We were scammed out of €680 by gutter cleaners in Dublin South

HenryHeng

Yesterday, three guys came knocking at the door. One of them claimed they were cleaning gutters because our neighbor had a blockage in their pipe, preventing proper drainage. At first, I was skeptical, but seeing that they had ladders and were working on our neighbor’s house made me start to believe them. To make matters worse, we had a water leak in our living room ceiling last week. So, I asked about their pricing and if they could help with our leak issue.

As first-time homeowners, we’re total novices and weren’t sure of the cause of the leak. We did have a legitimate roofing contractor look at it last week, who quoted around €800, but we didn’t go ahead with that. Then, “coincidentally,” a few days later, these guys showed up. Without much thought, we showed them our leak and asked if they could fix it.

They claimed leaves, twigs, and moss in the gutters were blocking drainage and causing the overflow, leading to our ceiling issue. They inspected our house and said there were three roofs they needed to work on. We agreed to a price of €240 for the gutter cleaning, but later they added €400 for “additional fixes.” When we asked what these fixes entailed, they showed us a rubber seal, which we later found out was just a €5 item available at Woodie’s.

Initially, I asked for their company details, website, etc. Mike, the main guy, handed me a printed flyer. I searched online but couldn’t find their business. He said it was a family business they had been running for 15 years. I believed him, especially since a previous painter we hired also operated as a family business and only dealt in cash or Revolut. As foreigners in Ireland, we thought this might be normal, allowing them to skip taxes and earn a bit more.

After about 15–20 minutes, they claimed to have finished. They had bins with moss and leaves they’d removed from the gutters and showed us some photos “proving” the water was flowing correctly. Mike assured us that if the leak continued, we could call them anytime, and they would fix it. He was so convincing that we didn’t think twice and transferred the money through Revolut.

Later that night, I searched for gutter cleaning services in Dublin and found some Reddit posts about scams. It was the same scenario: printed flyers, guys in a van, offering services while working on a neighbor’s gutters. I messaged Mike about receipts, warranty, and the seals they’d used. His only reply was a thumbs-up emoji. When I followed up today, he read the message but didn’t respond.

These scammers are persuasive. They were already working on our neighbor’s gutters, making them seem credible, and it was convenient timing with our leak issue.

We know it’s unlikely we’ll get our money back, but fortunately, we have CCTV footage of everything. We just want to warn other first-time homeowners like us to be cautious of these fraudsters.

Atlantic Dawn

Never ever conduct unsolicited business at your front door with anyone. At least that's all they got from you, some are swindled for thousands for unnecessary roof repairs.

Kaisr Sose

Sorry for your trouble but as @Atlantic Dawn said, never engage with anyone that cold calls 9n yor door. Most are scammers and any work they do will be wiput warranty and most likely substandard, or likely to require additional expenses to put right. It's great that you have the images and posted them. If you are on Facebook post them there too.

Ireland really needs to outlaw cold calling like this and require regulation of all companies offering building maintenance services to unsuspecting /unqualified homeowners.

I know, I likely to happen due to to all the other laws we have that are not enforced. Without such regulations, it's a free for all for the highly mobile family business type chancers that make a fortune in cash from these scams.

coldcake

I don't understand these people.they put so much effort into their scams. Surely they could learn to do the job correctly and build a reputation for being the go to people for fixing driveways or roofing, but no easier to become intergenerational scammers often targeting older people.

Can Pavee point not introduce training schemes for the younger ones and help them grow a legitimate business? In the long term it must be more profitable than running scams and ruining the reputation of your community and heritage.

Buddy Bubs

Yeah I get them quite often, always same story, just finished a job for your neighbour etc, had one yesterday about power washing the drive.

He wasnt a traveller but still wasn't interested I do anything I can do myself.

If legit company offering a good service, the way things are today they'd be out the door with work and not cold calling peoples doors annoying them on Saturday mornings

AhhHere

Sorry to hear Henry. You're not the first this has happened too and certainly won't be the last. They prey on the vulnerable and ignorant.

Chalk the cost down as a learning experience.

Crazy Davey

fools and their money and all that !

Cleaning gutters on a regular 3 bed semi should be around €100

BorneTobyWilde

Not so much a scam, as they did do their job, but half assed, least your gutters are now clean.

Fiordy

Omg we just got scammed by these same people today!!!

Very similar story, we're new homeowners, we knew the gutters had to be done but absolutely have no knowledge of work that needs to be done etc.. I'm also not Irish myself so took me a while to put things together and call it a scam. We paid 650€ for those bloody seals that I don't even know if they installed or not.

They looked so believable and trustworthy…

I'm so upset and mad at myself for not spotting it earlier.

I wish something could be done about it.

Fiordy

Our gutters are just about "cleaned". Definitely not a professional job.

ThePacifier

Same thing happened to us today in Dublin South, sams guys in the pictures, is there anyway to report to Garda ? We have pictures and video of them not doing anything and yet charging us

Fiordy

So sorry it happened to you too. If you decide to give the Guards a call let me know what they say. I don't have any pictures of them or CCTV, but got scammed by the same guys..

Oscar_Madison

Anyone new to home ownership who’s not up with house repairs and maintenance, talk to the neighbours in your area and see who they recommend.

NEVER use people who call door to door- the good businesses don’t have to do this, they’ve any amount of work -

I would normally have to wait 1 month for availability for window cleaning and gutter cleaning for our regular guy so I always book way in advance

I’m seeing a newish phenomenon also of roof slate power hosing - same sort of people who offer to do gutters and power hosing driveways - I can’t imagine the damage power hosing a roof could do .

In terms of prices, our guy charges about 160 depending on house size - but that also includes cleaning outside windows

Odelay

CAB are after these guys.

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/prolific-irish-burglary-gang-sent-1-million-home-from-oz/a867198984.html

""Patrick O’Brien is described as actively targeting “the elderly and vulnerable in society”, according to the sworn evidence.

He calls to their homes suggesting small jobs on the roof or garden but then uses deception or intimidation to extract large sums of cash for shoddy or non-existent work. it is claimed."

Johnny Jukebox

Came home one day to discover the same type of lads up one of trees in the driveway cutting away. Looked very professional, had all the gear and told me that "they were working for next door and needed to take down some overhanging branches and that I'd have to pay for it". I didn't engage, called my neighbour who'd never heard of them and then called the guards who ran them.

boardsdotie44

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122767572#Comment_122767572

A bit harsh.. in this day and age with all the elaborate scamming going on, alot of ppl are going to be taken in..

Scammers are getting very sophisticated, harsh words that may come back and bite you when your scammed (not by cold calls but one of the other multitude of platforms / modes they use)!

Sorry it happened to you OP..

Brussels Sprout

Those professional looking flyers and websites are a relatively new venture by these operators. However if you scratch the surface you'll soon start to see some red flags:

• There are never any names or pictures of the employees or business owners
• They typically provider a business address but these are always fake - often they use addresses for construction companies that are clearly city centre locations like apartments, offices or barbers
• The photographs provided are typically taken from legitimate sites or shared amongst these bogus sites
• The reviews are fake

I did a deeper dive into a couple of these on a thread on the Cork City forum earlier this year.

Juran

Any cleaning / maintainence leaflets that comes in my door goes straight into the bin. I polietly close the door on any one calling to my house selling their services or products, be it gutter cleaners, roofers, charity collectors, sales reps from Electricity suppliers, Mobile or broadband suppliers, etc. I never engage with them.

If I need a home service, I do my reaserch and use a trusted recommded person or company.

ThePacifier

🚨 Important Update on Gutter Cleaners in Dublin South 🚨

we have filed an official complaint with Gardaí in Tallaght.

If you have had a similar experience or feel you may have been taken advantage of, I strongly encourage you to report it as well. The more voices we have, the more action can be taken to hold these individuals accountable. Let’s work together to keep our community safe and ensure fair, reliable service.

Stay vigilant, and please share this message with others in the area!

Aglomerado

I was being plagued with these type of guys last year, my gutters were bad but as there was a swallows nest nearby I didn't want to have the job done until I was sure the nest was empty. Almost every week I had callers to the door asking to clean them, which I refused. I took note of the registration plates on the few occasions they had the van outside. I got someone I know with access to the registration database to find out who the vehicles were registered to ... the name I was given was linked to a criminal gang operating out of West Limerick.

Never do business at the door! I would prefer Jehovah's Witnesses or the local TD! 😆

I got a local guy to do it. Cost €150, he turned up on time and cleaned up after himself.

justforgroups

Same with this crowd, Atha Cliath Roofing, also ACR, also roofingandguttering.ie

Father and son scammer team, both called Paddy.

Only wanted cash, no VAT. Addresses on website do not exist. Have logo of CIRI (https://cif.ie/ciri/) but are not members. Had Romanians do the job. CORE says it's registered (no 585750) at 867 Piercetown, Newbridge, Kildare

I reported them to revenue. I hope to God to see them on the tax defaulters list.

Is there no central place for these scammers to be reported? Someone that can take action against them? Scammers in general I mean. They are just left to scam person after person after person, obviously with little fear. I suppose you could say unless they appear on a site like trustedtrades.ie or something then don't hire them. Certainly what I'll be doing in future. Although I got them through their website which now I look at it, it a simple boilerplate template and if I had checked the addresses, I would have seen they were fake. Unfortunatly they had finished the "job" before he asked for cash, would not accept bank transfer. Alarm bells went off but I didn't know what they'd do if I didn't pay.

Tull Considine

Good advice...never deal with a guy who rocks up to your door.

Particularly roofing and driveway cleaners.