Completely robbed by a web developer in UK - anything I can do?

wibbler

I approached a Magento ecommerce developer company on peopleperhour.com. I never got round to accepting their proposal because one of the guys at the company chatted about the job over email and skype and started the job. I assumed all was well, and he asked for payment through bank transfer or Paypal. He eventually needed all the money up front (£650) to get it done quickly.
He hasn't given me anything, and now laughs in my face when I try to get the money back. Is there anything I can do? My mistake was paying independently of PeoplePerHour, I know. The bank won't do anything unless the police are involved, and Paypal won't do anything because I didn't classify paying as a "service or product".

He apparently doesn't work for the company any more, and has moved. But he has my address thanks to a paypal invoice, so I'm a little apprehensive about aggravating him...

macman

Small Claims process through the county court, if you can track him down to an address.
But why on earth did you pay upfront before the work was delivered?

wibbler

macman wrote: »

But why on earth did you pay upfront before the work was delivered?

I ask myself that daily. He seemed genuine, I did see some progress (maybe 5% of the work), but ultimately I've no idea why I did it!

NiftyDigits

This the the Tech forum. If you take a look around, you might find a more suitable board for your question. I know there is a CAB advisor available.

agrinnall

NiftyDigits wrote: »

This the the Tech forum. If you take a look around, you might find a more suitable board for your question. I know there is a CAB advisor available.

Actually the Tech forum isn't a bad place for it to be given the type of work that was requested. I certainly wouldn't suggest the CAB board as an alternative, every type of question can find an appropriate home somewhere on here and it's very rarely that the CAB board would be the right one.

OP, you've already been given the correct advice by macman, if you want more advice on how to make a small claim then the Consumer Rights board is the best place, but to get you started have a look here.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Hoseman

wibbler wrote: »

I ask myself that daily. He seemed genuine, I did see some progress (maybe 5% of the work), but ultimately I've no idea why I did it!

Don't beat yourself up. We've all made mistakes when we trust people who appear to be genuine but turn out otherwise.

So who did you actually pay? The company or the individual? Im no legal expert but surely the company must take some responsibility as he was acting on their behalf. Wasnt he?

Lil306

Hoseman wrote: »

Don't beat yourself up. We've all made mistakes when we trust people who appear to be genuine but turn out otherwise.

So who did you actually pay? The company or the individual? Im no legal expert but surely the company must take some responsibility as he was acting on their behalf. Wasnt he?

The work was done outside of peopleperhr, so they'll claim it could have been fought if it was done through proper channels.

You learn from experience

andy2004

Get the police involved HE CONNED YOU out of YOUR money. simply as that.
then as you say the bank will get involved.
pity you dont have any hacker friends, I'm sure they would be able to FIND his new address.