Scammed by maintenance man

And half the ratings/reviews on RatedPeople and MyHammer are fake. Nothing to stop a cowboy setting up fake jobs or getting a mate to do it then leaving spoof reviews. I bet they all do it.
 
So has he completed the job then?

By the way I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but don't pay upfront next time :p
 
A guy upstairs from me pulls this kind of con with his father. They travel miles away to do what I would call traveller work.

They pick on mainly elderly people, charge them up front for materials etc. They come back do a shoddy bit of work then get the money out of the people. They cash the cheques made out in various names in the cash converter places.

The police are constantly round, recently chasing stolen cheques from an 80 year old women.

Real scummy way to make a living, and of course the claim benefits as well. Trying to get authorities to listen is mission impossible too.
 
Something like this happened to my Granddad (85) a couple weeks back.

Middle aged Irish bloke rolls up in a pickup, knocks on his door and says he can clean all the patios and driveway with a jet washer, then a couple of other odd jobs. Cementing in between the slabs where they've loosened and patching up some cracked areas on the garage, etc.

My granddad pays the full amount of £4,000 after his first days work.

I happen to go round the same day and tell him he's an idiot and there's no way he's coming back. My dad (ex-copper) told him the same thing. And what do you know, he never came back. Gave him a dodgy "company" name, bogus phone number and the lot. What can you do? Nothing I guess. Just gave my paps a good telling that A) me and my dad could have done the work for free and B) people aren't as reliable/trustworthy/decent as they perhaps might have been back when he was in his prime! I was fuming at both him and this gypo! :D

Sick mother ****er who goes around doing a job on old fogies like this.
 
Fuggan said:
Something like this happened to my Granddad (85) a couple weeks back.

Middle aged Irish bloke rolls up in a pickup, knocks on his door and says he can clean all the patios and driveway with a jet washer, then a couple of other odd jobs. Cementing in between the slabs where they've loosened and patching up some cracked areas on the garage, etc.

My granddad pays the full amount of £4,000 after his first days work.

I happen to go round the same day and tell him he's an idiot and there's no way he's coming back. My dad (ex-copper) told him the same thing. And what do you know, he never came back. Gave him a dodgy "company" name, bogus phone number and the lot. What can you do? Nothing I guess. Just gave my paps a good telling that A) me and my dad could have done the work for free and B) people aren't as reliable/trustworthy/decent as they perhaps might have been back when he was in his prime! I was fuming at both him and this gypo! :D

Sick mother ****er who goes around doing a job on old fogies like this.
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four grand for some jetwashing and a bit of cementing?
 
MooMoo444 said:
four grand for some jetwashing and a bit of cementing?
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Apparently so.

I can't think for the life of me how anyone would think that to be the norm. Unless of course my judgement was clouded by my age and I was fairly well-off, which is what has happened here I reckon.

Funny thing is, one the same day before he told me about this situation, he was complaining about paying his £1100 council tax bill. :p
 
LeeUK said:
Depends if you have the squirts or not.

Odd job garden tidy uppers are the worst for not coming when they say they will or not coming back. I've had 2 in the passed that never turned up on the agreed date but luckily I didn't pay them upfront so it was their loss.
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he could squat down towards it using an empty loo roll tube to guide it down
 
I rang him, he's still on the job he had for the morning even though he said he'd have mine done I'm then morning. He then said the grounds wet so it would be better doing the job tomorrow, apparently its mean to be really warm tomorrow.

Told him just do it today, who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow anyway!
 
But at 10.45 he 'rang to say he's on his way'.
Clearly lying is far too easy for this douche bag, and he's even rubbing your face in it now! "Yeah, I'm supposed to working for you, but I'm on another job at moment. I know I said I was on my way this morning, but then I forgot where I was going, so went to this new job instead".
It's tragic really.

I'd echo what others are saying here. Chalk this one up to experience (it's only £100 loss) and move on. You could try writing a negative review, but whenever I've tried it never shows on the site (it always goes to an 'admin for review' - after all, the traders are paying for it so they won't want to have negative reviews).
 
ratepeople.com called after I complained yesterday. They've spoken to the guy who said he's completed the work. I'll see when I get home from work in about 45mins.

They mentioned he didn't want to do the work today because of the weather and how it's not good to cement in rain. Well now I'm thinking I'm going to go home to a shoddy job and he'll blame the rain.
 
Wouldn't like to trust ratedpeople.com

Get some recommendations of people. Ask who friends have used etc.

My parents run a plumbing and heating business and never except cash up front. Only when the job is completed
However if it is a job for a new customer when a big proportion of the job is in parts then they will bill for the parts when they arive on site to cover themselves. Customers aren't always good either.
 
Well he's sorted the cracks and gaps in the paving but didn't take the rubbish he piled up behind my garage.

Rang him and he said he forgot and will come tomorrow to take it. FORGOT!?
 
Same old cliche, if you want something doing...

For £150, I'd have done all that for you though. Easy money there.
 
Try living in a lease hold with a housing association. They'll leave you feeling ripped off.
 
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