What to do if a tradesman doesn't show up

MB69

I have a bit of a problem and need to find out what to do.

I am renovating my house, bit by bit and after searching around, found a good plasterer to do work for me.

However he was always a bit unreliable. Always late to get here, but at least he got here.

He always quoted me a price, and when job was done, always asked for a bit more as the job had lasted a bit longer and .... and as he does a good job, I didn't mind it. So I paid him.

The last job he was supposed to do for me was my kitchen. He had a look and asked me what I wanted to do and he said a price to me which looked reasonable. it is not a big kitchen ( 3mx4m) but all 4 walls would need skimming and he said to me it would take him 2 days to dub and dab and skim. and it was 2 of them doing the job.

So we agreed a starting date, I ripped all the units out for him the night before, ready for him to start the work.

He showed up 2 hrs late, then said he had left his mixer and he needs to go get it and would be back within the hour. That was at 11am and he never returned.

For 48hrs I tried to ring him and ... but couldn'd get through. I thought maybe he had an accident or something sinc eit was very unlike him to not answer at all

Finally he texted me back after 2 days saying he was sorry, he can't do the work as he had quoted me too cheap when he had seen the kitchen. He had decided not to come back as it was less hassle instead of talking to me and sorting out the price.

I have had to get another person come and do the job for me as I had no kitchen and needed to get it finished. But the job costed me £200 more as the plasterer was the only one I could find on short notice and everyone else was busy until after the new year.

So want to know where do I stand? Can I sue him for compensation as he had given me a 'quote' to do the job and then declined to do it. It wasn't an estimate.

I even gave him the option to come and do the job for the agreed price once I found another person. I told him that it will cost me £200 more to get someone else to do it, he can either turn up and do the last job for me for the agreed price or he can expect to get a letter for compensation.

he never did. and now he has blocked my number and doesn't respond to my messages.

Any advice appreciated

magn8p

Had gone through a similar experience of late when we tried to build an en-suite, the job was completed in the end. However, what was supposed to take about 8 days took about 4 months!

The only way you can take action on this guy is if you have a written contract. If don't have one, you can still call Trading standards agency and lodge a complaint and hopefully he is not a cowboy tradesman and has some sort of an established/registered company and is associated with one or more trading bodies.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

All the best.

Warwick_Hunt

magn8p wrote: »

Had gone through a similar experience of late when we tried to build an en-suite, the job was completed in the end. However, what was supposed to take about 8 days took about 4 months!

The only way you can take action on this guy is if you have a written contract. If don't have one, you can still call Trading standards agency and lodge a complaint and hopefully he is not a cowboy tradesman and has some sort of an established/registered company and is associated with one or more trading bodies.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

All the best.

You can't do that in England.

Risteard

You have no enforceable contract and you have no case. Only a crazy horse would take your threat seriously.

brightontraveller

Some might see it as clients a complete pain in the walk away.... Talk of legal action (that’s all it is talk) says to me that’s why they didn’t want to waste there time talking to you …Move on enjoy you lovely plastered kitchen….

Warwick_Hunt

Risteard wrote: »

You have no enforceable contract and you have no case. Only a crazy horse would take your threat seriously.

He does have a contract, however he's lacking evidence of one.

TheCyclingProgrammer

What are you going to sue him for exactly?

Get over it, move on.

sleepymans

Thats life!!

magn8p

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

You can't do that in England.

You can. I did. However, like I mentioned the tradesman must be registered with a trading body or a VAT registered company. It's not easy but there is a process in place. Go through the website I mentioned above.

Warwick_Hunt

magn8p wrote: »

You can. I did. However, like I mentioned the tradesman must be registered with a trading body or a VAT registered company. It's not easy but there is a process in place. Go through the website I mentioned above.

Exactly he needs to go via the CAB as the consumer can no longer go direct to TS.

MB69

There is a contract. All done in an SMS, confirming time, price and ...

I never mentioned to him about suing until the other day. He just decided not to phone up and send a text after 48hrs saying he hates confrontation and he can never talk about money. It was less hassle to not talk to me according to him.

I always treated him nicely when he was here. Plenty of drinks and banter and even help when he needed to.

Suing for compensation. As something that should have been done in 2 days, took over 2 weeks to complete which meant a lot of hassle for me to live out of my front room instead of a working kitchen.