune. We had an engineer and other reputable roofer look at it and each confirmed there had been no need for any work to start with. Moreover the new roof wasn't being fitted properly at all at all - they weren't even fixing the new tiles to the roof, just laying them. Thus my parents were paying for a new roof but would have had problems galore. Unfortunately they still need a new roof now (the scammers basically broke a huge roof's worth of good tiles) but it will be done properly.

You live and learn....... The scary thing was how reasonable the scammers were to talk to (they didn't panic when confronted and welcomed the involvement of an engineer) and the quality of their pamphlets and website. This was much more sophisticated than you'd expect from such a scam.

Milly33

Great to hear that they got caught but shame to hear your parents did also..Did ye report them to the guards or get the guards involved..

The scammers know what they are doing arseholes, I am sure they would have soon your parents the roof after they done the damage to say oh yeah that needs to be fixed... Really horrible to think people do things like this to others... I hope karma comes and takes a right chunk out of them

Roquentin

man you should go on joe duffy about that. let the general public know

.red.

You still havent posted the company name or website.
if its a scam then people need to know who they are!

Gone West

Rebelbrowser wrote: »

You live and learn.......

Not everybody needs to make this mistake for themselves.
There have been tons of posts and chat online about this sort of thing going on.

run_Forrest_run

h2005 wrote: »

Don't think you're allowed post names on here.

given the fact that now we know it was a scam I think the OP is entitled to post the name, sure look at Success Corcaigh

h2005

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

given the fact that now we know it was a scam I think the OP is entitled to post the name, sure look at Success Corcaigh

Without a conviction I doubt the mods will allow it.

traprunner

This scam has been running in Limerick too. The guards know about it. Each van that the contractors has a different name too.

The simple solution is not to let any tradesman call to your house to inspect it or do work without you contacting them first. Cold calls are too often scams.

Celly Smunt

For good work you have to hunt the tradesman.
For bad work they hunt you.

Ralf and Florian

I would never hire any stranger who comes to the door offering to do jobs like that.This guy came to my door a few weeks ago selling matresses.I declined as I just don't trust people like that full stop.

run_Forrest_run

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

I would never hire any stranger who comes to the door offering to do jobs like that.This guy came to my door a few weeks ago selling matresses.I declined as I just don't trust people like that full stop.

tell him you need to sleep on it...boom boom (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

chippy81

Been asked today to repair a roof after more cold calling scam artists left it in a state. Around cobh area at the moment. Anyone else had them call lately? Just to be aware

sighmo

They were in Carrigaline the past few days as well. They called to my parents and went up on a section of flat roof before coming back down with some rotten felt (which I assume they brought up with them) and quoting 2.5k to fix it there and then. Thankfully my mother arrived on the scene and sent them packing. But guess what? Next day they returned when my mothers car was gone. My Dad rang her, she scooted back home and ran them again.

Miaireland

Do not name the company. To be fair the crowd may not be from the company that own the website at all. I recently had a chap call to me claiming to be from a certain company and gave me a flier, website address etc of the company. He told me that he was the owner of the company etc and came across as really believable. The only reason that I knew it was a scam is because I was friends with the owner of the company. Thankfully the Guards caught up with the scam artist before he could do any damage to the company name.

Vinta81

Something similar happened in Ballinlough this year as well. My neighbour was charged €12,000! They've been preying on the elderly here, such a shame.

Also they had no scaffolding, no name/number on their van, looked like a bunch of cowboys. They weren't Irish either.

homingbird

Travellers chancing the arm.

the beer revolu

homingbird wrote: »

Travellers chancing the arm.

What evidence do you have to back up that statement?
Were you approached by these people?

homingbird

After the winter storm they called & through a broken tile up on my garage & said i had a lot of broken tiles. I live in a estate last house a with garage so they pulled up along side of the garage & through up a broken tile on garage roof.

protectcork

In the current edition 2014/2015 of the 02 area Goldenpages there are in total 12 full page advertisements representing 10 "traders" dealing in roofing and gutters. Each trader have their own phones, location address and advertising content. But amazingly all these 10 traders with full page ads are in fact connected to the same two family connected groups. So really you have to look at the smaller text ads to find an independent roofer if you want an alternative quote. Have anybody else being frustrated to find this lack of transparency in the goldenpages full page ads?

okedoke

My wife's friend's father was taken for €3k in this scam recently. An elderly, quiet, widowed man. English travellers pulled into his yard asked him if he wanted roof repaired. He said no, he woke up the next morning and they were starting work. He went out and told them to go away, that he had said not to do any work the day before.

They bundled him into their van and drove him to the local town and sent him into the bank to get 3K from his account. The bank official, who knew him, could see he was distressed but he was too frightened to say what was happening. He handed over the cash and they left him there. He called the guards and they said these guys had caught several other elderly people over the last few days.

These guys are dangerous scum.

Sephiroth_dude

okedoke wrote: »

My wife's friend's father was taken for €3k in this scam recently. An elderly, quiet, widowed man. English travellers pulled into his yard asked him if he wanted roof repaired. He said no, he woke up the next morning and they were starting work. He went out and told them to go away, that he had said not to do any work the day before.

They bundled him into their van and drove him to the local town and sent him into the bank to get 3K from his account. The bank official, who knew him, could see he was distressed but he was too frightened to say what was happening. He handed over the cash and they left him there. He called the guards and they said these guys had caught several other elderly people over the last few days.

These guys are dangerous scum.

Bunch of scumbags :mad:

goat2

after last storm, i got camera out, zoomed in all over roof, and had it all in print, got a local builder to fix it, did a great job, and did not kill me on price,

the devil you know is far better than the devil you dont know

mikeym

okedoke wrote: »

My wife's friend's father was taken for €3k in this scam recently. An elderly, quiet, widowed man. English travellers pulled into his yard asked him if he wanted roof repaired. He said no, he woke up the next morning and they were starting work. He went out and told them to go away, that he had said not to do any work the day before.

They bundled him into their van and drove him to the local town and sent him into the bank to get 3K from his account. The bank official, who knew him, could see he was distressed but he was too frightened to say what was happening. He handed over the cash and they left him there. He called the guards and they said these guys had caught several other elderly people over the last few days.

These guys are dangerous scum.

When I get old im getting myself a shotgun because the Gardai do nothing for vunerable elderly people.

michael999999

Why the **** aren't the Guards locking up these scum bags?

Why are Revenue and CAB not hounding them?

okedoke

Guards told him there was no point doing anything about it, even though they knew the family that did it. They said if they pursue them, the travellers will know it was him that got the guards involved. According to the guard, the family come over from England every year for a month before Christmas and rob a load of old people, then back to England in the new year.

The mind boggles.