Was anyone here ever scammed by rogue tradesmen/cowboy builders?

Sgt Hartman · 25-11-2019 6:42pm #1

I got away with being hit for €150 for a very poor guttering job a few weeks back. Apparently the guy said that there was big problems up in the attic and he wanted €3k to sort out the issues. I told him where to go and he left disgruntled. My Dad checked the attic the following weekend and found no issues. The survey also found no issues with the attic during pre purchase survey so I reckon the guy was trying to pull a fast one.

Anyone here had any chancers like this try to sting them?

Advoka · 06-05-2021 10:36am

I have been scammed by a company in Co Laois. I paid the company in full in Oct 2019. He arrived in July 2020 erected the steel only and left. The steel is now rusted and no cladding in place. He refuses to answer my calls, emails and has blocked my number... His office staff are also in on the act they take your number and then silence. This man has made of with over €18k.... PLEASE STAY AWAY!!

Lewis_Benson · 06-05-2021 10:46am

Advoka wrote: »

I have been scammed by a company in Co Laois. I paid the company in full in Oct 2019. He arrived in July 2020 erected the steel only and left. The steel is now rusted and no cladding in place. He refuses to answer my calls, emails and has blocked my number... His office staff are also in on the act they take your number and then silence. This man has made of with over €18k.... PLEASE STAY AWAY!!

Solicitors letter would sort that.

happyoutscan · 06-05-2021 10:55am

There's a very well known well-driller over this side.

Pure dodge.

Didn't know until after we had used him. Guess we're lucky, we have water but I've heard absolute horror stories about the devastation the prick has left in his wake. Won't supply invoices, same 'image' of a water test sent to those he's drilled, people with pure ****e bog water. Absolute dirt of a human.

Unbelievable how Revenue have not caught up with him at this stage.

eastie17 · 06-05-2021 11:02am

Built my house with a builder, roofed, some second fixes done and then he appeared to run out of money after I had paid him, I think it was the third stage. Staged payments big thing at the time when building, not sure if thats still a thing. You paid when they started that stage so in advance essentially.
So to make it worse he wasnt paying some of his workers, so not only was I out of pocket I also had lads calling to the door looking for money with yer man saying I had'nt paid him so he couldn't pay me, which was bull****. Think he had some sort of gambling problem.
I then had to get my solicitor involved because even though he had stopped work and I had an angry mob at my house some evenings, I couldnt presume he wasnt coming back so I had to send solicitors letters giving him deadlines to return and if he didnt he was in breach and I could get someone else.
Fairly stressful time to say the least.

Your Face · 06-05-2021 3:45pm

Personally no.
Professionally, I've had a good few contractors try and pull fast ones.

Atlantic Dawn · 06-05-2021 3:49pm

My golden rule is never ever conduct unsolicited business from your doorstep.

Eircom_Sucks · 06-05-2021 3:52pm

tonnes on facebook have , everyday the whining

personally speaking , if you are good at your job you wont need facebook for business

Del2005 · 06-05-2021 3:57pm

Lewis_Benson wrote: »

Solicitors letter would sort that.

Someone who takes €18k with no intention of doing the job knows what a solicitors letter is, it's a letter that costs you ~€100 and that's all it is. Even getting a judgement in court means little in this country.

Cal4567 · 06-05-2021 3:58pm

Might sound a fair bit parochial but everywhere you get to know quickly who is good and who to avoid. Heard some horror stories alright but it usually is when someone just takes someone up when they answer the door, because they are getting it cheaper/cash in hand.

McGinniesta · 06-05-2021 4:41pm

Not yet

lintdrummer · 06-05-2021 5:09pm

To the OP, was this a cold caller who arrived at your doorstep? Perhaps with a story about doing work for one of your neighbours who are delighted?

If so they are always to be avoided. They offer to do a smallish maintenance job (clean the gutters) for a reasonable price but inevitably discover another issue that needs immediate attention, but which they will happily fix for a huge sum (such as broken roof tiles or leaky lead flashing).
It's a scam operated by the kind of people who are currently having large weddings in Longford.

Any tradesmen worth getting do not have the time to go door to door looking for work.

B.A._Baracus · 06-05-2021 5:33pm

Op,
It's an old builders trick I was once told. Basically it's up-selling. All be it devious.

But speaking of gutters it reminds me what my dad told me about a trick back in the day (60s/70s) it's where someone can be knocking around asking do you want your gutters cleaned. So when one bites you clean those gutters but then throw muck, grass whatever into the neighbours gutters.
So you knock at the neighbours door saying "I was just cleaning out the gutters next door, but I noticed your gutters were blocked too. Want me to do it for you since I am here? Only charge you xxx since I'm here like"

Tony EH · 06-05-2021 5:51pm

Only the majority of Irish people.

fryup · 06-05-2021 6:44pm

Not me personally, but i do know of a hotelier in Torquay who was conned

Del2005 · 06-05-2021 10:31pm

lintdrummer wrote: »

To the OP, was this a cold caller who arrived at your doorstep? Perhaps with a story about doing work for one of your neighbours who are delighted?

If so they are always to be avoided. They offer to do a smallish maintenance job (clean the gutters) for a reasonable price but inevitably discover another issue that needs immediate attention, but which they will happily fix for a huge sum (such as broken roof tiles or leaky lead flashing).
It's a scam operated by the kind of people who are currently having large weddings in Longford.

Any tradesmen worth getting do not have the time to go door to door looking for work.

More likely cause a major issue that needs to be fixed. Tiles that have withstood hurricanes for decades suddenly get dislodged when someone is working on the gutters.

2lazytogetup · 06-05-2021 11:18pm

usually car mechanics. you bring your car to get one problem fixed. they find another. or they destroy something in your car so a couple of days after getting one problem fixed, another arrises.

ive noticed that the nicer the car mechanic, the more likey they are to scam you. cause they know you will trust them if they are especially nice.

Leg End Reject · 06-05-2021 11:22pm

2lazytogetup wrote: »

usually car mechanics. you bring your car to get one problem fixed. they find another. or they destroy something in your car so a couple of days after getting one problem fixed, another arrises.

ive noticed that the nicer the car mechanic, the more likey they are to scam you. cause they know you will trust them if they are especially nice.

I've never experienced this, and my knowledge of what goes on under the bonnet extends to checking the oil level, topping up oil if necessary and putting water in for the wipers.

Dank Janniels · 06-05-2021 11:31pm

I was scammed by the Attorney General when he rang me up looking for my bank details!

07-05-2021 12:27am

No. But in saying that I can do a lot of stuff myself having worked for my dad who is a carpenter and ran his own crew. Also my brother was a mechanic, so anything I can't do or don't have the time to do, they or one of their mates can.

Height of stupidity for an individual trades person to try and rip off their customers as most of their business is through word of mouth, especially in the lean times. But plenty of dodgy small building firms (and some big ones) out there having seen first hand the results of their work when my dad had to correct it. Always pays to get more than one estimate and doing checks on them if possible.

Leg End Reject · 07-05-2021 12:47am

DubInMeath wrote: »

No. But in saying that I can do a lot of stuff myself having worked for my dad who is a carpenter and ran his own crew. Also my brother was a mechanic, so anything I can't do or don't have the time to do, they or one of their mates can.

Height of stupidity for an individual trades person to try and rip off their customers as most of their business is through word of mouth, especially in the lean times. But plenty of dodgy small building firms (and some big ones) out there having seen first hand the results of their work when my dad had to correct it. Always pays to get more than one estimate and doing checks on them if possible.

And never, ever opt for the cheapest.

Andrea B. · 07-05-2021 5:53am

Leg End Reject wrote: »

And never, ever opt for the cheapest.

Why?

Sgt Hartman · 07-05-2021 6:40am

lintdrummer wrote: »

To the OP, was this a cold caller who arrived at your doorstep? Perhaps with a story about doing work for one of your neighbours who are delighted?

If so they are always to be avoided. They offer to do a smallish maintenance job (clean the gutters) for a reasonable price but inevitably discover another issue that needs immediate attention, but which they will happily fix for a huge sum (such as broken roof tiles or leaky lead flashing).
It's a scam operated by the kind of people who are currently having large weddings in Longford.

Any tradesmen worth getting do not have the time to go door to door looking for work.

It was actually a guttering "company" I found online. I should have smelled a rat when I thought he was putting on what I thought was a fake posh accent on the phone. 5 big guys turned up in two vans which was obviously an intimidatory tactic. After telling them that I only wanted the guttering done and nothing else despite their "discovery' of a big problem they were quite disgruntled. They done a half assed job and fecked off again. I was too scared to report them in case they came back at a later stage and done something to the house. I was just glad to be rid of them.

A few months back however a young lad with an English accent and a hard hat and high viz vest came to the door. He said that he and his friends were working on a house in the area and asked if I wanted my gutters done. I politely told him no thanks and I closed the door. The same guy came back a few weeks later and I refused him again.

Anyway I guess I dodged a bullet the first time. No way will I just blindly go for any old company I find online, It was stupidly naive of me

Lynn Benfield · 07-05-2021 6:59am

A couple of years ago my elderly mother answered the door to a guy who offered to power hose the walls. She said no, and he insisted they needed it. She then said she had no money to pay him, and he left, saying he'd be back in a while.

She rang me to ask where I was (I was driving across the country to visit her at the time), because she felt he'd be back and was pretty intimidated by the experience. She's usually very assertive and takes no crap from anyone.

I was only in the door a few minutes when a van pulled up outside, and a man sauntered in the driveway, pulling a hose along. I ran out and shouted "what the fk are you doing?", to which he answered "Cleaning the wall". I yelled at him to get out, and off he went.

Older people are completely at the mercy of these guys. Even after my mother's refusal, they still came back, the p**cks.

Sky King · 07-05-2021 7:10am

In work ive often had lads come in 'we're working in the area and can offer carpark line painting / gutter fixing/ etc at cost prices. Occasionally at home as well - usually a 'roof issue.'

I always run them. There's no way I would get a job like that done by a cold caller.

A relative of mine is a bit harmless, got roasted by lads like this painting his shed. Like thousands they charged him. Then they came back and robbed all the stuff out of it.

lawred2 · 07-05-2021 7:32am

Got the hard sell from the power washers myself.. doorstep you, talk really fast, some nonsense about a demo. No thanks. He keeps talking. All the while, his other two lads are still prepping the 'demo'. No thanks. No need. "Sure let's do the demo anyway". Nice square in the middle of the driveway. Thanks for that. Closed the door. The the f**cker keeps ringing the doorbell. Open it to tell him to kindly move on. Tells me the lads have started already and sure they might as well finish now. And he's doing a "special offer" today as well. Nah you're grand. Just leave it as it is. Closed the door. He keeps ringing the doorbell. Had to eventually tell him to kindly f**k off. They would get no money from me. And eventually they left. Left me feeling rather uncomfortable to be honest. Half expecting them to come back in the dead of night.

I'd hate to think of someone elderly living alone having to deal with f*ckers like that.

Sebastian Dangerfield · 07-05-2021 7:32am

2lazytogetup wrote: »

usually car mechanics. you bring your car to get one problem fixed. they find another. or they destroy something in your car so a couple of days after getting one problem fixed, another arrises.

ive noticed that the nicer the car mechanic, the more likey they are to scam you. cause they know you will trust them if they are especially nice.

I once took a 10 year old BMW that was leaking oil to a mechanic, who quoted me 200 to fix it. I paid him, collected the car and drove away. Next morning I was greeted by a nice patch of oil on the driveway. Went back to him to be told "I fixed 200 euro worth of leaks. You can't fully fix a leaking bmw for 200 euro!", incredulous that I was even asking.

I took it to another mechanic who charged me 1200 euro. Apparently by the time he got down to the leak, I was as well to do the timing belt and water pump which were on the way out too.

I once left an audi into a main dealer to get an isofix retrofitted and a broken wiper arm fixed. Collected the car, and halfway home it started raining. Soon as the wipers came on, the blade fell off. I called to ask what theyd done, and was told "yeah we took a look. You need a new wiper arm" (arm may not be the correct term, it was a while back...). Quoted me 400 plus vat. Ended up fixing it myself with a 6 euro part of eBay they assured me could not be bought.

lawred2 · 07-05-2021 7:33am

Had to borrow a power washer from a neighbor and finish it myself

Sebastian Dangerfield · 07-05-2021 7:46am

I also hired a gardening company off a website called bark.ie. They came out to give a quote to clear up front and back yard, trim a tree in the back that was near power lines and remove a tree stump in the front. This fella was full of chat, but price was reasonable. I told him I was getting another quote for comparison and he told me to go ahead but i) they remove all green waste which most others dont do, ii) they had a tree surgeons license "in the van" whereas most people will destroy your tree, and iii) most gardeners use the same poison for a tree stump that you can buy in woodies. They used this industrial stuff that was demoed by another fella coming out of the van in gloves, walking like he was holding a nuclear reactor. Alarm bells were starting to ring but I needed the work done quickly for a house viewing, so we went ahead.

Long story short they butchered the tree, the tree stump they supposedly poisoned is still there a year later, and not long after they were gone I found all the green waste behind the back wall

Aglomerado · 07-05-2021 12:13pm

I get them the odd time calling to the door asking to clean gutters as they are doing a job in the area and they noticed mine were in need of a clean. I never see their van nearby though!

I always tell them I've someone coming "tomorrow". I never do business at the door.

If they ask if the "boss" is around I run them ... (I'm the "boss"!!)

Strumms · 07-05-2021 12:58pm

Any work we have had done is through recommendation only.

Asking for trouble just googling ‘roofers’ and going with the best quote or their own reviews... I’d NEVER go with anyone just knocking... if someone did knock I might ask for a business card, if they didn’t have one, good luck...

My Dad is from a trade background originally and subsequently a government standards agency so he just needs to make a few calls to either get a recommendation or check the work of X company or person..

Was anyone here ever scammed by rogue tradesmen/cowboy builders?

Comments