Quote/Invoice confusion

JBean_2

Thank you Teneighty. Yes, I have certainly learned a lot and hopefully others will too. I totally agree with you, the small claims route is really not cheap and easy access if, ultimately, you need a solicitor. Once one side gets a solicitor, the other side is at a distinct disadvantage unless they also get a solicitor, which means it isn't even worth going to court in a lot of cases as the legal fees exceed the amount you hope to recover. And I couldn't agree more with you about Citizens Advice. They do use a lot of inexperienced volunteers. I have phoned them on a number of occasions over the years on various matters and on every occasion all they did was look up a website on whatever issue I was phoning about and read it out to me over the phone. They also gave the totally wrong advice to my elderly father, which caused him to lose money. I didn't even go near them for this issue. We were disappointed with the consumer trading body that advised us, especially as it is a government regulatory body. They didn't pick up on the invoices and weren't clued in on the VAT issue and also advised against a solicitor. We had said we wouldn't go near court if they advised against it but they actually thought we had a good case, so it just goes to show that you can't even rely on that. They are going to review their advice as a result and though it's too late for us, at least it's something for others. And the professional body, of which this trader is a member, is keeping our complaint on file regardless of the court decision, which is great because this was something he wanted us to withdraw, so we won't be doing that. If anyone complains about him in future, at least our complaint will be there.

While we all have no doubt had the wool pulled over our eyes to some degree over the years, this was the first time it was so blatant and strategic. This guy saw a very elderly man and a couple of inexperienced women and knew exactly what he was going to do from the word go. We had placed a lot of trust in him which he totally abused over and over again. It's a terrible shame as it we won't be as quick to trust tradesmen in the future and will be getting everything in writing, which I'm sure is very onerous for the honest tradesmen, but it's the best way to protect ourselves in future.

Thanks very much to you and everyone else for all the comments. It really has been very useful and we appreciate it very much.