Constant demands for payment from builder

SarahMcA

Hi, I have sought advice on another board, and someone suggested I post here too. I had someone come to start to renovate my bathroom at the very beginning of August. They came, took out the bath and shower and did this:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/27apoils2/

I thought it looked a bit dodgy but alarm bells rang when I had another builder/plumber around who almost had a coronary when he saw it!

There was no sign of the original builder ever reappearing so on Monday 18th August (3 weeks with no bath or sink and realising his work was poor) I decided to suggest that I understood he was busy so I'd pay for what he'd done. He asked for quite a lot of money so I asked for a detailed invoice. This resulted in him being rude and unpleasant. Anyway I finally got an official invoice on Wednesday whilst I was on holiday. Every day since then he and his wife have been phoning and texting demanding immediate payment.

I haven't refused to pay, though I'm obviously disenchanted by the state he's left my bathroom in. My question is can they demand instant payment by just putting it in an email? We never had a proper written or verbal contract. Many thanks

BoGoF

So it's been nearly a month since he did the work and you have agreed to pay him for the work he did do? Would you not want paying now?

SarahMcA

BoGoF wrote: »

So it's been nearly a month since he did the work and you have agreed to pay him for the work he did do? Would you not want paying now?

I haven't agreed to pay him as I wanted an official invoice to justify his costs for poor workmanship and the delay in actually doing work! I just would like to know when the invoice was finally given what my rights are as a consumer. Am I legally obliged to pay instantly or are guidelines about timescales for payment.

DoaM

The guidelines are ... if you agreed to payment milestones then that's what you follow, otherwise payment should be instant (near enough). You wouldn't go to next, choose a pair of trousers, take them away and say "I'll pay you for these next week, OK?"

SarahMcA

DoaM wrote: »

The guidelines are ... if you agreed to payment milestones then that's what you follow, otherwise payment should be instant (near enough). You wouldn't go to next, choose a pair of trousers, take them away and say "I'll pay you for these next week, OK?"

But equally I wouldn't order a pair of trousers and still buy them if they were poor quality. I'm going to have to pay for his work to be re-done. I just really need to know what my rights are when work is poor and I'm being harassed to pay for it without having the time to consider what I'm being charged against what I've got. I'm losing financially

CakeCrusader

I think the issue here is that it's going to cost the OP ££££ to get this work put right by someone else. It's not really too fair if she has to pay this cowboy for the work that he's botched so far and then she has to pay someone else to put it right. Sufficient quality it is not, it's one hell of a botch job.



What sort of messages are they sending to you, OP?

BoGoF

But it sounds like op didn't give them a chance to put right as the CRA allows for. OP has basically told them not to come back.

BoGoF

I'm not sure what those pics are supposed to show? When you get a bathroom ripped out you are left with a shell.

CakeCrusader

BoGoF wrote: »

But it sounds like op didn't give them a chance to put right as the CRA allows for. OP has basically told them not to come back.

Would you have let them back in to finish the job given the mess they made in the first place?



It may be wise for the OP to pay the bill, and then take them to the small claims court if the repair job costs more than it would have cost firm A to have done a decent job in the first place.

SarahMcA

CakeCrusader wrote: »

I think the issue here is that it's going to cost the OP ££££ to get this work put right by someone else. It's not really too fair if she has to pay this cowboy for the work that he's botched so far and then she has to pay someone else to put it right. Sufficient quality it is not, it's one hell of a botch job.



What sort of messages are they sending to you, OP?

Thank you for your understanding
After I got the previous rude text messages telling me what a dreadful person I am I stopped wanting to speak! It's the constantness now. They knew I was on holiday with no means to pay but still still rang me daily. Tried to get my skip I've paid for taken away. It's not like I've changed my mind about having a bathroom. I just want it to stay put!

I guess the easy thing is to pay up and pay somebody again to do a proper job!

SarahMcA

BoGoF wrote: »

I'm not sure what those pics are supposed to show? When you get a bathroom ripped out you are left with a shell.

That's the double boarding and the bits significantly flush of the doorway