Cowboy workmen- think I'm scuppered but advice gratefully received

Violet8

Hi all

Facts as follows:

Summer 2017- we are renovating a house and arranged for a plumber to attend and install the bathroom. He visits, quotes to install (no supply) and we accept.

When he arrives he advises that there is some work that has to be done as part of install and before he can install the bathroom and it is work he cannot do. He suggests a contact of his who is a joiner and can attend and complete the work timely enough to not delay him. We're unhappy as he never mentioned when quoting any work that would have to be undertaken before he could start/that he wasn't capable of. Things such as install of aqua panel which we thought were part of his quote. He was starting from an empty room and had not mentioned the quote was not for all we needed. Stuck, we get his contact round.

The joiner completes the work but we are unhappy with quality of it. Work was completed contrary to instruction and we have it in writing from manufacturer to reject work (install of aqua panels). He visits and swears up and down all is fine and verbally guarantees it. He is intimidating and we back down.

There is also a problem with the joiners invoice as it does not tie to original quote although there has been no difference to work done. It takes some months to get a proper breakdown of work completed. Things such as charging us for a painter for 4 full days when a small bathroom sized room had 2 coats of white emulsion only. Eventually a sum is agreed on and settled. Invoice is issued by "sister company" as "it is not VAT registered".

We only moved in to house at start of this year. Within a month of starting to use the bathroom it is clear that most of the work done was not good enough and the bathroom is unusable already (aquapanels leaking due to issue manufacturer confirmed, floor unsteady. Even the plywood laid over floorboards was done wrongly).

The company that issued the invoice was struck off (compulsory) in 2018. It had never filed accounts so I assume never declared any income. The other company associated with it (per emails we received) had first notice before compulsory strike off today. It has been on the go longer and last accounts filed show a negative Balance Sheet.

Chargeback is no go as paid online banking as if it was a bill (lesson learned there). In addition we likely don't have a case to get all back as painting and decoration was done to an OK standard at least (even if they claim it took 4 times longer than it did).

Any email addresses we have will no longer be in use.

Obviously this was managed badly by us and there are important lessons to learn, but are we properly scuppered here in getting this work fixed or our money partly refunded? We contracted with joiner separately although pressured to do so by plumber so can't really say it was a subcontract arrangement. We are wondering if we can take this up with the plumber. Any thoughts well received!

waamo

Who did you have do the work, was it a limited company or individuals? It sounds like it was limited companies as you talk about being struck off.

Violet8

It was a limited company yes. Essentially we just spoke with an individual, but when we got the invoice it was from a limited company.

waamo

Sadly you can't sue what no longer exists.