How to check authenticity of a company

Nikiya

After dithering over some gutter repairs we needed, my husband decided all of a sudden to go ahead with a “company” that offered him 10 years’ guarantee. The price was higher than other quotes but he felt “happy” with what he was told.
I only realised once the job (less than two hours, at a cost of 280 pounds) had started.
Now, these people –who introduced themselves as “Bill’s guttering” with a flyer, are called “Williams gutters” in the invoice and have a site where they are called “Weeroofing”-- are not to be found ANYWHERE in the web: no comments, no reviews, no background, no memberships, nothing. Not with any of those names or their address except, as mentioned before, their site.
Please spare your comments about the foolishness of this decision. What I would like to know now is where to check if this is a real company (I doubt it) and where to report it as fraud if it is not.
On top of that, the invoice is for GBP 980 when the agreement and the payment were as above. We called them and they said it was a mistake.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Furts

Check the work very carefully. If it satisfactory pay the £280 to get rid of them. If you quibble the results may be unpleasant for your home. Then expect these people to persist and call by on occasions because they regard you as a fool who is easily parted from their money. The next visit could be to suggest pressure washing your roof, or cutting back your trees, or selling you lucky heather.

Doozergirl

What is fraudulent about it?

You don't have to be a company, you can be a sole trader.

You don't have to offer an insurance backed guarantee.

You can charge more than other people.

Nobody purposely adds money to an invoice. The tax man just takes more!

Having a few names isn't exactly reassuring but there's no law against it.

teneighty

The fact that they are not a limited company and have no online presence is not unusual, lots of contractors work like that.

The fact that they get their work by putting leaflets through peoples doors is massively worrying. I'm with Furts on this one.

Nikiya

What is fraudulent about it?

You don't have to be a company, you can be a sole trader.

You don't have to offer an insurance backed guarantee.

You can charge more than other people.

Nobody purposely adds money to an invoice. The tax man just takes more!

Having a few names isn't exactly reassuring but there's no law against it.

Well, to my knowledge, you cannot purport to be a company unless you are registered somewhere. And you cannot trade or operate --as a company or a sole trader-- under different names.

teneighty

A limited company must be registered with Companies House and follow the strict rules applied to the company and its officers.

A sole trader can have a trading name, he can have 2 or 3 or 50 there is no restriction. William Smith could trade as Williams Gutters; Bills Gutters, Smiths Gutter, he could even trade as Trumps Gutters if he wanted to.

There is a body of opinion on this forum that sole traders are safer for customers than limited companies but I have never understood why.

Apodemus

Hope all is ok with the work they did. I have had a couple of "companies" come to the door wanting to replace my cast-iron gutters with modern plastic ones, despite the fact that mine are good for another 100 years, while the replacement "guarantee" might be for ten!

Sicard

A guarantee isn't worth the paper it's written on. There's no point in checking up on them now. If they had a trade body you could but I doubt if there's one. Hindsight is a great illuminator.

Hoploz

I'm not worried about most of what you've said. It's a £300 job done in a day, ok anyone can do it without any professional qualifications ... Its only guttering repairs not rocket science ....

But you've thrown in the interesting bit at the end.... So your problem is actually that they quoted £280 and have charged you £980? Is that right? What is the mistake .... They've written the wrong number on the bill, or they seriously under-quoted? Your post isn't clear.

Doozergirl

Hoploz wrote: »

I'm not worried about most of what you've said. It's a £300 job done in a day, ok anyone can do it without any professional qualifications ... Its only guttering repairs not rocket science ....

But you've thrown in the interesting bit at the end.... So your problem is actually that they quoted £280 and have charged you £980? Is that right? What is the mistake .... They've written the wrong number on the bill, or they seriously under-quoted? Your post isn't clear.

The OP has already paid £280. £980 was a typo.

Furts

Doozergirl wrote: »

The OP has already paid £280. £980 was a typo.

Pure cowboy types are usually cash in hand, but here an invoice has been issued. This can still be a dodgy operator and the fact that the wrong sum was requested suggests this is so.

Good trades people do not make mistakes with invoices. And certainly not of this magnitude where the work has increased in value 3-4 times over. Dodgy trades will try it on at invoice stage - they only have to be successful now and again to make this try on worthwhile.