building work- bank transfers

soolin

This isn't really the right board for this but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere else either.

I have a quote for some building work, I've gone to a company rather than a friend of a friend or someone from the local ads, it's a company I used about 22 years ago and were happy with but I believe the management has now changed hands.

I'm happy with the quote but I asked them where I needed to go to pay the £3000 deposit by card I was told they have no facility to take anything other than a cheque or bank transfer.

I'm a naturally suspicious person and see scams everywhere but the office of this company seemed to suggest that it is normal in their trade for it all to be cash or bank transfers and that I would be making staged payments with only half the balance (a little under £10,000) payable by part way through the build.

Is this normal or am I right to be a bit worried as to why a company has no line of credit with a bank? I'm currently in the process of getting more quotes and have already checked that the new companies take a deposit by Visa debit(so I am protected if company dissolves)

glentoran99

Quite a few of the companies that did work on my house couldn't take cards and I had to pay by bank transfer, or cash or cheque it does seem common in the trade

soolin

glentoran99 wrote: »

Quite a few of the companies that did work on my house couldn't take cards and I had to pay by bank transfer, or cash or cheque it does seem common in the trade

Thank you.

I suppose I'm nervous as if someone posted on here that they'd sent a large bank transfer to a company the first thing I would think is 'why' what sort of company doesn't take a debit card (I can understand now wanting credit cards or making a small charge). I don't like not having any plan B to fall back on if the company does have financial issues and dissolves before they do my work.

It's not as though I pay them the best part of £3000 and then they turn up and start- I've got about a 6 week delay in starting apparently due to all sorts of things.

Tom99

Go into a branch of the bank in question and ask them to double check that the account number you have been given belongs to the company you think you are paying. I have done that in the past just to check I have the right details before sending a large sum.

soolin

Tom99 wrote: »

Go into a branch of the bank in question and ask them to double check that the account number you have been given belongs to the company you think you are paying. I have done that in the past just to check I have the right details before sending a large sum.

That isn't my worry at all, this is a proper company , my worry is only losing the money if the company gets into difficulty and goes bust before they do my work.

Anyway, a bank would be in breach of data protection if they told a customer the name of an account associated with a bank sort code and account number.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I do not think the bank would be breaching data protection but even if ,technically they were, they may well comply with your request as they did for me.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Hand the bank a sheet with the Co Name, Sort and Acct Number, say you are paying a large sum to this party and want to check you have written down the details correctly.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Your point about the protection offered by debit or credit card is of course quite a valid one.[/FONT]

Le_Kirk

soolin wrote: »

This isn't really the right board for this but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere else either.

Might be worth posting on In my home (includes DIY) as quite a few builder type people read and post on there.

Rainbowgirl84

With the sum involved I would be looking for a Company that does accept credit cards. Remember you can pay a very small percentage of the total on a credit card to be covered for the full amount which would minimise any surcharge. You could also ask them for references of recent jobs they have carried out.

seashore22

I would be a bit worried too.

We've had two major extensions built in the past few years and neither asked for any kind of deposit. In fact they did a considerable amount of work before we paid a penny. They were completely separate companies from each other and in different parts of the country. The last payment was made when all the building work was completed and we were happy with it.

We paid one by cheque and the other by bank transfer, but obviously there was little risk to us because the work had been done.

£3,000 before the work even starts is a lot of money to pay to, what I assume are, complete strangers to you.

seashore22

If you do decide to go ahead, then I would pay a token amount of £1 to the account and if that is ok then pay the balance.

Obviously this only protects you from making a large payment to the wrong account and does nothing to help if they go bust. It's just a piece of additional advice.

DoaM

seashore22 wrote: »

I would be a bit worried too.

We've had two major extensions built in the past few years and neither asked for any kind of deposit. In fact they did a considerable amount of work before we paid a penny. They were completely separate companies from each other and in different parts of the country. The last payment was made when all the building work was completed and we were happy with it.

We paid one by cheque and the other by bank transfer, but obviously there was little risk to us because the work had been done.

£3,000 before the work even starts is a lot of money to pay to, what I assume are, complete strangers to you.

+1 to that. A building company should have a sufficient line of credit with their suppliers to enable them to procure materials and start construction before any payment by the customer is required.

A company wanting a significant up-front payment is one of my "red flags".