Knocked

[Masood]

I hand on heart think I was just used, and I think he thinks he's got away with it.

I *hate* twunts like that. Because recourse to the law can be expensive, and a long, drawn-out process they think they can have people over and there's a good chance they won't be pursued. Best of luck, mate!

 

[armyash]

This is shocking. I can't see what you have done wrong everything was black and white for him.

Imagine how many other people he has screwed over to get to where he is today, doubt you're the first.

Hope he gets his comeuppance soon!. Please update the forum when this happens.

 

[Guest123]

Oh Danny, that's terrible pal. I really feel for you and I hope that muppet gets what's coming to him. Reading between the lines, I think he played you and had no intention of paying your final invoice.

If trying to talk amicably with him fails, then take the scumbag to court and add costs of the court case, BUT FIRST THREATEN TO EXPOSE HIM TO YOUR LOCAL PRESS. People like him value their reputation and having a good reputation helps to keep him in the luxury he's become accustomed to.

Best of luck mate.

 

[WaterTight]

That expose to the press idea is a very good one I reckon. Free advertising too.. haazaa!

 

[CES]

Id expose him to the press like System3 says.. He had a fair chance to pay you. Nothing like Word of mouth to spread some scheidt around, Id start with everyone in the trades that I know. Word soons gets around and he will struggle to find local guys to do work..

 

[Dannypipe]

Thanks everyone for the supportive comments.

I will make sure I update when its all done and dusted....don't imagine it will be anytime soon though!

 

[REDSAW]

What a ****! Not only is he too thick to get the right address, he doesn't even have the balls to attack the bloke but attacks an innocent animal instead.

I'd grass scum like that without a second thought, assuming I didn't introduce him to the hammer first.

anyone did that to my dog will wish they were dead after i finish with them and wont see it coming either, but i see his point.😉

time to name that gizmogeezer or someone else will get caught out, he cant read this forum anyhow!!

 

[dave1]

I know nothing about law, but if you do go to the press local or not I'd get advice from your solicitor first in case it would jeopardise the court case.
Also there's the chance he would want his say in the press as well which could work against you.
Good luck Danny hope this scumbag gets what he deserves, I believe in karma too, just a shame karma doesn't pay the bills lol.

 

[Dannypipe]

I agree Dave, I'm sure he would have no qualms in bending the truth to make me look bad.

I will name him once it's all done and dusted. I just don't want to do anything that could affect me getting the dosh.

 

[WaterTight]

If he's really rich you might go to the Tunbridge Gazette and he'd respond by having Max Clifford arranging a front page Daily Mail leader showing him kissing babies and rescuing orphans from burning buildings.

 

[Veggie Dave]

Re: going to the press.

Unless the person is famous or, for example, the head of a national/international bank, then even the local press won't be in the slightest bit interested. It's not a news story, and that's before you get into the argument that it's one person's word against another's.

If there's a court case, and assuming Dannypipe wins, then it might be possible to interest a local paper but you'd still have to be careful if you're not used to dealing with the media as it could easily be spun so that you become the villain even though he was found guilty.

If you want justice in this country then you need to be able to pay for it.

 

[peteheat]

Hi Danny,

Had a similar smug bacstard try it a few years ago, his brother was a solicitor and had turned the matter around to where they were the plaintiffs I was the defendent, he had the case in court within two months which is a record for our court system.

I had a very good Solicitor and Barrister who were costing me a small fortune (up front) but they earned their money by winning both the claim against me and my counter claim, they won because the bacstard lied on the stand and because I kept very detailed records which they used to nail him.

Very important keep all records especially your meetings with the flue company and when you first contacted them, might be no harm to let them know that you may need them as witnesses in a court case so they make sure to keep their records in order.

Wishing you the very best with this, remember you have the truth on your side and you can't beat a good nights sleep, his day will come.

 

[buckley plumb]

Right, well what happened was I fitted a new heating system and plumbing distribution with circulated hot water to a large country house.

The boiler was initially going to go outside (oil fired) - on the day we started, the customer asked why the boiler couldn't go inside, down in the basement (where the existing boiler was). Bear in mind this had all been discussed at length. Anyway.

I looked at it. There was suitable drainage for the condensate, and it was a good place to distribute the heating pipe work from a low loss header......

Anyway, so I made a last minute change of plan and agreed it (mistake number one).

We run the whole system in copper. Clipping with munsen rings, and doing a damn good job in my opinion.

I quickly generated a adendum to the quote that I was planning to utilise the existing flue liner, and if it wasn't suitable I would not accept the cost of the new one.

Everything went to plan, new unvented cylinder, boiler oil line sorted with fire valve and brought up to current regs. I then had to organise a bespoke flue, as we couldn't get the appropriate joins on the flue to meet the old liner.

I had forseen this and have had to do it once in the past, without issue.

I called the manufacturer and a specialist company that makes bespoke flues. They visit site. I am told I need to replace the flue liner, to cutlery grade, lined stainless steel and the cost for the new flue will be a couple of grand. The client said there was no way he was paying this extra cost as I was the heating engineer and as such I should know this. I accepted this and agreed to absorb the extra cost.

The client said he was happy to liase with the bespoke flue company and assured me he would pay the final amount minus their costs. I said I would prefer to stay on site, and organise things.

By this time I'm getting twitchy as I see him lie to the listed building control people, and knock another tradesmen, picking holes in perfectly acceptable work.

That evening I get an email saying that he was concerned that I was willing to leave the installation with a substandard flue liner that could have posed a risk to his family and he would still pay me, but didn't want me back on site.

I called him, and we argued. He basically said he wanted the whole installation (everything) checked by a third party and for me to absorb the cost and for me to absorb the cost of any remedial work they suggested. (Which is an insult).

I went to the property the next day to discuss it with him. But he wasn't there (he doesn't live there - or didn't). I'm then told I won't be allowed in at the electric gates next time.

So that's where we left it. he told me if I want to speak to him, I need to do so via a solicitor. I have spoken to one, in much more detail than this, and been told I will win my day in court, but not to expect every penny I'm owed.

Its a knocker to your confidence as you question yourself.

I have another boiler to replace in a big house, in a basment. Will need a new bespoke flue and liner. I tried to turn it away today. Twice, but this existing customer really wants me to do it.

Think that about covers it. I'm owed £11,250.

chin up mate i was ripped off once but luck has it it was only for hundreds not thousands it hurts. it taught me to get cash for parts or get customer to go the merchants and pay for the parts before delivery , i know you wont make anything on the parts but its less risk. i have been offered small building sites of 6 houses but refused them as they want 3 months credit on payment after 1st fix not worth the risk. hope all goes weel

ant

 

[buckley plumb]

anyone got a standard contract on pdf they can share - been told if you have no contract these days its hard to claim

 

[AWheating]

Danny, i can relate to the stress and confidence knock someting like this can cause mate. Keep your chin up mate, we all choose to live our lives in different ways. You choose to try your hardest to do a high standard of work with integrity and he chooses to be a imbecile of a customer. His faults and shortcomings are not a reflection on you but him. Good luck with the fight for the money.

People like this eventually cross the wrong person and get what they deserve. :behead:

 

[southcoastboile]

I always find its the rich people that dont want to pay or take ages to pay up. Just dont give up on it whatever you do.
How come it hasn't gone to court yet after all this time?

 

[Phil]

I'm fuming, I've never even met this guy and even I want to see him go down.

I hope one day he goes to prison and then lets see who's the big tough guy, he wouldn't last two minutes.

Maybe we should send ***bria Handyman round with his quick drying cement?

 

[Dannypipe]

Wow! Really amazed by the response to this. Thanks everyone.

 

[mike_s]

trying to imagine how I would feel if this happened to me, I'd be bloody heart broken after the effort I put into my business and pride I take in my work. All the best, good on you for getting on with things after it and I hope justice is done for you.

 

[thomas donovan]

his name isn't simon is it lol, have a customer who sounds like a carbon copy even down to the younger wife who gets treated like shte and the invention/ferrari

 

[Centralheatking]

Why dont we all contribute to a list of customers that we woulnt work for again. If we dont say why or
anything deflamatory its perfecrly ok - my mrs. is a lawyer and assures me its ok to do it that way.

Just name and location would do and then forewarned is forearmed. Talk about
cowboy tradesmen and rated people what about cowboy customers. I start it off with 3 if others want to
add theirs


centralheatking

 

[Dannypipe]

his name isn't simon is it lol, have a customer who sounds like a carbon copy even down to the younger wife who gets treated like shte and the invention/ferrari

No his name isn't Simon!!

I will name him, but I think I want this sorted first. I don't want to jepodise anything.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

good idea even though we're in the arms, you never know who's reading

 

[Masood]

Why dont we all contribute to a list of customers that we woulnt work for again. If we dont say why or
anything deflamatory its perfecrly ok - my mrs. is a lawyer and assures me its ok to do it that way.

Just name and location would do and then forewarned is forearmed.

I think this is a great idea as long as it doesn't land the site owners in any trouble.

 

[julesverne]

Reading this thread ran a chill down my spine. same thing happened to me and others by a recruitment firm in bradford a few years ago. the 2 women directors of ltd company, came over as really trusted worthy their father was a priest. you couldnt have asked for a better reference.
my first mistake being naive first 6 months in business took no money up front and is was a big job 2 washrooms and re skimming the walls of the whole place.
took me over 4/5 weeks to do the job. kept asking for some money as we were going along and always got an excuse but she was really nice and polite so thought she was good for the money.
finished job gave invoice then nothing went round asking and was threatened by her very very big husband not too come round again. now i consider myself to be a handy fella but i'm not stupid i know my limitations and this guy had connections to the bad guys (you just knew by looking at him) this totally shook me. so i went to speak to her priest father problem was he lives florida and never returned my calls. could it get any worse.

i was done for £5000.00 and because of it i ran up further debts upto £22000.00 on credit cards trying to keep going i couldnt keep going as they were ramping up the interest rates. then i broke down in front of my missus and told her everything a year later.

went to court but before i could my day the company was liquidated. i wasnt the only one she scammed a training company out of £10500 and the receptionist out of £4000.00 by convincing her to get a loan to keep them going i really felt for her.

i consider myself lucky because as my missus forgave me other would quite rightly not i should have told her straight but i felt ashamed i had done over so easily. i also consider myself lucky because i never paid a penny back to the credit card companies blaiming them for my predicament just as much by charging over 35% when the bank of england rate was 0.5%, but thats another story.

Anyway the training company had their day in court because as soon they liquidated one company they set up another.

the judge proper went to town on them in manchester county court and were banned from being directors for 5 years but they had no assets no money was ever recovered.

now i'm back on feet after 5 years and now starting to get somewhere business wise. Even now when i think back to that sometimes i shake with anger. I honestly think if i saw her walk past me in an alley she wouldn't make it out to the other side.

danny your not alone in experiencing this form of legalised robbery so my thoughts are totally with you
been there even now as i write my fists are clenching cos i wanna hurt them like they they hurt me.