Rogue Cork Traders

I'd contact the publishers.

That paper would have a lot of elderly readers who, while might be quite suspicious normally, might assume that if it's in the paper, it must be genuine.

I think a paper like that needs to be careful about this kind of thing.

Maybe Prendaville, too. He'd relish this stuff. I shudder at the thought but it might spread awareness.

Any good trades shouldnt have to leaflet drop parents got caughtfew years ago with that got them to do gutter had to com back and fix it and charged more money.

Many of these carpet/driveway/roofing scammers tend to use the same mobile number on different names

Put the mobile number into Google and see how many come up.

As for reviews, many of these have "extended families" and easy to create 30+ 5 star reviews amongst the "family"

Plenty of cowboys out there and unfortunately very little to deter them, just look at Priory Hall.

Got caught myself with a cowboy builder. They looked good with their multiple new vans and talked a good game but as I'm not a local I didn't know the craic. A trail of destruction following them, houses being plastered 3 times, flat roofs having to be jacked up, etc. Suppliers won't deal with them, locals won't work for them and they are the first to donate to the church.

I googled them there and ended up on their website. At first glance it looks legit but if you start to dig a little you immediately start to notice that it's not quite right

• All six of the testimonials were from people with very generic names and they all used the same grammatical style - one where pronouns such as "I" and the word "the" are often omitted. I suspect they were all written by the same person
• The Address given is 95 South Main street. If you look that up on Google streetview that's a barber shop - "Budding Barbers". The accompanying eircode says that it's for an apartment at that same address....pretty suss
• There are no names or pictures of anyone associated with this company
• I reverse imaged some of the pictures from their Gallery page. Some of them are blatantly stolen from legit company's websites like Velux or are obvious stock photos. Others though....and this is where it gets really interesting others appear to be genuine but are also used on other sites. For example, a picture of a patio was being used on a different website by a different business "New Style Driveways". Their site has a different feel but the content of it......it's pretty much the same craic. No names or pictures, testimonial page with the same grammatical style. This time it was an address in Fairview in Dublin that seems to actually be a pharmacy.

I'd say if you kept pulling on this thread you'd unearth quite the web of facade-style websites whose sole purpose is to give a veneer of respectability for fly by night businesses that are essentially untraceable. There's definitely a story here for an investigative journalist to get stuck into.

Google reviews are worthless and I experienced it first hand with a local builder who built me an extension with a grant. Eventually it had to be demolished and rebuilt and I was awarded a second grant which is unheard of.

I put an honest review on google and it was removed. I can't find out why. The builder has since had 5 star reviews put up and I have met others who have had negative reviews removed.

I can leave another name to the rogue's gallery. E&J roofing. Not even related to tradesmen. I'm ongoing with them so I can't divulge too much at this point but if anybody's thinking of using them......DON'T!!!!!

Sorry to hear that. I hope your can resolve the issue. The photo of the lit blow torch just lying on the recently laid roof felt would not instil confidence. I don't know why you would do that.

I know someone used AluPro, good job he said. I'd look for references to be honest, this trade is stock full of cowboys.

You're spot on about a robust regulatory body. If they're not registered and controlled don't hire them. Unfortunately AGS have a long history of advising people to just pay up or walk away from issues with the "fambly". Don't draw them on you seems to be the mindset.

I'd agree that the general standard of work and professionalism in the building trades in Ireland is absolutely appalling.

No doubt there are some fantastic, honest, competent trades people out there but they appear to be few and far between.

We need proper schedules and contracts so people aren't told, "3 months" for jobs that go on to take 10 months! But then we'd all have to pay VAT.

Has anyone come across Corcaigh roofing and renovations. Also go by Pats building services. Due to call and have a look at leak in roof. Address in castle street cork. Can't seem to find any reviews etc online.

Got this in the letterbox yesterday. Looks to be another classic of the genre:

The Address on their Reviews page leads to a Dry Cleaners on Google Maps:

It is unusual in that it has a landline number on the flyer.

If you google that you find a second business using that called DPC Construction:

Their address:

which according to google maps is a suburban Semi-D:

One advancement that I see with these two web sites is that they have more realistic looking reviews using Google Accounts - which I assume were created for just this purpose

If you want your driveway done, call Bobby Butler. I can't recommend him enough. A stark contrast to the recent debacle with E&J roofing. Bit of a waiting list but top notch.

Had this guy out Jimmy yesterday and it's a no from us.

Anyone know of Cork County Roofers - are they legit, anyone any experience, we just want someone for new gutters/downpipes etc.

Another company to avoid are Cork County Roofing and Cork City Roofing. They trade as two separate companies but are owned by the same person. Absolute con artists and scammers. Check out this article I've attached as to what you're getting into if you hire them.

Perhaps you could link to it?

Can I add

Leeside paving.

Really poor experience, lads completely out of their depth trying to bodge together a job. Somehow managed to poor the base of a garden shed crooked.

In fairness to them they did show up multiple times to try make things better, but ultimately the job was fcked from the start and no amount of redoing the patio would fix it.

Same story, great google reviews where any negative ones seem to missing shortly after posting

Another company to avoid are Roof Repairs Cork. Their owned by the same person that owns Cork City Roofing, Cork County Roofing and PB Home and Garden Design. Absolute con artists and scammers

One stop improvements have a very vague address, I doubt you would be able to track them down if you were not happy with the work