Paid a builder 20% deposit to do work, not turned up to do work

hansen666

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

MattMattMattUK

hansen666 said:

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

Almost certainly you will not get your money back from the bank, you will need to recover the funds using the courts. Do you know who you actually sent the money to, eg. their full name and address, a limited company and their registered address?

hansen666

MattMattMattUK said:

hansen666 said:

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

Almost certainly you will not get your money back from the bank, you will need to recover the funds using the courts. Do you know who you actually sent the money to, eg. their full name and address, a limited company and their registered address?

He is from mybuilder, he did a previous job for me but for this other job he did not send me the quote through mybuilder.

I contacted mybuilder and explained the situation and they have allowed me to change the positive feedback I left him for the previous job he did so that I can change it to negative which will result in him not having 100% positive feedback anymore.

If I can't get it back from my bank that will be incredibly dissapointing, I was under the impression that if you pay for a service and do not receive the service you have paid for then your bank will always have your back.

It even states on the halifax website that they can help if you do not get the service that you paid for which is why I am asking on here to see what the most likely outcome of this will be.

user1977

hansen666 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

hansen666 said:

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

Almost certainly you will not get your money back from the bank, you will need to recover the funds using the courts. Do you know who you actually sent the money to, eg. their full name and address, a limited company and their registered address?

It even states on the halifax website that they can help if you do not get the service that you paid for

Can you point us to where it says that? You may be getting confused with something like Section 75 claims where you've used a credit card, or where there is actual fraud - there's no general right just because a payment has gone through the bank.

hansen666

user1977 said:

hansen666 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

hansen666 said:

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

Almost certainly you will not get your money back from the bank, you will need to recover the funds using the courts. Do you know who you actually sent the money to, eg. their full name and address, a limited company and their registered address?

It even states on the halifax website that they can help if you do not get the service that you paid for

Can you point us to where it says that? You may be getting confused with something like Section 75 claims where you've used a credit card, or where there is actual fraud - there's no general right just because a payment has gone through the bank.

user1977 said:

hansen666 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

hansen666 said:

Hi I paid a builder via bank transfer 2 lots of £500, the first for materials (which I have had delivered) and the second £500 as a 20% deposit to begin the work.

He has not showed up to do the work and is ignoring all my texts and calls, it has been more than 3 weeks.

I have already contacted my bank and explained the situation and the fraud department are investigating this to see if they can get me the £500 back.

Am I likely to get my money back from my bank in this situation or is it gone for good?

Almost certainly you will not get your money back from the bank, you will need to recover the funds using the courts. Do you know who you actually sent the money to, eg. their full name and address, a limited company and their registered address?

It even states on the halifax website that they can help if you do not get the service that you paid for

Can you point us to where it says that? You may be getting confused with something like Section 75 claims where you've used a credit card, or where there is actual fraud - there's no general right just because a payment has gone through the bank.

In the disputes section in states the following:

When we may be able to help:

• When you’ve been in touch with the business or retailer.
• When you haven’t received an item you’ve paid for.
• When you received an item or service that isn’t as described or has developed a fault.
• When you’ve been charged incorrectly or twice for the same product or service.
• When you’ve been charged for a subscription fee you weren’t expecting, or after a free trial period has ended and you cancelled in advance.

Obviously it's number 3 that applys to me since I paid someone for a service (to build a concrete block building) that I have not received.

JJ_Egan

Yes they may be able to help but that's not a right or law to get your money back .

Bank cannot always have your back unless it can retrieve the money itself .

Most likely outcome is that you will have to go via the courts yourself for the £500 .

hansen666

JJ_Egan said:

Yes they may be able to help but that's not a right or law to get your money back .

Bank cannot always have your back unless it can retrieve the money itself .

Most likely outcome is that you will have to go via the courts yourself for the £500 .

Ok thanks.

I have left him negative feedback and if I don't get the money back I will just take it on the chin, I don't feel like going through the courts for only £500.

If it had been more money then I definitely would.

pbartlett

Is this also a criminal matter ?

m0bov

pbartlett said:

Is this also a criminal matter ?

lol! Of cause not.

m0bov

hansen666 said:

JJ_Egan said:

Yes they may be able to help but that's not a right or law to get your money back .

Bank cannot always have your back unless it can retrieve the money itself .

Most likely outcome is that you will have to go via the courts yourself for the £500 .

Ok thanks.

I have left him negative feedback and if I don't get the money back I will just take it on the chin, I don't feel like going through the courts for only £500.

If it had been more money then I definitely would.

Its only £50 if it gets that far, he might just return the money. The bank might well seize the money and force him to return it.

Otherwise I'd LBA straight away and then MCOL.

pbartlett

m0bov said:

pbartlett said:

Is this also a criminal matter ?

lol! Of cause not.

not sure why you say lol.of course not.

if the builder knew at the time of taking the money that tjey had no intention of doing the work then it is a criminal matter - the builder has committed graud