Defending or counter-claiming a small claims court non payment for bad decorating

apx

Hi - Hope someone can help.

I’m being taken to Small Claims court by a decorator I fired last year and would like some advice on what to do next.

We contracted him to redecorate our house for £5,000 in June 2013. There was a formal quote prepared for the work.

Early signs weren’t good. He painted over a wall he’d contracted to skim after only 2 days in. I challenged him on this and he agreed to redo it - unwillingly. A few weeks later he hung feature wallpaper that didn’t line up - and blamed the wallpaper which actually was fine we later found out. Again we challenged and he re-did it eventually, again grudgingly. These disputes were mainly verbal (there may be a few emails on the latter). Not all his work was this bad at this point and we were part way through so we decided to push on.

We went away for a week leaving him to do the main rooms. On return we found loads of issues - some minor snags, but many more fundamental - e.g. painting over popped plaster on a wall that was down to be ‘made good’. We have over 120 photos of issues. Of these, too many were far more than touch-up and snags. We were so unhappy with the standard of work and his attitude (my wife said she felt threatened by him being in the house - though I think that would be hard to prove) that I fired him. At this point we’d paid £2,100 of the £5000. I asked him what he wanted to walk away and he said he’d invoice me.

2 days later he invoiced the full amount and expressed unhappiness that he hadn’t had a chance to put it right. The job wasn’t finished and he claimed everything we’d pointed was just snagging. To me it was far more than that and I was fed up battling for basic workmanship.

From this point on everything is in writing. I disputed his invoice and said I wanted a full refund as we found no value or consideration in his work. By this point we had another decorator in who showed us how bad the work was and had to quote £3,750 to put it right leaving us £850 out of pocket unless I got a refund (I got three written quotes and this was the middle one)

I got a letter back demanding the full payment. I disputed again and offered a settlement of an £850 refund to cover the shortfall from HIS original quote. Again I got a letter back threatening to take me to court. I disputed again and offered a simple “look - we’re nowhere near agreement” approach - and that I would accept that we could walk away leaving him with his £2,100 to save us both all the time and hassle of a court case even though it left us out of pocket.

I got another letter in October demanding the full amount and again threatening court. This time I wrote back that I’d made 2 attempts at settlement with none in return and I wasn’t going any further - and that if he pursued it I’d counter-claim for a full refund.

I heard nothing until today when I get a small-claims order for the £2,900 balance. His claim is based on him nearly completing the work (only 5 days to go), paying workmen to do it and doing extra work for free. He claims that all the items we told him about were minor snags and that he would have fixed them.

I believe he was nowhere near finishing, and there was fundamental re-work to be done. We’d lost all confidence in his ability and I wasn’t willing to fight for every point.

Now - I definitely want to defend the claim - is this wise? I am also unsure whether to counter-claim. Will that aid my case or hinder it and how likely is it to succeed. I guess to counter-claim I’ll have to pay and will also have to greater lengths to make my case? Or would my defence for his claim be enough?

If anyone has any advice on this matter or similar experience I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks, in advance.

SuperHan

From what I remember of the contract law I learnt a few years ago, he should be liable to pay for the work to be put right. It may be worth getting a few quotes from a few decorators for the work to be put right and counter sue for that amount.

As it's a service, you shouldn't have to allow him to put it right for obvious reasons, but he should cover the cost of it being done.

I imagine this will cover the amount he is suing you for, if not more!

Good Luck!

unholyangel

First things first.....was any of the work he done up to scratch? If so, you really shouldn't even attempt at filing for a full refund.

You said you have pictures of the bad work, do you also have pictures of the work done by the 2nd guy (who I presume did a good job as you didn't say otherwise)? Do you have anything in writing from him (or anyone else you obtained a quote from) about the quality of the first guys work? If not this may be worthwhile doing to show he did not carry out his duties with reasonable care and skill.

A lot of people seem to call themselves painter and decorators these days and while they may be able to do it to DIY standard, they simply cant do it to professional standards or are deluded into thinking their work is professional standards.

apx

Thanks both for the quick replies.

Yes - a very few bits didn't require re-doing (ceilings etc), and some could have been touched up. We don't have pictures of the new work, but we could take some now I guess. That's a good idea. The 2nd guy did a good job and I could definitely get something in writing from him to comment on the work too.

This would all be useful in defending his claim. I'm still not sure of the value of counter claiming. My fear of not counter-claiming is that if the court decides there's *some* merit in his claim and gets us to meet in the middle I'll be further out of pocket. A counter-claim might offset that - even if I don't claim for the full amount.

I'm annoyed because I feel like by trying to compromise already (e.g. offering to leave him with the money paid so far), that's the best I'll get without a counter-claim. What I'm trying to work out is if I'm better off with just a robust defence of his claim - or whether I stand more chance of it evening out by counter-claiming? I'm not sure how a court would look at this. If I'm better off counter-claiming should I claim for the full amount and expect it to be reduced, or just claim for the cost of re-painting and hope that's accepted in full.

Thanks again - it's helping me clarify my thoughts.

unholyangel

Don't claim for the full amount. That's just unreasonable as he has completed some work to a satisfactory standard.

Claim for the £850 (which is the amount you're actually out of pocket).

gemineyegirl

Sorry for jumping on this post but I wanted to write a new post regarding a new problem of my own

Can some one tell me how or do I just write it here ?

Thanks
Gem:-)

unholyangel

gemineyegirl wrote: »

Sorry for jumping on this post but I wanted to write a new post regarding a new problem of my own

Can some one tell me how or do I just write it here ?

Thanks
Gem:-)

new thread button on top left corner of consumer rights board

arcon5

He really should have been given the opportunity to rectify his work. And ideally you have documented his attempts and how they failed.

Hard to say which way this would go, but if counter-claiming then counter claim for the consequential loss. The £850.