Chasing Builder for money owed - existing CCJ's

DFM
DFM Posts: 3 Newbie
in Consumer rights
We took on a builder to rebuild and re-tile our bathroom floor. Things started well and he ripped everything out and rebuilt the sub floor. He then said there would be a delay in the next stage as he was about to start another job and his preferred tiler was not currently available.

Then basically, he disappeared. All attempts to contact him failed. We had paid, as requested, upfront for materials and work which remain undelivered. (Yes, silly of us perhaps, but I've never dealt with a tradesman who hasn't wanted upfront payment of some type). He has walked away with £1,200 of our money for services not provided.

In early December 2018 we sent him a "Letter Before Court Action" in line with the Small Claims Court guidelines. No response from him as yet.

I've just run a check on trustonline and discovered that he has 4 "unsatisfied" County Court Judgements against him dating back to 2015 / 2016.

It's therefore very unlikely that we will get our money back from him by going through the Small Claims Court.

However, we don't believe that he should feel he can just walk away from this with impunity. Nor do we want him to be able to do the same to some other unsuspecting customer.

Does anyone have any advice on how we should proceed? How can we make it public knowledge that this person is untrustworthy?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks
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Comments

  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    You can post his details here
  • Silent_Dancer
    Silent_Dancer Posts: 193 Forumite
    Limited company or sole trader?
  • waamo
    waamo Posts: 10,298 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
    There are multiple social media platforms where you can share information like this.
  • peter_the_piper
    peter_the_piper Posts: 30,268 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    How did you pay?
    I'd rather be an Optimist and be proved wrong than a Pessimist and be proved right.
  • DFM
    DFM Posts: 3 Newbie
    Hi All,
    Thank you for your responses.

    We believe he is a sole trader. We can't find a reference to him on the Companies House website. Not is there mention of him being VAT registered.

    All payments to him were by bank transfer. No cash changed hands.

    Is it legal to post his details online? Don't want things to be turned on their head and find we are being prosecuted for defamation!
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    DFM wrote: »
    Is it legal to post his details online? Don't want things to be turned on their head and find we are being prosecuted for defamation!
    Don't see how it would be defamation if what you're saying is factually correct. Though tbh the chances of anyone else here encountering him is slim.
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Plent of people post detail of traders on here.
  • DFM
    DFM Posts: 3 Newbie
    All,

    Thank you for your advice.

    I think it only fair (after being reminded!) that I post the results of our process.

    We went ahead and issued a County County Judgement against him. Something to add to his list of unpaid ones. No surprise really but no response was forthcoming. He ignored it.

    There was a period we had to wait after submitting the CCJ to give him time to settle. Once that had passed we moved on to the next stage. We had no real hopes of getting our money back but felt we had a duty to pursue as we didn't want him to think he can keep getting away with ripping people off.

    So we issued a "Request for Warrant of Control" and paid extra for the court representative to serve it on him rather than us having to face him and hand it to him.

    Surprise, surprise we then received a cheque from the court for payment in full including all the costs we had incurred in chasing him.

    I wonder, if of all the people who had submitted CCJ's against him, we were the only ones who decided to move to the next stage.

    It worked out well for us but I can't guarantee it would work for others. Just need to try and stop these people thinking they can keep getting away with taking advantage of people.

    Good luck to anyone who chooses to go down this route.

    Derek
  • waamo
    waamo Posts: 10,298 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Well done and thanks for letting us know how it worked out.
  • garth549
    garth549 Posts: 486 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    That's a great result :)

    A lot of people don't proceed to enforcement because it's expensive and is a complete gamble unless you're sure the defendant has assets/cash/a job (not self-employed/own business) and can be tracked down. However there's actually quite a lot the court can do to enforce a judgement.

    Depending on the amount you can escalate to high court bailiffs who can seize assets. If they own a house it can be possible to register a charging order against it. If the defendant is an individual and works for someone else there is an attachment of earnings order which forces the employer to deduct payments for the debt from their wages.

    It's actually a very good system.
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