advice please

[MEL78]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this but I have recently had a very bad tradesman at the house tiling the bathroom etc...in the process of which he has managed to chip the acrylic bath in a few places ......any advice of how to deal with it....its just chips in the plastic coating ...would the paint that you can get for fridges etc by any good.......I am in the process of trying to get my money back from the builder at the min (not getting much joy I paid him of before the job was done as it was so bad but wish I hadn't paid him a penny....there is barely a straight tile in the room and the ones that have been cut are so badly cut I am sure I could of done better myself....he has fitted a new bathpanel just an argos job but still cost me over 70 quid and has fitted it so badly and not as per the instructions nthat came with it that it has already splintered...have written to him demanding some sort of refund and have had a brief response wanting a technical report of the builder I have employed to finish the work !!!!! sent him a letter yesterday saying that he wasn't getting one and that I had supplied details of the problems...my main problem with the matter is that I got his details from a council approved tradesman list!!!!!! i have told him that if I am not satisfied with his response that I will contact them with a view to inspecting his work ( I am not a perfectionist by any means but his work is dreadful....on top pf the tiling he fitted things like the shower pole which isn't even straight)....has anyone any experience with the smalls claims court as I feel that if I get no satifaction from him or council I will take things further....I am £700.00 down on the matter no including the tiles etc (the tiles I'll have to learn to live with as I am not in a position to pull them all off and start again which would be the only remedy) the sad thing is as money is always tight on this house I have lived with a half refurbished bathroom for the last 5 years we finally get the money together to sort things out and I end up with a room I hate going in...sorry to moan!!!!

[Thomzo]

You paid somebody who was supposed to be a professional to do a professional job and he hasn't so you are entitled to get some compensation. You have already learned the lesson that you NEVER pay the full amount until the job is done to your satisfaction so you won't make that mistake again. However, that doesn't help this time round.

I would write back to him. Keep the letter factual and emotion free. Take photos of the damage to put into the letter. It doesn't cost anything to get another tradesman in to give you an opinion and a quote for repairing the work. If you do so, the bad builder may back down a bit.

Say in the letter exactly what you want him to do (compensation/repair?) and give him a deadline. Allow 28 days for him to pay up or do the work again. Say that if he doesn't sort the problem out within the deadline you will take him to the small claims court.

Good luck

Zoe

[MKG]

Oh dear - poor you!!

Well, first things first. Don't do anything with your bath at the moment. All that will result in is a voiding of any warranty (or implied warranty) you may have on the builder's work.

List all of the faults - every last one, no matter how small - with this "builder's" work and then go straight to the council and give them a copy. Write to the builder (recorded delivery) and inform him of your action, and that you intend to take the matter further should he take no remedial action. Give him a date (this is important) - a reasonable date - by which you expect him to begin putting right his errors. Should you get no satisfactory response (and the usual thing is that you won't) by that date, get your bum straight down to the local Trading Standards Office and inform them. At the same time, write to him a second time (also recorded delivery) informing him that should you not hear from him by (give him another date) then you will pursue the matter through the courts. If he hasn't given you a satisfactory response by that second date, off you go to the local small claims court and get yourself a hearing. You don't need a solicitor (mainly because he won't turn up at any hearing). Having the work inspected by a qualified builder (and one who can produce a written report which doesn't have to be a work of literature) will help.

Take photographs - they're always good.

If he ignores all of this and you get a judgement against him (that's reimbursement plus any costs - but he won't pay up) you may then re-visit the council to have him removed from their approved list and you can quite legitimately publish the fact that the judgement exists. It may not recover any money for you, but at least you'll make life difficult for the b***ard.

On the other hand, you may be one of the few lucky ones. He may decide to get off his arse and do the remedial work. When he's done that, present him with the bill for the bath.

Best of luck.

Mike

EDIT: And, by the way, should you receive a letter from HIS solicitor accusing you of harassment (that's quite a common tactic) you may reply to said solicitor explaining that you have no intention whatsoever of desisting. Threatening a bad trader with court action CANNOT be construed as harassment.

[MEL78]

Thanks for the advice have written to him again demanding answers to the problems...however I would not let him back in the house to rectify as his work is so bad......believe me if I had listed every fault my initial letter to him would have been six pages long not 2......every tile he has cut is chipped (I'm not a diy in any shape or form but have done some research on the net and you use a wet saw to cut tiles which he did not do.....have given him seven days to reply failing which I am going to invite the council trading standards to inspect......and failing that I will institute small claims proceedures... I have taken plenty of photos.....but getting another tradesman to report might be difficult as I know on the whole tradesmen don't like to get involved in disputes.....hopefully he'll get my letter and see I am not backing down and I'll get a cheque in the post (maybe and pigs will be flying that day)

[MKG]

You'd be surprised what a decent tradesman would be prepared to do - especially if he's going to get to do the remedial work. Cowboys give them all a bad name - they do not like that one bit.

Mike

[Thomzo]

Hi Mel

Whereabouts are you? If you are in the West Country, I could recommend someone who would come out and have a look and give you a price for rectifying the work. A good tiler/bathroom fitter will help out a potential customer in distress. It's only the cowboys who won't get involved.

Zoe

[Susie]

Was going to say have you talked to Trading Standards but see other people have said it. So will just say, really sorry you had such rotten luck, and better luck for next time. If you are anywhere near me (Cambridge) you're welcome to pm me and get the details of the man who did our bathroom last year - he was great and told me he was forever sorting things out after other people had left them in a mess, one of his clients apparently had no functioning toilet for months and when she complained her bathroom fitter told her to use her neighbour's.

(I always have the feeling the excellent tradespeople outnumber the rubbish ones by a huge amount, it's just that the rubbish ones really make themselves obvious!).

[MEL78]

Thanks for all the kind advice sorry but I am in the north east (I have another builder on stand by to finish the job) I paid the dodgy builder off before he started on the floor...he wasn't going to plywood the floor before tiling until I insisted and he had no intention of taking out the toilet or sink and was just going to tile around them......the wall ties are a mess but liveable with(just not the dream bathroom I expected) but at least I have every confidence in the man who is going to finish the job.......and you never now maybe if I get a refund at all from dodgy dave I can have the tiles taken off and have the job started from scratch....doubtful but you never know......I started off feeling quite bad about sacking him but the more I look at the job he has done the angrier I get.......every tile he has cut is chipped (I presume as he didn't use the correct tools he has cut my mosaic tiles with I presume a saw(not nippers) and I am left with chips of tiles ( I have the same type tiles in the kitchen and they were cut in half perfectly by another tiler......the list goes on

[Dr.Syn]

One point I would add to the good advice already given. Please get three estimates from tradesmen on the cost of remedial action add on the cost of postage, telephone calls time(yours) and a reasonable amount for compensation AND MAKE A CLAIM AT THE SMALL CLAIMS COURT don't worry about the cost of this because you can add this to the claim against the builder. If you can, take the claim to the court and get them to look it over. I have never had any problem with this (I had my own business and I had to sue several very large firms as well as small ones for payment. I won every one.

[MEL78]

Thanks for the advice I worked as a legal secretary for many years so if I need to go as far as the small claims then I have a fair idea of what I am doing hopefully it won'r come to that

[MEL78]

received a second letter today from dave the dodgy builder...once again not answering my queries once again asking for a technical report...and denying that he has done any wrong....saying that any damage to the bath panel must of occurred after he left the property so he is not responsible.....once again stating that I was HAPPY to pay him the money...have written a letter to the Council which will go on monday and fingers crossed they are of some use failing that next step will be my MP followed by the small claims court...I am not prepared to let this go as besides being out of pocket myself I feel a duty to stop anyone else being ripped off by him