Door to door gutter cleaners

matticus7

We've just recently bought and moved into our new home and as with any move I'm currently going around doing the odd jobs needed to fix up the house to our standard.

Today I had a bloke knock on the door asking if I wanted the front and back gutters cleaned (terraced) for £30. Normally I would politely decline but with all the rain we've had recently I noticed some water overflowing onto the living room window which was likely overflowing due to a blockage.

I told him that I didn't have any cash to which he said I could pay by bank transfer if I do online banking. I accepted and he said there were a few other houses before me and came back about an hour later with another lad to do the work. The 2nd lad went up onto the roof, made a lot of noise walking over the roof to get from the front gutters to the back and they knocked again about 10 minutes later to say it was done.

The lad who had been up on the roof then asked me to come outside and look at the gutter. He pointed out that the 2 other neighbours runs along fine and then when you get to ours there is pointing missing (which there is on other parts of the wall so this may be credible) and offered to patch it up for £60.

I kindly declined and thanked him for doing the gutters while the first bloke showed me a bucket half full of leaves etc which may or may not have come from our gutters.

Either way I paid them as agreed and won't know if they've actually done anything until it rains or I contact someone to come out and do them again next year. I'd check myself but the whole reason I let them do it is because of my fear of heights.

I'm aware I've likely been scammed but then again maybe they're just covering their backs during lockdown, I dunno... for £30 the risk seemed worth it but once they tried selling me on doing the pointing I was more inclined to think I've just been duped.

Has anyone else come across situations like this? If so did they actually do the work or not?

AskAsk

i find anyone working on the roof is more likely to be dodgy as you can't see what they are up to.  i got a roofer round, which i found on checkatrade with lots of good reviews, to put a nut into a cast iron drain pipe that had come loose.  he came to look the same day and said it would cost £60 to go and get the nut and fix it to the drainpipe.

this sounded very reasonable so i agreed for him to do it.  he then said that the gutters were all clogged up and he could clean them while he is there for £60.  i told him that if he charges £40, that would make it £100 rounded cash figure.

he agreed and the bolt seems to be holding 6 months on, but i don't think he actually cleaned the gutters as i didn't see anything on the ground, which you would tend to do if he was scooping the leaves and dirt out.   also when i looked into the gutter on the first level from the upstairs bedroom, it still looked dirty, so with hindwight, i think i paid £40 for nothing, although he did go around with the ladder for about 30 minutes.

this will remind me not to use people who knock at the door as i find they are not reliable since you have no reviews on them.

Marmaduke123

It's worth asking your regular window cleaner (if you have one of course). They may be willing to do it themselves, or know someone who can do it. I wouldn't use one of the door knockers under any circumstances.

TELLIT01

matticus7 said:

 The 2nd lad went up onto the roof, made a lot of noise walking over the roof to get from the front gutters to the back and they knocked again about 10 minutes later to say it was done.

Are you serious??  Walking on the roof is both dangerous and likely to cause damage.  They should have used roof ladders at a minimum to get from the front to the back.  Their mates will probably be back in a few weeks saying they've spotted broken tiles on the roof and they can fix them.

greatcrested

PLease! Anyone else reading this:

Never say yes to door to door salesmen. As I started reading it was just a question of ime before they 'found' some further work needed and upped their bill.

If your gutters need clearing, use someone recommended by neighbours etc.

And don't get me started on the guy who has some tarmac 'left over' from a previous job and offers to re-tarmac your drive....

DiddyDavies

matticus7 said:

The lad who had been up on the roof then asked me to come outside and look at the gutter. He pointed out that the 2 other neighbours runs along fine and then when you get to ours there is pointing missing (which there is on other parts of the wall so this may be credible) and offered to patch it up for £60.

The important question is, was the pointing missing before he climbed up on the roof to do the guttering?

matticus7

It's very likely that the pointing was missing as there are other parts of the house on both sides that we know of that need repair.

As for the climbing on the roof I can't see any damage to the tiles but that was certainly a concern once I heard him thudding around. I offered them access to the back but they refused saying it would be easier to walk over. Stupid me didn't put 2 and 2 together until it was too late.

Either way I think best case scenario I've had the job done in a shoddy way and worst case I've learned a valuable lesson for a small price. I would however recommend not to accept jobs from door to door people just to be on the safe side.

clive0510

I once had an irish guy knock on the door here, saying he was doing some work up the road and he noticed something needed doing to my house. I said to him quite bluntly 'I think not mate'. I went outside with him and he showed me lines and streaks down the house walls. he said its water running of the roof,and theres a black felt strip between the end of the tiles and the gutter. because its old house, that has rotted and needs replacing, which is why you can see day light through it. so I looked up and he was quite right. there was day light. he said he would fix it for £200. I declined and he left. I phoned a local roofer and told him. he said need to remove the bottom row of tiles, clean all the old stuff off and fit new. £1,200. so in the end,we had a guy to paint the outside front n back, whiile he was up there he replaced it using a roll of damp course, which i thought was a good idea,because that way no joins. he charged me £600 to replace that strip and paint the outside. that damp course is still there to this day, and it works fine.

theonlywayisup

The simplest of scams start with a small amount. This works in two ways.  
1. You pay and the job is a bad one, you don't mind the small loss.  
2. You pay as the small cost entices you in for a larger repair bill later on.

It is a classic, not least because lots of homeowners don't have ladders or a way to view a gutter/roof themselves and £30 isn't much.......

DiddyDavies

clive0510 said:

I once had an irish guy knock on the door here, saying he was doing some work up the road

I phoned a local roofer and told him. he said need to remove the bottom row of tiles, clean all the old stuff off and fit new.

we had a guy to paint the outside front n back,

Why did you feel the need to mention that the first caller was Irish but didn't mention the nationality of the other two people?

clive0510

I dont actually know the nationality of the £1,200 roofer as never actually met him. and the guy who did the job in the end I known for years,and I believe he was born in england, but never actually asked him.