Builder taken money and now avoiding me!

rokx

Hi,
Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I'm just after some advice.

Earlier this year we had a plumbing problem and I looked for plumbers nearby on yell.com and found one nearby who came out at short notice and fixed the problem. While he was there, he mentioned that they also specialised in timber extensions and did other odd jobs. I mentioned that I had an outbuilding which needed the roof repairing on it was quite badly water damaged due to the felting coming off. He had a look at it and gave me a quote.

I thought about it for a few weeks and decided to go ahead as he had seemed genuine and to know what he was talking about. So I contacted him. He said he would need the cost of materials to be paid as a deposit up front and then the remainder to be paid on completion. I asked for a proper invoice before I sent the money. I got sent this by the builder's wife via email as well as their bank details and was told that they would provide a receipt upon the money clearing as well as a schedule of works and that they could come out the next week.

So I (stupidly!) sent the money and then heard nothing back so the next day sent an email asking if they had received this and they replied to say it had been received and that the receipt would follow. Which it never did. I tried to phone them a few times and got no reply so a few days later I turned up at their house. They were both there and looked a bit suprised, but said that they had thought that they had sent the receipt. He apologised and said that he hadn't seen my missed calls and that they had been away for the weekend. His wife (who supposedly deals with the admin) said that she couldn't send a receipt from their home computer and would have to go into the office, but emailed me a zero balance invoice there & then, which I received. They said that they would send the receipt that afternoon and said that they could do the roof on the following Wednesday.

The following Tuesday I got an email from the wife asking if I had received the receipt and that the builder couldn't come on the Wednesday due to a family emergency and that she would re-schedule ASAP. I replied to say I hadn't received the receipt.

And that is the last I have heard from them!

I have tried to call them on a number of occassions on mobile & home phone and left a message to say that if they don't contact me by today I will need my money back. I've also sent an email, and all have been ignored.

So my question is, where do I go from here? I don't really want to cause an issue as they know where I live and it is a house in the countryside with no neighbours so I don't want to make any enemies! but at the same time I can't afford to lose £500+!
I was thinking of trying the small claims court. What would that involve? If I wrote a letter and sent it tomorrow to say that they have 14 days to give me my money back or they face court proceedings, would that be the correct route to take?
Or should I try going to their house again first and asking face to face before escalating things?

Also, I should add, they have a company name but I have tried searching on the Company House website and can't find it listed! So it may just be an inidividual rather than a company; I'm not sure if that affects things?

It also crossed my mind that perhaps they are moving away and trying to rip me off before they go! As I don't know why you would take money from someone local if you planned to stick around... Would there be a way to track them down if they did this?

Sorry for the essay Hope someone can help. I know I shouldn't have paid him so much upfront, but can't do much about that now!

rokx

I've written a Letter Before Action if anyone knowledgeable would very kindly able to check this for me...!

I went around to their house on my way home from work today and noone was in, but I will try one last time tomorrow morning before sending the letter!

spacey2012

Quite a clear case of fraud, contact the police.

wealdroam

You might like to compare your LBA with a sample LBA on the CAB website.

In fact that CAB website has lots of information on going to the small claims court.

There is also a MSE guide to the small claims court which might also be useful.

rokx

Thanks for the replies. I have read though all the bits & pieces from here and used the template for the Letter Before Action.

I guess I just wanted some human advice/reassurance to make sure that I am doing the right thing and haven't missed anything!

arcon5

Visit their house again -- see what they say.

arcon5

spacey2012 wrote: »

Quite a clear case of fraud, contact the police.

Maybe, but the police are unlikely to do anything. They'd have to proof fraud and if the guy turned round and said we're waiting on some supplies, or need to agree dates or something they'd have a pretty difficult time proving it's fraud rather than incompetence/a civil matter.

olly300

arcon5 wrote: »

Maybe, but the police are unlikely to do anything. They'd have to proof fraud and if the guy turned round and said we're waiting on some supplies, or need to agree dates or something they'd have a pretty difficult time proving it's fraud rather than incompetence/a civil matter.

No harm getting the police involved.

If the builder realises you are going to be difficult they will either do the roof or ignore you.

rokx

I'm going to try their house one last time on my way to work this morning and if no one is in, I will send the letter. If they are in, I will ask for a cheque for my money back.

Sometimes I really hate people, I just don't understand how someone could take someone else's money and think that that is acceptable! :huh:

I guess they are hoping I will just let it be and let them keep my money. If so, they've picked on the wrong person!

ETA: I doubt the police will be interested, I've contacted them before for another, more urgent, matter and they were completely uninterested then so I doubt they'd do anything about this. They will most likely say it is a civil matter

unholyangel

Them being a individual trader/not being a limited company is usually a good thing - as it means you can chase them personally for the debt as opposed to only being limited to company assets.

The account you paid the money to, what was the trading/company name on it? Or was it a personal account?

rokx

I paid the money into an account with the company name. However I don't think the account name matters when sending money, only the account number and sort code (I learnt this from Radio 2, so may not be a reliable source!), so could still be an individual's account.


I've had a development this morning.. I went around to the house this morning before work. The van and their car were both in the driveway, but after 20 mins of ringing the bell and lurking around (and ringing them), they didn't answer so I left. Then got a text message 15 mins later to apologise about the inconvenience and to say that they will organise a refund and send a cheque out ASAP. So I have replied asking them to send the cheque today so that I have received it by the weekend. Fingers crossed, they actually follow through with this! If there is still nothing by next week, I will send my letter.