Not paid for a job

[oldplumber]

you should note that now the floor is laid, if you were to rip it up and not replace it, that becoes criinal damage, not a civil case and the boys in blue become involved. No questions asked your immediately in the wrong. if youve done work and it is not upto standard, you are responsible for putting it right, standard contract law, whether or not youve signed a contract, you are liable, trading standards can start action against you as you have technically left the property worse than when you started in some cases, and your name reputation is blighted. time to get in there make good, take less money if need be and run away having learnt some lessons, theres always a lemon of a job out there for all of us. the customer can ask you to finish the job, if you fail to do so, they can take you to court for loss of monies on goods they have bought and for having to eploy someone else to make good, its not fair but thats life.

 

[Mbear]

you should note that now the floor is laid, if you were to rip it up and not replace it, that becoes criinal damage, not a civil case and the boys in blue become involved. No questions asked your immediately in the wrong. if youve done work and it is not upto standard, you are responsible for putting it right, standard contract law, whether or not youve signed a contract, you are liable, trading standards can start action against you as you have technically left the property worse than when you started in some cases, and your name reputation is blighted. time to get in there make good, take less money if need be and run away having learnt some lessons, theres always a lemon of a job out there for all of us. the customer can ask you to finish the job, if you fail to do so, they can take you to court for loss of monies on goods they have bought and for having to eploy someone else to make good, its not fair but thats life.

why on earth would he do that? They havnt paid him.

They're lucky they've still got windows left in the house as fas as I'm concerned. Where I come from if u don't pay u would know all about it

 

[oldplumber]

it hasnt been ascertained from what i read as to wether or not the job was done correctly first time round, i may be wrong, but having an attitude like yours does none of us any favours, like i said its not fair but thats the way the law works. criminal damage and threats do you no favours and youll never see your cash, a mature attitude normally wins through. Remeber their freinds may be bigger and meaner than you, and your van is such an easy target especially if your proud enough to sign write it
rather sad to see our moderators not advocating a moderate response, i know i am a cynical old sod but this thread is leading down the wrong path

 

[Mbear]

Don't be daft old plumber, I'd never do such stuff, doesn't mean my friends wouldn't though.

I'll tell u a story.

My friend does the same as me. Repairs heating and also fits it.
An Asian man asked him to fit a new boiler and system.7rads.
Price was agreed by both parties. No money up front, all to be paid on completion. My friend does the job to a high standard as always. Completes job by day 2. Comes back on day 3 to collect payment in full. The customer then trys to pull a fly one, "come back in 3month so I know it's working and then I'll pay u". My friend was not having this at all. HE gave the man a hr to pay(my friend stayed in the house during this hr). hr passes, Still no payment. My friend proceeds to start uninstalling the complete system. The customer phones the police, police arrive and they back my friend up. The cust hadn't payed for anything Inc materials so the police said he could carry on removing it. The cust finally gave in, opens a 'suitcase full of cash' and pays my friend. The customer was lucky my mate wasn't dragging him by the neck down to a cashpoint.

 

[Puddle]

If police are called,thy should escort you from the promises,if you do not have or no longer have permission to be there,who owns what is not their responsibility at that point,so if you are on a job and things turn bad,get as much out the house as possible before they arrive ,as after that point ,they will stop you removing anything and as said,escort you from the premises and leave you to argue who owns and owes what in court,if you refuse to leave or try to take any thing with you,it is you that will be arrested and charged.
imho

 

[oldplumber]

been there myself, old boy refused to pay final installment as sink wasnt where his wife wanted it, he had agreed position with me, popped back to dsicuss problem, asked him to turn off mains downstairs as kitchen on 1st floor, so i whipped off to service valves and connectors to sink, he noticed and asked me to stop, at that point you have too stop or criminal damage is then a potential threat to you, he then coughed the readies after offering a cheque, i went to go and he wanted the connections remade. I pointed out id done the work once, been paid and wasnt interested in repeating the job and off i went. no violence threatened, no damage done money paid and i felt good, he couldnt turn his water on until someone replumbed it in again. Wouldnt reccomend this method if your 4foot 6 and slim build tho especially if their wifes built like the average outhouse, women dontfight fair do they.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mbear]

If police are called,thy should escort you from the promises,if you do not have or no longer have permission to be there,who owns what is not their responsibility at that point,so if you are on a job and things turn bad,get as much out the house as possible before they arrive ,as after that point ,they will stop you removing anything and as said,escort you from the premises and leave you to argue who owns and owes what in court,if you refuse to leave or try to take any thing with you,it is you that will be arrested and charged.
imho

The cust wasn't asking him to leave, merely not to leave with the rads etc. How much of a brass neck must u have to ask a fitter to come back in 3month for payment.

 

[emerald]

its only happened to me once, i asked for weeks for the money, i know she had it but it was one excuse after another, so i went out late one evening and turned there water of in the pavement, when she phoned me the next morning, i said she would have to pay me what she owed when i got there and she was all to happy to, she then watched me walk down her steps, lift the cover and switch it back on, she didnt say a word

 

[Puddle]

Met all kinds,the worst are the ones with money because they know they can pay straight away when required,they push and push and just as you are going to get them in court or as your friend did make them come un-stuck,they just throw the outstanding money at you,nothing to do with the job,just a game.When I worked in the city, had a few well off people pay a bill at £30.00 week just for fun,sad but true

 

[oldplumber]

the only reason you knew that she had the money emerald , was that she was your gran wasnt she!!!!!!!!
seriously tho em, if your asked to do some work by an old girl who owns hotels around here and she drives a french estate car, give us a shout and I'll tell you her normal working practices with the local tradesmen. One roofer poured blue circle down 20 of her wc pans when she wouldnt cough for his bill, most of its still there from what i heard, i certainly wouldnt work for her replacing them

 

[emerald]

the only reason you knew that she had the money emerald , was that she was your gran wasnt she!!!!!!!!

was that she was your gran? have you you been drinking ?

 

[moogwai]

i got done by a toss hole builder who i did work for on a project....installed a central heating system with 13 rads on.....a bathroom suite..a en-suite..a downstairs toilet...all of which was a pain in the bum,i even paid a couple of mates to come in and help me for a day just to get job finished on time and never got paid,couldn't even argue with the home owner as i was working for the builder......4 weeks after job finished he bankrupted himself so i couldn't even take him to the small claims....even worse,his wife is best mates with my sister so i can't even get some sort of payback...sooo frustrating especially when work is slow at the min and could do with the 3g he owes me. i'm not a violent man and it takes somethin massive to wind me up but he did it!!!

 

[oldplumber]

sypathy with you on that one, did the householder pay the builder? u could always ask

 

[REDSAW]

in my veiw, the tradesman has been invited back to remedy the problem. it is the decission of this person of what method is used in rectifying the fault. if he decides that the floor is to come up, then so be it. what and how he handles the situation after doing so is up to him, it may be, i need x amount of cash for materials, or i need paying for the removal of the floor before i can put it back etc.
the ball will be now in his court.
the law will protect the custard from unauthorised removal or deconstruction of works without their consent only, not when invited back for rectifications. and theres nothing telling us how long we take to rectify is there?.

e.g. (1)
a builder builds a porch, customer wont pay up. builder returns next day knocks it down = £5,000 fine 2 years suspended for criminal dammage.

e.g. (2) he builds the porch, customer wont pay, claims later (some months) there is cracks in brick work. turn up on aggreed day tell them some bricks need removing, knock it down clear up and b*gger of.
law cant do nothing, reply from tradesman ' i had to make it safe, but dont worry i didnt charge them a penny'.

easy option for getting paid..... sell your debt and paper work to debt collection agency for approx £40. let them do it for you.

have your oppinion but keep it polite = constructive.

think i was reading the wrong page of replies, doh.

.
cheers,.

 

[tamz]

I had a bathroom job years back where the cust wouldn't pay. Kept saying this or that not right so not paying until fixed. After going back about twice before for nothing really. Next time she rang saying something not right with the shower i i said ok i'll come round.
Me and the apprentice went round, told her i had to turn the water off to fix things then removed the suite and put it in the back of the van.
When done went downstairs and told her that everything was sorted and that was us done. Had to dash because had to be at another job.
I never got 200yards from her house until she was on the phone screaming.
That night i had the police at the door, explained what happened and they said it was a civil matter and noting to do with them. Never heard any more about it.
Lost a few quid but it was worth it