Tradesman Pressuring me for more Money after I've paid final bill
Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 3.28 PM
A gas engineer placed a boiler in my garage and radiators. The workmanship is awful and he placed the boiler in the wrong place. He moved it and completed the job. He said I had to pay immediately - despite the pressure dropping on the boiler so it did not work - or pay an additional £250 and 5% per day. This was on a invoice he emailed to me. I was so frightened I paid. He had also drilled though a lot of the bricks and it's damaged the outer brickwork. I had held back £300 for him to replace the bricks. But because had done such a poor job, and frightened me, I told him I did not want him to return. He said I had to pay the £300 regardless, which I did under duress. I've been to Citizens Advice who have advised me to take him to small claims for the damage to the wall. He has now written to me saying I owe him a further £890 for moving the boiler. He claims I agreed to this cost - which I didn't - and he wants his money or he will take me to court. This is a nightmare and I feel ill with worry. Any advice would be appreciated.
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
Citizen advised or trading standards would be your best bet, maybe get a second look at the works and ask if they can do a report, that would help you and give you more leverage on a small claims court.
If you feel the work is to a really poor standard you can contact trading standards & if they agree with you then you can have evidence against if he does want to take you to small claims court.
Firstly, sorry - it sounds like you’ve experienced a nightmare. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable.
Definitely get in touch with citizens advice and trading standards as others have suggested here.
But also, don’t lose faith, as I believe the majority of tradespeople out there are reputable.
Best of luck sorting it out.
Shaun
I would agree with the previous comments about reporting it to trading standards. Although they may not always be able to help in every instance they will build up a picture of any tradesmen who are not reputable.
I would suggest that you have three main points to consider. The first is the repair work to the poor workmanship. You are able to carry this out (would be your cost to pay) however if you do make sure you get a full documented report and keep any invoices and correspondence. This way if it does go further you have written correspondence of all works etc.
The second point would be do you claim for this work. It is fairly easy to put a small claim in via money claim online (part of Northampton court) however there is a small cost. You will need as much evidence as possible as to what you are claiming and can only claim out of pocket expenses. This is no guarantee that you will get the money as the tradesman will basically get two choices to pay or to go to a hearing where the judge will decide.
The third would be the money owed to the current tradesman. If you do not feel that you should pay he can take you to small claims in the same manor as above. you can then dispute the claim and if he progresses with it you can argue your case in court. If you have paperwork photos etc to back your claim up then you should have a good case. In this instance he will only be able to claim the value of the costs plus a set late payment rate (solicitors fees are not included in small claims)
Key thing here is documentation
