Driveway power wash con job

Jellypops1

Ive just had a guy call to the door asking would we like our drive steam cleaned and painted with tar paimt. We have a small path of bricks and they said they'd fill it w sand once complete to keep steady. 'Recessionary' price of 200 for wash and 400 with the paint. Long story short we went with the steam wash.
the lads rocked up w a barrell and no hose to fill it. So off they went to buy a hose... we should have ran them then .. The hose was too short.. so lumbered buckets of water from the back to the front to fill barrel.
..... Skip to the end ..we have a lovely clean drive but 170 lighter. They totally caught us on the hop especially as we both deal w contractors regularly at work where we ask for insurance details... company info etc.. Naivety on a tired friday aftrn. Not a happy person. We're just so afraid theyll be back to burgle us now. They said they were from wexford..altjough they didn't have very wexford accents.. They drove a white 11 D Peugeot van & there were 3 of them BEWARE.

bridster007

Jellypops1 wrote: »

Ive just had a guy call to the door asking would we like our drive steam cleaned and painted with tar paimt. We have a small path of bricks and they said they'd fill it w sand once complete to keep steady. 'Recessionary' price of 200 for wash and 400 with the paint. Long story short we went with the steam wash.
the lads rocked up w a barrell and no hose to fill it. So off they went to buy a hose... we should have ran them then .. The hose was too short.. so lumbered buckets of water from the back to the front to fill barrel.
..... Skip to the end ..we have a lovely clean drive but 170 lighter. They totally caught us on the hop especially as we both deal w contractors regularly at work where we ask for insurance details... company info etc.. Naivety on a tired friday aftrn. Not a happy person. We're just so afraid theyll be back to burgle us now. They said they were from wexford..altjough they didn't have very wexford accents.. They drove a white 11 D Peugeot van & there were 3 of them BEWARE.

What was the con ? They offered to clean it for 200 but in the end it cost 170 and job done well ?

Jellypops1

Sorry, my message was a little unclear. I got impatient typing!
The guy who called first said it would be a steam clean and that they just completed a larger job on a house the other side of town. While they had the equipment with them, they were going from house to house to see if anyone wanted their driveway cleared and where there was brick work they would fill in with sand after, to keep the bricks stable (as the wash would lift any sand from out between the bricks)

Once we agreed to proceed with the job, the 3 guys came with their van, ‘steam’ machine and a barrel that needed to be filled with water to feed the machine. They came to the door to ask for water. We asked if they had a hose and they said no! So off they went to buy one. We asked them how they get water in other houses? They said there’s normally an outside tap. We have an outside tap but it’s at the back of the house (like it is in most houses.) At this point we should have ran them. . but we didn’t for some reason.
They came back with a cheap hose that was too short! They tried to connect from a tap in a small bathroom in our house! The hose is designed to only fit an outside tap. Why didn’t they measure the distance from the outside tap?! Why didn’t we run them then. They hadn’t even asked where our tap was around the back. So they started to fill the barrel with buckets of water from the back of the house. Why didn’t we run them then. They didn’t know what they were at.

My other half went out to them and looked at the machine and said that’s not a steam machine.. that’s just a pump. It’s a power washer? They said ..oh it’s 2% steam. Why didn’t we run them then.
At this stage they had been in the hall of our house and been around the back so they had seen quite a bit. I guess at this point we had to just let them finish the job as we were a little nervous they might resist, get angry or worse, return and do damage to us or the property.

When they were nearly finished, one guy said to me.. “when we’re finished washing we can put some moss repellent on the brick work that would swell and seal the gap between the bricks, as the sand can get messy, especially as it’d come in on shoes into the house.”
I asked what was the moss stuff.. what was in it, how did it work? (I couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.. ) He couldn’t explain more and said we’d talk once the wash was complete. We asked if they had sand.. they didn’t they would have to buy some! Why didn’t we run them then
A little while later we went out the front when the job was done and one of the other guys (the guy spraying) said that he had put the moss stuff in the barrel with the water. We asked what it was and to show us the container. He said it was in the barrel before we filled it with water.. we said .. ok , show us the container you took the stuff from… he couldn’t. It was probably washing up liquid

What a load of b$% ^$&* t

We were totally conned.. we paid 170 for a job that should have cost no more that about 60 euro. The guys had no equipment to fill the barrel with water. We lent them buckets, mop buckets etc..

Why didn’t we run them then
We knew very shortly after them arriving that it was all a bit suss but I guess we then felt a little vulnerable. Our fear is that they may return to burgle the place.

Do not let guys who randomly call to your door do a job for you.. unless you’re 100% comfortable with them and the details they have provided.
The thing is, if I was there on my owne when they called I wouldn’t have allowed them to do the job and if I phoned my other half he would have asked 20 questions about them on the phone.

BUT when approached in person it seemed different.

Why didn’t we run them then

muffler

Jellypops1 wrote: »

At this point we should have ran them. . but we didn’t for some reason.

Jellypops1 wrote: »

Why didn’t we run them then. They didn’t know what they were at.

Jellypops1 wrote: »

They said ..oh it’s 2% steam. Why didn’t we run them then.

Jellypops1 wrote: »

Why didn’t we run them then

Jellypops1 wrote: »

Why didn’t we run them then

All the quotes above are from your last post. Do you really need anyone to answer?

JustTheOne

You have a lovely clean driveway.

Seems to me they done a good job.

NIMAN

I would say you might have got off lightly tbh.

If you had not been in when they called, I'd say you'd be a TV, laptop, jewellery and ps3 short by now.

You should have chased them on hearing "steam clean" the driveway. I have never ever heard of anyone getting their drive steam cleaned.

Jellypops1

muffler wrote: »

All the quotes above are from your last post. Do you really need anyone to answer?

I had a good old rant.. thanks for reading :-)

Jellypops1

NIMAN wrote: »

I would say you might have got off lightly tbh.

If you had not been in when they called, I'd say you'd be a TV, laptop, jewellery and ps3 short by now.

You should have chased them on hearing "steam clean" the driveway. I have never ever heard of anyone getting their drive steam cleaned.

I know.. too funny.. a few lads looking for beer money!