Rated People website

dacouch

Contact trading standards

stripey

Once again i did not engage brain cells and have no proof i gave this man any money. I know how stupid i have been and i'm not sure what i can do except be more careful in the future.
Three things i have learnt -
1- never trust these websites
2- never give any money up front
3- always get a receipt.
Hope others can learn from my abject stupidity.

dacouch

I would be inclined to send him an official letter giving him 14 days to provide the services he has been paid for. You never know this might get a response.

Failing this post a rating on the website about what he has done, it will be interesting to see if your review stays on the website as some posters as stating they post bad reviews and they are subsequently taken down.

Let us know how it goes

bikingbarney

i found a door fitter through rated people to put a new upvc door on the front of my house.

they have fitted it so bad that they have been out twice to try and sort it out and now they have refused to come out again.

case is currently with trading standards as we speak.

i was able to add an update to the rated people site(eventually) to reflect this.

i wouldnt use it again though

stripey

Well - after phone calls and text messages the man turned up and sis some of the job - promised to return tomorrow to complete the job - lets hope so.

bj-sailaway

This link makes me want to weep - my husband is a plasterer, work is tight right now and he banks on Rated People quite heavily.

He is reliable, always turns up, cleans up - takes no money until the job is complete, and has many good references on the site. He has to pay about £15-20 plus VAT for each referral he receives, even if the customer decides not to have the work done, so it isn't cheap for tradesmen to go on that site. Bearing in mind plastering isn't one of the hugest paying trades.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - complain to Rated People of you have a real problem with a tradesperson -and post a detailed feedback on them on the site.

This could really hammer some peoples income.

I am so sorry for all of you that have had rubbish tradespeople round. They really are the blight of the building industry and let everyone down.

bj-sailaway

stripey wrote: »

I am a total idiot. I agreed a price with a gardener i located from rated people and i stupidly paid some of the money up front to pay for the skips needed and so far this man has not turned up - seems i have learned a valuable lesson albeit and expensive one.

Rated People have his bank details, he has to pay for the referrals. Go back to them and badger them for the money back!

geri1965_2

bj-sailaway wrote: »

He has to pay about £15-20 plus VAT for each referral he receives, even if the customer decides not to have the work done, so it isn't cheap for tradesmen to go on that site.

Really? I didn't know that - makes me feel slightly better about the idiot plumbers who turned up an hour late with no apology and then quoted me the most ridiculous price I've ever heard! When I started laughing they said it was expensive because they were in Wales and they would have to drive over the Severn Bridge every day.

The other guy I got from them was excellent and I employed him to do two jobs for me in the end.

noodle2_2

I registered with rated people and got one referal for free, I decided to use my free referal and got the details of the customer, left numerous messages but he never called me back, since then Ive not used them as it really would be a waste of money if I had paid £10 for a phone number but couldn't even get to quote!

I also agree with a previous post that the customers do not give you enough information to decide wether the job is worth paying for the referal.

I think that customers should maybe pay a small fee too just to make them reliable and for trades men to know they are serious about getting the work done, some people just see these websites of quick ways of getting quotes on work they may or may not be interested in actually carrying out.

dacouch

Those are good points noodle2, the rated people is a good idea in principle but sounds like it needs a bit of fine tuning to be fair to the customer and the tradesman especially in the current climate where tradesmen are struggling.

Noodle can you remove your signature as MSE do not allow it, I believe there are parts of MSE you can post discount offers etc but you cannot have push your business in your posts or in your signature