Paid tradesman a deposit, but they failed to do the work

climberkayaker

Last Nov I paid a sizeable deposit (just under £2k) to a local tradesman to replace heating in a rental property.  He did not show up and kept making excuses.  This happened 4 times over 2 months, the last being in mid december.  I have his contact details on facebook, whatsapp, email and phone but now can get no reply no matter what I try.  His phone goes straight to answer phone and he has not seen any social media messages.

Has anyone any experience of something like this.  If I need to go down a legal route to get my money back how do I do this?  my own solicitor or is there some other mechanism I can use?

Apologies if this is not in the correct place on the forum.

Markmywords

You can ask your solicitor to do this if you don't want the hassle yourself. Otherwise you can do it yourself via the small claims court. It is very time consuming and stressful. Good luck. 

user1977

climberkayaker said:

I have his contact details on facebook, whatsapp, email and phone 

But not his actual name and address? You'd need that to pursue court action.

Coveredinbees!!!!

Check you local bbc radio station and see if they have a consumer show. Where I live we have 3 counties radio and they help to sorts out problems like this.

climberkayaker

Sorry, to clarify I have invoices and receipts along with his home address.  

Olinda99

LBA and then small claims is best route forward

sheramber

If he has no money you won’t get any payment.


Hose mortgaged or in someone else’s name, vehicle on lease etc .

Do some detective work to work out if you are likely to get paid before spending more money.

LightFlare

Letter before action followed by small claims

sheslookinhot

climberkayaker said:

Sorry, to clarify I have invoices and receipts along with his home address.  

Get down to his house then and challenge him. Date for the work to commence or a refund.

Markmywords

Where did you get his details from before you employed him? You definitely need his name and address to start the claim

Alderbank

Coveredinbees!!!! said:

Check you local bbc radio station and see if they have a consumer show. Where I live we have 3 counties radio and they help to sorts out problems like this.

I would be wary of this.

Their priority is really to attract more listeners rather than to sort out problems.

'Plumber doesn't turn up for work' is boring. If the story appears at all it is more likely to be 'Greedy landlord leaves tenant to freeze for two months over Christmas'.