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Reporting An Unreliable Tradesman

By: Tracy Whitelaw - Updated: 13 Mar 2024 | comments*Discuss
 
Reporting An Unreliable Tradesman

It can be financially and emotional crippling when you realise that your hard-earned cash has been wasted on a rogue tradesman. As the number of 'have-a-go' tradesmen continue to rise in the UK, there are a number of reliable firms popping up that offer advice and help on choosing a reputable tradesman when you need work conducted on your home. If you're unfortunate enough to be one of the people who do end up involved with a rogue trader though, you need to know where to report your grievances in order to ensure nobody else is conned by them.

Talk to the Tradesman First

If things go wrong when you're having work carried out by a tradesman, the first step to try and resolve any issues is to speak to the tradesman. Always give them the chance to put it right and make any complaints known to them initially. Many tradesmen will take this opportunity to try and rectify the situation, as they won't want their reputation being harmed. If you feel that the tradesman isn't listening to your concerns, put them down in writing and give him a deadline. Send the complaint letter to the tradesman's head office, assuming there is one, but remember to always keep a copy of what you sent and when. If you find that there's no resolution through this means, the next step is to report your tradesman.

Citizen's Advice Bureau and Trading Standards

One of the most common places to report an unreliable tradesman is at your local Citizen's Advice Bureau. They will be able to give you advice on your legal status with regards to the work and also whether you may be able to make a claim against your tradesman. They may also be able to offer you some kind of conflict resolution or mediation, so they're definitely worth visiting and can give you advice for free on most occasions. Another possibility is to report your tradesman to Trading Standards. Trading Standards are specifically interested in protecting the rights of consumers against businesses and in ensuring that businesses are within the law and delivering what they promise. You can contact your local branch of Trading Standards and they will give you advice on the next step regarding your unreliable tradesman. They can often provide you with contact details for trade associations or advise on what the best course of action is for you to resolve your dispute with your tradesman. They may even investigate it themselves and keep you updated on the situation.

Reporting to a Trade Association

If your unreliable tradesman is part of a trade association, then you should be covered by their code of conduct. If speaking directly to the tradesman doesn't work, contact their governing body and ask for advice. They will want to uphold the standards of their association so will be keen to investigate anyone they believe to be unreliable. Normally, a trade association will speak to the tradesman on your behalf as well as offer you some kind of arbitration service to try and come to a resolution. They can also get the tradesman back to work if they've left the job unexpectedly. This is one of the reasons that it's important to check your tradesman's credentials before agreeing to any work being carried out - if your tradesman doesn't have a trade association backing him, you're putting yourself in financial danger.

Online Sources and Unreliable Tradesmen

Another option when it comes to reporting unreliable tradesmen is to use the multitude of online resources to warn others about their poor service. Websites such as TradeCheck or associations like TrustMark welcome information about poor tradesmen as they will make sure they spread this knowledge so others can avoid them. A new service from search engine AskAlex has also been introduced where individuals can run an immediate check on businesses to ensure they're reputable. The service is set up in conjunction with Dun & Bradstreet and will cost a mere 7.50GBP to obtain. It will give consumers a star rating for a business, full contact details, any criminal history, profit figures and an overall judgement of the business. This method should be used to avoid rogue tradesman initially, but can also help in your reporting of any unreliable tradesmen. If you do suffer problems with your tradesman, make sure you report them as early as possible - helping other avoid them can at least give you some peace of mind.

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Anthony Mrozowski of A M Rendering is taking money and not doing the work. Yes there is a word for this behaviour! He is an undischarged bankrupt from 2016 and currently has 9 county court judgements. The money goes up his nose.
Beany - 13-Mar-24 @ 1:14 PM
Avoid Thomas O'brien of Empire Roofing and Guttering Ltd. He wakes you up very early in the morning. Over charges for the work. Will watch you if you are getting other quotes. Directs your conversations with your bank on the phone. Asks for all the money up front. Says he will do more work than you wanted in the first place. Although in my case this was true. Does not use a business account. Keeps on asking for more money to get the job done as soon as possible. But weeks later you are still waiting for him to get his contractors to do the work as they will do the work as he has not paid them and then you that you had not paid them. We are talking thousands. Brings into your home contractors who are also fraudulent. Takes your stuff away for weeks to say that the house has to be cleared for plastering and a new roof. But you don't know where it was taken. We have lost over £25,000 - £33,000. But only £6,000 of it was work that had been done. Keeps on saying contractors will be coming round to start the work but they rarely do come round. Very rarely gives a time as to when they will come round which they keep to.
H - 9-Mar-24 @ 10:43 PM
Avoid Thomas O'brien of Empire Roofing and Guttering Ltd. He wakes you up very early in the morning. Over charges for the work. Will watch you if you are getting other quotes. Directs your conversations with your bank on the phone. Asks for all the money up front. Says he will do more work than you wanted in the first place. Although in my case this was true. Does not use a business account. Keeps on asking for more money to get the job done as soon as possible. But weeks later you are still waiting for him to get his contractors to do the work as they will do the work as he has not paid them and then you that you had not paid them. We are talking thousands. Brings into your home contractors who are also fraudulent. Takes your stuff away for weeks to say that the house has to be cleared for plastering and a new roof. But you don't know where it was taken. We have lost over £25,000 - £33,000. But only £6,000 of it was work that had been done. Keeps on saying contractors will be coming round to start the work but they rarely do come round. Very rarely gives a time as to when they will come round which they keep to.
H - 9-Mar-24 @ 10:42 PM
Avoid Joseph O'Brien at all costs.He is a roofer who operates under Roman Roofing and Guttering Ltd and more recently Smartshield Roofs Ltd.He has been kicked off checkatrade for not adhering to their codes of practice following numerous negative reviews.He doesn't do what he says, he asks for cash payment (in the thousands), refuses to give you an invoice and when you do get an invoice it doesn't match what he has actually done.If you look on companies house he has applied to dissolve and strike off one of the companies after less than a year.That is because he is being chased for his substandard work and he is doing everything he can to avoid paying it.By moving all the assets out of the business and into the new one, no claim against the company will be successful because he will have stripped it.He is going to be a bodgit and scarper once he has your money and hasn't done the work.He also rings and is intimidating to get you to pay up.Joseph O'Brien - remember the name
rippedoff - 24-Feb-24 @ 11:22 PM
Avoid Billy Greenwood from CLG decorators in Cheltenham at all costs. His work is extremely amateur, will not use any form of masking when painting. Does not cover any floors or surfaces when painting. He gave us all the good talk about how he could fix up our bathroom and toilet, repairing the walls and covering up all the drip marks and ensuring they would not come back. Within a few hours of him leaving after completing the job patches of filler were showing through the paint and all the drip marks had come through the paint. He came back to rectify but just put more of the same paint over the top. The same thing happened again. After complaining again, he tried telling us that it was a problem with the house construction and the walls were letting damp in, then he tried to say that the paint he used was from a bad batch and we could have 60% of the bill back. We agreed to this but now Billy Greenwood is refusing to give us any of our refund and will not speak to us. The bathroom has been left worse than it was, as now not only do we have drip marks down the walls, the walls are different shades to each other and there is wavy paint lines around the windows, door frame and tiles which to sort out will mean replacing the silicon around each. We also spent days scrubbing paint off the floor, tiles, shower unit and bath which he had left everywhere. If you live in the South West and are looking for a painter and decorator give Billy Greenwood of CLG Decorators a very wide berth. He is the biggest cowboy I have dealt with and not worth the prices he charges.
JV - 15-Feb-24 @ 3:18 PM
Avoid plumber colin halliday litherland liverpool took money for job didn't do it and refused to give money back at present on list to be taken to court for fraud
Top man - 2-Feb-24 @ 9:54 AM
A joiner by trade, Nathan T Kennedy carried out work for a pensioners and then stole from them. Avoid this tradesperson and let it be known so it cannot happened again.
Col - 12-Dec-23 @ 9:43 AM
M U G
Doz - 7-Dec-23 @ 5:32 PM
Afternoon all. Please avoid VENTANA BLINDS and P.E. BLINDERS, which are run in the West Midlands, and surrounding areas as well as Peterborough. This is a well-known scam company, trading exclusively through Facebook. The individual running this “business” made violent threats against a customer and her disabled daughter when confronted about shoddy workmanship, resulting in the customer contacting the police and taking court action to reclaim lost funds. Others have been told lies - suppliers owing him £4k, several family members dying, recovering from an operation, and his card machine not working - so he’d asked customers to transfer funds to his personal account and never returned. The individual now lives in Coventry; but still trades in Peterborough too. This company has been reported to the Police, Trading Standards, local Councillors, Action Fraud, with customers taking court action against the individual. PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Winter2023 - 21-Nov-23 @ 2:12 PM
Hi all. Do not use/work for Harry Noble, trading as Harry Noble Contractors Brickwork. He owes my son-in-law over two thousand pounds in unpaid wages, Eight thousand pounds to somebody else who worked for him. Allegedly, he's even had his garage torched because he's upset so many people.His mobile number is: 07944 028 225, but nobody can ever get hold of him. The worst thing for us, his work is so bad, he's put pictures of my son-in-law's work on the internet and claiming it to be his!
Gibby - 12-Nov-23 @ 8:19 PM
James - JS ROOFING and BUILDING - located in Slough I would like to pre-warn anyone contemplating using JS ROOFING and BUILDING operating out of Slough. Under NOcircumstances should you allow James and his 'roofers' onto your property. James operates a scam whereby you promote a small job needing doing through channels like Rated Tradesman and others.James arrives and promises you a quote. When your least realise it a number of tiles are removed (some broken on purpose and some simply taken down.) He then proceeds to inform you that your roof needs immediate attention. He prices up an extortionate amount and will badger you pricewise until an amount is reached. You feel intimidated and concerned as you now have a gaping hole in your roof with such issues that were never the case to begin with. Cheekily, he even states that the scaffold has already been paid and was able to get a good discount and preferred timeframe (Hence, you owe him money there and then)...Even if you are bold enough to stand up to him and decide not to proceed and request he put back the tiles that were never requested to be touched as you reiterate over and over that all you ever wanted was a quote. He then informs you that to put the tiles back will cost you. DON'T ALLOW THIS COMPANY ON YOUR PROPERTY - Smooth talking and friendly to begin with, but tone then rapidly changes when requesting payments, if you are not forthcoming.
DEN - 25-Oct-23 @ 3:36 PM
Avoid Charlie Dash and Jimmy form UPon Thames Roofing. They are sub-standard and charge you for work they never did. Disappeared after they got paid. Always ask for a business card and verify their ID and telephone number
AN - 15-Sep-23 @ 2:39 PM
Avoid Simon Booth Bolton media walls stole money from the house didn’t complete job messed up electrics had to pay extra for plasterer and electrician to fix the mess
Karen - 11-Sep-23 @ 10:44 AM
Avoid no 1 swift home improvements, Newport, run by Scott Liam Scott Colsell liam colsell he has ripped off my extremely ill and vulnerable nan today. Refusing to return her money despite entering the property illegally
Lianne Downham - 21-Aug-23 @ 4:54 PM
Stuart Ainsworth of JBM Groundworks Ltd based in Lancashire. Save yourself money, misery, poor standards and dishonesty. Started drainage and groundwork job in the garden. Noticed major faults but these guys just wanted their money. We lost out on a large deposit and a mess in our garden! No morals or decency!
IRYY - 3-Jul-23 @ 5:12 PM
Stuart Ainsworth of JMB Groundworks Ltd based in Lancashire. Save yourself money, misery, poor standards and dishonesty. Started drainage and groundwork job in the garden. Noticed major faults but these guys just wanted their money. We lost out on a large deposit and a mess in our garden!
IRYY - 3-Jul-23 @ 5:06 PM
John Dowsom of JD Electrical Contracts is based in Sunderland and covers the Northeast areas. He took a deposit and did not turn up to do the work on 4 separate occasions. Don’t bother asking for a refund as you’ll get a barrage of excuses and no money back. He will then block your number to prevent you contacting him. A complete conman, avoid him like the plague.
Jmac - 15-Jun-23 @ 12:20 AM
BIM electrical group limited. Scammers. Spent 20mins on EICR in two bedroom flat. Charged me but never sent certificate. I asked for refund as certificate was not sent. Tony Ferrand agreed and said he would see that it got sent. A week later still waiting and no word from Tony or company. Phoneis not being picked up. Had another company come and do EICR . They were professional and spent 2 1/2 hours. More thorough.
Anon - 19-May-23 @ 4:55 PM
Aron Roberts of Caernarfon used his building trading to scam people out of thousands of pounds. Not content at this he then went on to scam single women online out of similar amounts and there is no way of stopping him
Beenscammed - 8-May-23 @ 11:09 AM
Heitas engineer Steve Hill from Steve Hill & Stoves Flue systems (High Wycombe) is one to avoid. After coming to my house to commission a wood burning stove he left me waiting two months and then said he could not do it. He previously said the installation was perfect but had not noticed that the Flue was missing an adjuster which is now required by law.....what a cowboy. I told him I would report him to Heitas and later that night he rang me up l and said he wouldcome over to my house and threaten me....i had to report the incident to the police.. stay away...dangerous and unstable chap.
logo600 - 27-Apr-23 @ 9:17 AM
Tidal construction they operate in Kent such poor craftsmanship- they install kitchens but my kitchen doors hung on the wrong way, holes where they made fitting mistakes. Sink unit missing side panels, and unit even fitted upside down. The kitchen is a mess do not use. When talking to them they get aggressive.
Sea - 20-Apr-23 @ 7:07 AM
DAVE BARSON & SON JACK BARSON. 1ST QUALITY ROOFING 204 MARTIN ST LEICESTER & ROOFERS@BEACONSFIELD ...DON'T USE THIS FRAUDLENT COMPANY. Contact details turned out to be uncontactable. Had full roof done. Solicitor identified gurantee invalid. In breech of contract & neglant. Didn't install tilt trays, dislodged bricks in the attic and blocked the gutters. Heavy rain caused damage to internal walls and dripped onto electrical wiring,left the ladders against the scaffolding instead of stacking them on the scaffolding leaving my family, I & my property at risk, also said they don't clean attics. Man's been reported to several organisations for investigation.
CO - 21-Mar-23 @ 6:26 PM
Owen Wheeler is a Carpenter in the Yateley area who goes under the trade Jigsaw Carpentry and Construction. He has CCJs against his name in excess of £4000 and is a thief. He will take on work but won't finish it therefore be aware
Anon - 3-Mar-23 @ 3:29 PM
Sj robbins construction Took a large deposit from me never provided any paperwork after 6 months still no start date didn’t respond to phone calls messages e mails cancelled the build to be told he was keeping deposit £5000 he has recently been to court in Bristol post for unsafe work avoid at all cost cowboy
Shazzyd - 14-Feb-23 @ 2:45 PM
Stuart Clelland Gas Safety Reliance - This guy is a crook and has been struck off the Gas Safe Register for at least a year and a half. He seems to be still getting away with doing work even though he has been reported to the police. He has conned countless people nothing to do with anyone with a grudge just his lack of workmanship - he has no conscience morals or a scrap of decency. Can't believe he is till out there and not jailed.Uses his wife Jacqueline Clelland nee McDade. Uses her bank account or a relatives uses various addresses last know in Upperton, Airdrie
mib - 4-Jan-23 @ 12:00 PM
Stuart Clelland Gas Safety Reliance - This guy is a crook and has been struck off the Gas Safe Register for at least a year and a half. He seems to be still getting away with doing work even though he has been reported to the police. He has conned countless people nothing to do with anyone with a grudge - he has no conscience morals or a scrap of decency. Can't believe he is till out there and not jailed.Uses his wife Jacqueline Clelland nee McDade. Uses her bank account or a relatives uses various addresses last know in Upperton, Airdrie
mib - 4-Jan-23 @ 11:58 AM
Stuart Clelland Gas Safety Reliance is a ripping people off. Passing himself of as gas safety registered but neither he or his company is! Took money for a boiler then gave me excuse after excuse and when I called him out on being a fake his denied it all and said it was all the work of one person who had something against him!!
Gunner - 20-Oct-22 @ 6:11 PM
Dave Johnson (Formerly Johnson and Gibney) of Greenfield/Holywell North Wales... crooks! Will take your money then leave you stranded.
Jake - 12-Sep-22 @ 10:10 PM
I started this petition after our experience with the aim of collecting enough signatures to take to our MP. Grateful for any support https://chng.it/GRpH6H5X
Stan - 21-Aug-22 @ 10:43 AM
If anybody living in Monmouthshire area,needs a carpenter/ builder and a guy called Matt( surname)Sandell who goes under the name of SMS carpentry contacts you,avoid him at all costs.Workmanship very poor ,don't think he is qualified,just somebody who thinks he can do carpentry.Also never gives written receipts for materials or labour. By the way,I think there is also a company of same name in Devon & want to stress,I don't think he is linked to them,as that company seems bona-fide and reputable
Fedup - 13-Aug-22 @ 12:21 AM
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