Plumber fraud

sheikhazad

Dear All,
I put ad on RatedPeople to renovate my old en-suite + new toilet/shower in Outbuilding. This tradesman came on 12th July and gave quotation + 5* ratings + reviews + previous work photos. I was impressed and he pushed that he can start now only because he is booked till October fully. We agreed at £5900 + 2700 for separate for boiler & fitting. He promised to finish entire work in 6 days & gave payment/work schedule in plain paper, no signature but just rough calculation/date  (not sure if it can be even evidence). I transferred £2950 (50% of £5900) on 13th + next day £2700 for boiler to his business account as he said he can’t continue without boiler. He promised to give invoice on first day, then he said both invoice next day. First payment day 13th July, his 2 guys worked impressively for around 1/2 day. Then he said he will come with boiler on 15 but he didn’t. He came on 16th & worked 1/2day but didn’t bring boiler.

I wanted to deal for labour cost only but he insisted material will be cheaper as he is tradesman. 

since that day, he says due to corona, less staff and so and so excuse. Always saI’d he will come but he didn’t turn up & I kept waiting whole day. 

He replied two times my email, with signature of a lady Natalie but I know it’s him who sent email, saying same corona excuse.

He ignored my calls, sms, emails. He blamed me for hounding & Now he has blocked my number. 

RatedPeople guys say they will investigate but very slow response (Only email address their customer support number is not working due to COVID).

I have disabllity blue badge + disabled council band. I was using this outbuilding for gym + physiotherapy & relaxation purpose. Now he has removed light and complete mess as he started 10% work and can’t even use it.

He knows I’m jobless & I borrowed the money from friend. Now no invoice and only proof I hv is bank transfer proof.

Pls help me how can I recover the money or let him complete work? Will solicitor or citizen advice help? I’m thinking to call him night and day with new phone number by hiding caller ID. 

Pls advice, I’m already almost bankrupted with £20,000 debt. 

Thank you so much.

sheikhazad

PS: 
1. RatedPeople shows his address/Id verified

2. His email is not official but gmail account

3. It seems he doesn’t even have website 

Doozergirl

I never know what to say to people like you.  I'm really sorry this happened to you.  It's not 'plumber fraud' it's just plain old 'fraud'. 

There's an idea out there that tradespeople earn a lot of money from the big amounts of money you pay out.  It's not like that.  You've paid someone, in advance, more than anyone could have hoped to earn from ever doing the job honestly. 

Please, people, stop paying massive chunks in advance for anything!  Not materials, nothing. 

[Deleted User]

 sheikhazad said:

Dear All,
I put ad on RatedPeople to renovate my old en-suite + new toilet/shower in Outbuilding. This tradesman came on 12th July and gave quotation + 5* ratings + reviews + previous work photos. I was impressed and he pushed that he can start now only because he is booked till October fully. We agreed at £5900 + 2700 for separate for boiler & fitting. He promised to finish entire work in 6 days & gave payment/work schedule in plain paper, no signature but just rough calculation/date  (not sure if it can be even evidence). I transferred £2950 (50% of £5900) on 13th + next day £2700 for boiler to his business account as he said he can’t continue without boiler. He promised to give invoice on first day, then he said both invoice next day. First payment day 13th July, his 2 guys worked impressively for around 1/2 day. Then he said he will come with boiler on 15 but he didn’t. He came on 16th & worked 1/2day but didn’t bring boiler.

I wanted to deal for labour cost only but he insisted material will be cheaper as he is tradesman. 

since that day, he says due to corona, less staff and so and so excuse. Always saI’d he will come but he didn’t turn up & I kept waiting whole day. 

He replied two times my email, with signature of a lady Natalie but I know it’s him who sent email, saying same corona excuse.

He ignored my calls, sms, emails. He blamed me for hounding & Now he has blocked my number. 

RatedPeople guys say they will investigate but very slow response (Only email address their customer support number is not working due to COVID).

I have disabllity blue badge + disabled council band. I was using this outbuilding for gym + physiotherapy & relaxation purpose. Now he has removed light and complete mess as he started 10% work and can’t even use it.

He knows I’m jobless & I borrowed the money from friend. Now no invoice and only proof I hv is bank transfer proof.

Pls help me how can I recover the money or let him complete work? Will solicitor or citizen advice help? I’m thinking to call him night and day with new phone number by hiding caller ID. 

Pls advice, I’m already almost bankrupted with £20,000 debt. 

Thank you so much.

Why would you hand over such a large amount of money. Most decent business have the means to source and pay for materials first and get paid later. Those that don't rely on you to buy them and deduct from their fee. 

 If you have his address you can take him to the small claims court. 

TELLIT01

Small claims court would seem to be your only route as it seems pretty clear that they have no intention of doing the work.  They have certainly taken advantage of your situation, but that is exactly how these people operate.  Easy to say in hindsight, but a tradesman claiming they can do the job with immediate start but can't come back before October should ring alarm bells.  It is possible you simply contacted him at a time when he had a cancellation, but unlikely.

sheikhazad

I became stupid when I was misled by 5* rating + review comments + his work pictures. 

What I have is his postcode (but no house number), his phone number, bank transaction details. 

sheikhazad

I found out that this guy lives in Leicestershire & found post code but not house number, drive a black Range Rover. I became stupid when I saw ratings & review comment, perhaps all are fabricated.

Sadly there is no written documents, no invoice. Only proof I have is his business account and bank transfer proof. He made things so fast that I paid in just two days in three different transactions.

I think he is misleading people even with his business name -
1) His registered business name in RatedPeople is “Platinum Plumbing and Heating LTD”

2) His email ID is platinumplumbingservicesltd@gmail.com

See “services” in his email and this company “platinumplumbingservicesltd” is registered in Scotland. This, he is using other company’s name in email account with gmail.

3) Bank statement shows only “Platinum Plumbing”

4) His name is Joe Taylor as he said & as seen in email name

So, I can’t search his company anywhere. It seems he is pre-planned, habitual liar and cheater.

sheikhazad

Everything is verbal. Pls see above response from me. Only thing I have is he roughly put dates & amount on plain paper (No signature) that we used for discussion + bank transfer details + his phone number + sms + email replies.

rach_k

Don't get too caught up in the name / Scotland thing.  If you look on Companies House, there are loads of companies with 'Platinum Plumbing' in the name.  My plumber has a name that comes up loads too - doesn't mean he's dodgy, it just means that there are lots of plumbers out there!  Sometimes bank accounts don't show the full name and sometimes people are a bit indecisive about their names!  Some of the very trustworthy companies we use have their name shown differently on things they've bought at different times e.g. the plumber's sign-written van showed a slightly different name to his invoices until he replaced it recently.  People change their minds!  

I don't know what the prices you were given mean as I don't know exactly what you're wanting done, but we paid £3k for a new boiler and £3,600 for installation of a bathroom with us buying everything separately, so maybe what he quoted was reasonable, if he's replacing an old en-suite and installing a new bathroom in the outbuilding too, and doing it to a particular spec (anything special for accessibility?).  We paid 50% up front too, but we know and trust our plumber.

Is it possible that you have expected too much?  It's only two weeks since you even got the quote, so it's not that this has been going on for months and months.  Coronavirus isn't something they've just made up, and I would think a two week delay reasonable if there has been an issue related to that.  The way you said you're considering hounding him night and day makes me suspect that perhaps your own behaviour has been less than sensible. We're only getting half of the story, maybe there were unfortunate but normal delays and you've made it into a huge issue and he's given up even trying.  

If you think that might be the case (or even if you don't, it might be worth a try), I'd suggest emailing him once more.  Say that it's been a stressful time but that you apologise if you haven't been reasonable.  Say that you'd like to start again and would he consider coming back to finish off, or would he prefer to refund you your money.  Even if you don't feel sorry, you have nothing to lose by pretending to be!

Mumof4piggies

I cannot post link but please see company number 12520926 on companies house
would also make sence with being from Leicestershire and the name Natalie
Im a regular poster but cannot remember my log in details so have had to rejoin

stragglebod

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/12520926

Yes @Mumof4piggies that was the one I was thinking of too.

I can't find a Gas Safe registration for him/the company but then the Gas Safe website was built by idiots.