Reporting a tradesman (gardener)

Jelly-Bean

Hi!
Can anyone direct me as to what I can do?
My elderly parents had their garden paved last month. My Mam got his number from an advert in the north side people. To cut a long story short they did the job and she wasn't happy with it. It's terrible, very bad work and tiles uneven and grouting missing. It's not just bad work it's dangerous the way it was left.
Anyway I spoke with him on a few occasions before and during the work and told him I don't want them ripped off and he seemed legit. She told him she wasn't happy but was on her own with 3 workmen and he got very angry and was shouting at her and she was scared so she paid him the money and he left.
I phoned him and explained the situation and he assured me he would return in two weeks to fix it.4 weeks later and no word from him and his number (landline and mobile) isn't accessible. Tried from different phones as I thought he might have blocked my number.

My parents are very upset about it, they paid him 3000 for the work and now have to try and get someone to fix it which will cost more money.

Anyone know of anything I can do?

hadepsx

He is not a tradesman nor a gardener. He is a cowboy. Get onto the garda asap with as much details you have on him. Description of him.Description of vans etc. And numbers etc. Hope you get some amount of the money back for his poor ' work '.

wokingvoter

Your mother can try going to the Small Claims Court ( go to courts.ie and follow the links from there you can lodge a complaint on line make sure you have the proper business name of the gardener. If he's not a proper business registered for VAT etc. you can forget about it).
You will need plenty of clear pictures of the "completed" path, and copies of the contract his invoice her receipt.
If none of these things exist then you may as well forget about it as it will be her word against his that he was ever anywhere near her garden.
Even if she's successful in the small claims court it may still prove very difficult to extract the money from the gardener.
It's pretty much impossible to get money out of someone who doesn't want to give it to you

wokingvoter

hadepsx wrote: »

He is not a tradesman nor a gardener. He is a cowboy. Get onto the garda asap with as much details you have on him. Description of him.Description of vans etc. And numbers etc. Hope you get some amount of the money back for his poor ' work '.

The Gards will do nothing because it's a civil matter

Jelly-Bean

wokingvoter wrote: »

Your mother can try going to the Small Claims Court ( go to courts.ie and follow the links from there you can lodge a complaint on line make sure you have the proper business name of the gardener. If he's not a proper business registered for VAT etc. you can forget about it).
You will need plenty of clear pictures of the "completed" path, and copies of the contract his invoice her receipt.
If none of these things exist then you may as well forget about it as it will be her word against his that he was ever anywhere near her garden.
Even if she's successful in the small claims court it may still prove very difficult to extract the money from the gardener.
It's pretty much impossible to get money out of someone who doesn't want to give it to you

Your right! She has no receipt or invoice. She was intimidated by him when he got annoyed that she wasn't happy and she paid him. When I spoke to him he promised me he'd be back after his holiday and would fix it and give her a receipt.

I'm not expecting him back or any money from him, I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do to report him so he won't keep doing this.

wokingvoter

You can tell the Northside People
Of course they're not responsible but maybe they'll stop taking business from him
You need to be careful because he sounds like a nasty piece of work

ED E

Does the SCC not have a €2000 limit?

Jelly-Bean

wokingvoter wrote: »

You can tell the Northside People
Of course they're not responsible but maybe they'll stop taking business from him
You need to be careful because he sounds like a nasty piece of work

He does yes. I don't care, I'm going to name and shame him as much as I can. He has a website on his ad that's not his and I emailed them and I'll do the same with north side people.

wokingvoter

ED E wrote: »

Does the SCC not have a €2000 limit?

Yes they do but getting 2000 back is better then getting SFA

VincePP

Adverts in freesheets can be placed by anybody.

Always get a recommendation for someone you know - or from another respected business such as a local garden centre.

As for complaints - as above, let Northside People know of it, but aside from that there's nothign you can do.

Unfotunately too mnay of these services are advertised by people who prey on the elderly and do a crap job and scam them out of large amouns of money.

A lot of them come from one particular grouping where scamming is their "culture"

ED E

wokingvoter wrote: »

Yes they do but getting 2000 back is better then getting SFA

Yes, but I'm not sure if you can use them for a "half a transaction". If the overall value is too high you may have to go to the district.

JimsAlterEgo

ED E wrote: »

Yes, but I'm not sure if you can use them for a "half a transaction". If the overall value is too high you may have to go to the district.

sue them for the cost of remedying (get someone to quote you under 2k)