Plasterer holding my deposit, is this right?

T3RRY

Hi All,

We placed an advert on my builder to do some plastering in our kitchen and we got some interest in our post. 

We got a quote for the job almost immediately from one plasterer without him seeing the job for £450. We requested that he comes out and assess the work which he declined and said photos were fine. He drafted the contract and sent it on my builder which we accepted and paid a deposit of £100 for materials. Later on he increased the quote to £550 over text to which we agreed (no other deposits requested)

After we carried out so prepare work ourselves to reduce the cost of the work i.e removed the wall units and tiles off the wall, we sent him an image of the kitchen to which he stated the job looked too big and that he needed to re-quote. 

He sent a quote this morning of £650, and we accepted it over text. However after looking at the work we had carried out to prep the room we felt the quote was high, so we messaged him 2hrs from the last conversation to cancel the work which is 2.5 days before the scheduled start. 

He is now refusing to refund the £100 deposit we had paid for the original £450 contract we accepted. 

He states he has already bought material so can’t refund, and that he has lost the 2 days we had booked in so we have lost the £100. Nowhere in the contract does it state that and his making it along the way.

Where do we stand?

we have reposted the job and had someone look at it and they have a similar quote to the original £450. He is now aware of our repost and has gone mute on all our communications of trying to get our money back.

leonj

Tell him you want the materials or your £100 back

Doozergirl

I wish people would stop giving money to people off these ridiculous websites! 

I don't know what to say.  You've reduced the agreed scope in one way and he's repriced it twice and it's only a small job. 

It would have been better to prep it first, then get the quotes, as he can reasonably argue that you've moved the goalposts, changed the spec of the job and he's just responded to that with the latest revised quote.  

You can try a letter before action and then a Moneyclaim online. See what happens. 

greatcrested

Sorry but if you will use a commercial website where unscrupulous contractors pay to be included, you can expect this kind of scam.

You might as well hand over a deposit to Tom, !!!!!! or Harry who knocks on your door offerig to 'come back tomorrow and re-surface your driveway'.

Not helpful I know, but your choices are to

* pursuade him to refund the money

* accept that it will now cost more (if indeed it ever gets done)

* sue him, with all the hassle, time and uncertainty involved

southcoastrgi

https://www.mybuilder.com/contact-us

Homer_home

I don't think anybody needs to tell you to never ever accept a quote off someone who hasn't even seen what needs doing.

As above ask him for your £100 back or the materials failing that sue him , it should be an easy win for you , just don't give in and let him get away with this 

fenwick458

think of it this way, you haven't lost £100. for £100 you have bought some valuable life experience, "don't give money to someone you've never seen before in agreement for a job that they have never seen before"
and don't use my builder

robatwork

You mention "the original £450 contract". Is there a contract reduced to writing or is it all verbal? SMS could counts as in writing but I 'd doubt you'd see any Ts and Cs with a text message. And it's the terms that could be important if it gets legal.