Has my 86 year old Mum been ripped off £730

gjf_2

Went on Checkatrader which leads on to Barkteam.com to get a roofer to repoint ridge/hip tiles & guttering work done on her bungalow. This person has 54 reviews so I thought he must be reasonable?

 Whilst the repointing isn’t the tidiest it’ll do. 

However the guttering is low at the corner where it should be the highest to enable flow of rainwater to run towards the downpipe instead of away from it. This was explained when he came to look at the job & has not been rectified at all. 

It was decided to put std flow guttering with adaptors to go from the deep flow gutters that are on the bungalow to std flow over the area above the conservatory to enable the flow to go the correct direction although I don’t think that’s going to work. As can be seen from the pictures he’s just used the old clips from the deep flow to hold the std flow guttering & the adaptors are black when all the gutters are brown. Hope I’ve explained well enough.

I’ve emailed him twice now he says he’ll get so & so on it tomorrow but you’ve guessed it no show. Any ideas what to do Police/Trading Stds, Citizens Advice or just right it off.

GDB2222

Certainly not police or trading standards. He has done the job. Not particularly well, possibly, but it’s not fraudulent.

Citizens advice, perhaps. Or, issue proceedings in the county court. It’s not very practical though, particularly if your mum has to do the suing.

One thing you can do is put a 1 star review on every site that you can find. Just very short, that you are not satisfied. Do not go into details. 

In fairness, does the guttering work in practice?  Also, can you even get brown adapter joints? If not, he can’t do miracles, and painting it may be a fair solution. 

Bendy_House

What an awful standard of work :-( No pride, no consideration, just not giving a damn.

I really don't know what to suggest - if it works, it works, so it'll just be a case of an awful standard of work, coupled with a healthy bill.

What all was done - repointing the ridge tiles? How many of them - how far up? Has the other side of them been done? (What a mess...)

And how much guttering was replaced?

Shocking.

Mistral001

Not a Police or Trading Standards matter.  .  Keep chasing the roofing contractor.  I would be specific if you want to have a chance of getting a remedy.  They have clearly not replaced the old brackets when the size of the gutter over the conservatory was replaced with a small gutter.  That should take from 2-4 hours to do including picking up the correct brackets from the builders merchants if the roofing contractor is local. 

TELLIT01

Can you leave an accurate, negative review on Checkatrader?  It's about the only effective option you have if you can't get satisfaction any other way.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

why do folks use these sites to find a workman.

Do they not have mates who are joiners/ plumbers/ painters, who would do a 'mates rate' job for a few pints?

another_casualty

If there is any way that she never paid cash , then she could get it back.
Leaving negative feedback everywhere is probably all she can do otherwise ..

GDB2222

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

why do folks use these sites to find a workman.

Do they not have mates who are joiners/ plumbers/ painters, who would do a 'mates rate' job for a few pints?

Lots of people are not mates with workmen. Certainly not the average 86 year old lady.

[Deleted User]

Hi

the OP referred to 'his mum', so thought he might have some tradesmen mates.

Then, if he works in 'The City', unlikely to have mates who would want to get their hands dirty.

benson1980

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

why do folks use these sites to find a workman.

Do they not have mates who are joiners/ plumbers/ painters, who would do a 'mates rate' job for a few pints?

I've found lots of decent tradespeople on checkatrade. In fact it's probably been the most reliable means of getting stuff done, when I've needed it. I can't imagine many people have mates who would do trade work for 'mates rates'. At least by being on there, they are allowing themselves to be held to some form of account. When I have used people based on personal recommendation from neighbours/friends, and they are nowhere to be found on google, that's when I've had issues...

I'd ask them to rectify within a timeframe or you'll put an objective review on checkatrade highlighting the deficiencies in the work, with no offer to rectify. That's what the review system is for. 

greenface2

Overpriced . Hard to say if ripped off because we do not know how much they could charge others for the same job . Did they give her/ you a quote before work . was it written ? what did it say ? clips for the gutter wont last like that and need replacing unless they said they wouldn't . colour matching isn't good and they've took the p 1 ss . get them back asap . checkertrade or bark ect . Can give you good tradesmen but if youre paying to get leads and adverts through them I cant expect them to put negative reviews up then send their invoice for you .