How do I sue a rogue trader?

Skinnylatte

I paid a chap £1000 deposit in April to lay a new drive for me, with a balance of £1200 to be paid on completion. Although he's done quite a lot of the work, he hasn't been near the pace for the last month, and I'm sick of texting and ringing, with him promising to turn up and then never does.
i also paid him £500 to turf my garden, which he never finished and what he has done is all lumpy.
I've had another, reputable firm, to look at finishing the job, They've said that it's been badly done and will need taking up and relaying, I'm waiting for their quote.
How can a try to reclaim some money so I'm not out of pocket, what can a get back from him and how do I do this?

robatwork

First thing to do is take pictures and as much evidence you can of everything - diarise when he was there, when he arranged to come back and didn't, and all the times you have texted or rang.

Can you get the "reputable" firm to do a report stating that his work was substandard? That would be the best evidence.

Then hit him with a letter before action - if you search in the consumer rights board for that you will get lots of examples.

However you have paid him £1500 for a £2700 job and a court may judge that he has done that much work. What do you want - a full refund of what you have paid so far?

macman

Small claims process through the county court. But this will be futile if he does not actually have the means to pay, or if you don't have his address, which sounds likely. If you do, forget texting or phoning. Write to him, and send if by RD, giving him 7 days to remedy the fault or refund your money, failing which you will commence a civil claim.
But why did you pay £1000 upfront for a job like this-no reputable firm would ask for that?

Skinnylatte

macman wrote: »

Small claims process through the county court. But this will be futile if he does not actually have the means to pay, or if you don't have his address, which sounds likely. If you do, forget texting or phoning. Write to him, and send if by RD, giving him 7 days to remedy the fault or refund your money, failing which you will commence a civil claim.
But why did you pay £100 upfront for a job like this-no reputable firm would ask for that?

Because he's a con man and I'm niave

cyclonebri1

Skinnylatte wrote: »

Because he's a con man and I'm niave

Then it's up to you to prove it in court, that may be the easy, ever getting your money is the big issue.

macman

Skinnylatte wrote: »

Because he's a con man and I'm niave

The remedy remains the same.
But be prepared not to get your money back even if you win the case.
Start with an LBA, because that costs you nothing other than the delivery price.

Skinnylatte

Thank you for your replies I don't think there's much point in pursuing him, he probably doesn't have any money anyway :mad:

lostinrates

Skinnylatte wrote: »

Thank you for your replies I don't think there's much point in pursuing him, he probably doesn't have any money anyway :mad:

But if you win he will have a judgement against him, which will impact against his business and possibly help protect others who run a check against him.

That's part of why we did it in the past.

And bailiffs got the money back.

cyclonebri1

lostinrates wrote: »

But if you win he will have a judgement against him, which will impact against his business and possibly help protect others who run a check against him.

That's part of why we did it in the past.

And bailiffs got the money back.

I thought the judgement only came into place if he failed to pay up, not if the case was found against him??

That's a question really but it was what a court official told me only recently.

lostinrates

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I thought the judgement only came into place if he failed to pay up, not if the case was found against him??

That's a question really but it was what a court official told me only recently.

A case found against them I think ( I'd have to check with my husband) impacts. Which impacts their credit rating. I do recall this showed pretty quickly ( they actually didn't submit anything, so ours resulted in a summary judgement in our favour )

To engage court bailiffs a second process ( which they sorts out) is undertaken iirc.

macman

Skinnylatte wrote: »

Thank you for your replies I don't think there's much point in pursuing him, he probably doesn't have any money anyway :mad:

You'll never know that unless you try. The first process is the cost of a recorded delivery letter, the second is £60-70 for the court fee. I'd consider that a worthwhile investment to possibly get £1500 back.
He certainly has some money, because you gave him £1,500 for doing next to nothing.
AN LBA often prompts people into paying up because it indicates that you are serious. Texting/phoning is futile with such people.