Please help!

Andreyd

Hi,
We have a leaking roof and had a roofer come round who attempted to fix it and charged us £280. It took him around 30 minutes to fix the issue, it was not more than an hour.And we thought it was too quick. Before he started for the 1st time he said he gives 5 years guarantee for his job. We have this on his receipt.

However after it rained I checked it and the roof was still leaking as before. We have rung the same roofer telling him that the problem is not fixed, he came back and said you must have another leak because my job is fine. After a long and difficult conversation and insisted that he has another look at this. He went on the roof and spent another half an hour and said if it leaks again then he " will be scratching his head". So, after a few rainy days we find the same leak as before. We rang him again and asked for a partial 50% refund but he was very rude and aggressive on the phone. We obviously don't want to have any services from him anymore but want at least a partial refund from him. What can we do about this? How are we protected as consumers from cowboy builders? Is it feasible to take him to a small claims court?

Thank you very much for your advises.

Greta_Sharbo

Under the Consumer Rights act he must carry out the service with reasonable care and skill - that is, to the standard expected of a trader in that field.

If that's not the case you are entitled to a free repeat performance then a price reduction.

Onus is on you to prove substandard service so if the trader continue to deny they are liable you probably need an independent third party to verify it is substandard.

Taking him to court - yes feasible but you are expected to try to resolve it first.

agrinnall

Before you even think about court you need some evidence that his work was defective and is the cause of the current leak, which means paying someone else to write you a report which you have to hope will say that. If it does then you can consider court action, including the cost of the report.

Andreyd

Thank you for answers.
The roofer is not responding to emails and text messages. He is obviously avoiding us. What do we do then? And how do we get evidence that he had not done his job properly?
The evidence is that we have pictures and video if the same leak which he was meant to fix but has not..

agrinnall

We've both told you how to get evidence already.

arcon5

Id have thought the mere fact it is still leaking is proof enough since he was contracted to fix the leak

macman

Do you have his full name and address? Or just a mobile number? Sole trader or ltd company? Without an address you cannot serve papers, so forget it.
Did you ask for a quote before he began the repair?
And remember that winning your case does not automatically get you your money back if he fails to pay.