Fraudulent representation?

comeandgo

Your husband paid cash so he never paid into any bank account.  No problem putting two jobs on one invoice.  Not your problem which bank account used, that’s something a bank may not like, a private account being used as a business account.  There may be an attempt by your contractors to try and limit the amount they declare to HMRC, if you wanted there is an on line reporting you could do.  

user1977

Silver_Shark said:

Surely a sole trader business is owned by a single person responsible for the finances of that business and wouldn't authorise payments into a family member's bank account, would they?

They can if they want. It might legally be a sole trader but in reality have an extended family running the show (and perhaps doing some creative accounting). But I don't see how that amounts to anything your husband can make a claim about?

Okell

Silver_Shark said:

Just to be clear.

Second job was a separate job. Both jobs paid for separately in cash to the family member not the sole trader the business owner (not known at the time).

Invoice sent in lieu of receipt for second job lumping the the two jobs together as one (totalled as one job).

Payment details on the invoice were bank account details for family member not the business owner even though both jobs had been paid.

Surely a sole trader business is owned by a single person responsible for the finances of that business and wouldn't authorise payments into a family member's bank account, would they?

Can you clarify please:

 -  were both jobs agreed with and carried out by the same person?

 -  and your husband paid that same person for both jobs?

 -  and that person is not the person who runs the business your husband thought he was contracting to do the work, but a member of the same family?

If the real business has any sort of good reputation I'd be complaining to the person who really owns it, not their relative who did the shoddy work

(Of course if it comes to the crunch I don't think you can sue the "real" business if he didn't do the work, but perhaps you can shame him into something because of his relative's behaviour masquerading as his busness)

Ergates

Silver_Shark said:

Just to be clear.

Second job was a separate job. Both jobs paid for separately in cash to the family member not the sole trader the business owner (not known at the time).

Invoice sent in lieu of receipt for second job lumping the the two jobs together as one (totalled as one job).

Payment details on the invoice were bank account details for family member not the business owner even though both jobs had been paid.

Surely a sole trader business is owned by a single person responsible for the finances of that business and wouldn't authorise payments into a family member's bank account, would they?

Sorry, this still isn't clear.

Your husband engaged someone to do some work - and they did that work to your satisfaction.  Then they engaged them again to do some more work, and this second job *wasn't* done to your satisfaction - is that right?

Who was this person (i.e. who actually carried out the work) ?  Was it the sole trader, or was it the family member?

Also, if your husband paid in cash, then how are bank account details at all relevant?   He didn't pay into a bank account, he paid cash.  And how is the person he handed the cash over to relevant ?

At the root, this seems to be a case of someone doing a shoddy job then refusing to rectify the issues.  In which case, small claims court would be the normal route for resolution.

born_again

Just because they are a sole trader, does not mean that they do not employ staff or contract out to others.

sheramber

I think husband paid cash to person but invoice shows bank account details.

OP states this account number belings to family member , not company.

OP., how do you know the bank account belongs to the family member but is noit used as business account?

If Joe Bloggs is trading as  xxy, the bank account could be Joe Bloggs' personal account. Some banks seem to allow personal accounts to be used  for business purposes.

Did your husband hand over cash as in bank notes?

( I ask this as another poster referred to paying cash but it turned out it was paid by debit card, which the poster considered the same as  a cash payment.)

Silver_Shark

Okell said:

Silver_Shark said:

Just to be clear.

Second job was a separate job. Both jobs paid for separately in cash to the family member not the sole trader the business owner (not known at the time).

Invoice sent in lieu of receipt for second job lumping the the two jobs together as one (totalled as one job).

Payment details on the invoice were bank account details for family member not the business owner even though both jobs had been paid.

Surely a sole trader business is owned by a single person responsible for the finances of that business and wouldn't authorise payments into a family member's bank account, would they?

Can you clarify please:

 -  were both jobs agreed with and carried out by the same person?

 -  and your husband paid that same person for both jobs?

 -  and that person is not the person who runs the business your husband thought he was contracting to do the work, but a member of the same family?

If the real business has any sort of good reputation I'd be complaining to the person who really owns it, not their relative who did the shoddy work

(Of course if it comes to the crunch I don't think you can sue the "real" business if he didn't do the work, but perhaps you can shame him into something because of his relative's behaviour masquerading as his busness)

The answer is Yes to all those questions and I'm pretty sure the two of them are in it together as the reviews for the business name both on different reviews. I'm as sure as I can be that this is fraudulent trading and yes my husband paid cash as in bank notes. There was no reason to email an invoice on  business headed paperwork after my husband had paid. What reputable business refuses to return to our property when things go wrong.

user1977

What difference do you think it makes to call it "fraudulent trading"? Even if the police thought it constitutes a crime, they're not going to help sort things out from your point of view.

As already said, if the work is shoddy then your husband has remedies. All the stuff about invoices and VAT seems a distraction.

EssexHebridean

I think we may be at cross purposes here.

OP - are you saying that you believe the person who came and did the jobs and took your husband's money was claiming to be from the business which had been looked into and assessed as solid and reliable, but in fact you now believe that they weren't, they were simply using that business's name and reputation? 

Ergates

Silver_Shark said:

Okell said:

Silver_Shark said:

Just to be clear.

Second job was a separate job. Both jobs paid for separately in cash to the family member not the sole trader the business owner (not known at the time).

Invoice sent in lieu of receipt for second job lumping the the two jobs together as one (totalled as one job).

Payment details on the invoice were bank account details for family member not the business owner even though both jobs had been paid.

Surely a sole trader business is owned by a single person responsible for the finances of that business and wouldn't authorise payments into a family member's bank account, would they?

Can you clarify please:

 -  were both jobs agreed with and carried out by the same person?

 -  and your husband paid that same person for both jobs?

 -  and that person is not the person who runs the business your husband thought he was contracting to do the work, but a member of the same family?

If the real business has any sort of good reputation I'd be complaining to the person who really owns it, not their relative who did the shoddy work

(Of course if it comes to the crunch I don't think you can sue the "real" business if he didn't do the work, but perhaps you can shame him into something because of his relative's behaviour masquerading as his busness)

The answer is Yes to all those questions and I'm pretty sure the two of them are in it together as the reviews for the business name both on different reviews. I'm as sure as I can be that this is fraudulent trading and yes my husband paid cash as in bank notes. There was no reason to email an invoice on  business headed paperwork after my husband had paid. What reputable business refuses to return to our property when things go wrong.

Do you have the name and address of the person who did the work and was paid?