Ello I posted this on the forum I reside on, but I do post on here sometimes, and thought some of you stunning people could offer and help or advice
I'll just copy & paste the text from my original post.....



Ello

As some of you may recall 2 months ago, my parents had some fencing erected around the garden and I was supervising the builders work (well, I actually spent all day on here ).

As I wasn't aware of what my parents wanted doing, I thought what he builders had done was what was ordered......

I must say that they knocked next doors wall down in error - but they did return the day after to put it back up!

Anyways....the actual wood they used is cheap crap, the design of it is wrong, the actual size of the fencing is over a foot wrong and they didn't remove one of the old fences - they just built a new fence in front of it which meant my parents have lost about a foot garden space. They didn't line the fence above the wall up correct so there are gaps all over the place and the gate they put on was just a piece of fencing with a latch on it

Now, as this isn't what was ordered and a botched job has been done, obviously my paremnts want it correcting....so they called the fella up and he said he was going to come and go over it with my parents. He never showed up.

4 times he arranged to come and inspect it and he never showed up.

We since find out that the business card with details on is incorect - the address does not exist. The only thing on it that is legit is his mobile phone number

My Mother has contacted Trading Standards and they asked her to send all details in with pictures of the bad work and also send the same letter & details to the builders (even though we know the address doesn't exist ).

The Special Delivery letter & details were returned by the Post Office as they couldn't find the address either.

My Father & myself, today, have been out and looked for this company as I managed to do a bit of searching on the marvelous internet and noticed 5 other companies have the same trading name within a 6 mile radius.

We've been to 3 of them and they were either locked up 'garage' type of places or streets with derelict houses on them.

My question now is.......where do my parents go from here?

Should they just write off the thousands of pounds that these builders have got away with, or do we try to reclaim it back, or at least get them to correct the bad work, via Trading Standards & Small Claims Court?

The only problem I have is that 9 times out of 10 in these Court cases, the business always wins over the average joe public (by my and friends experiences).

Is it worth it pushing for something to be done, or just left alone and write the money off?

Thanks in advance

oh dear, that story sounds so familiar.

i had a cowboy builder in a few years ago, who's details i got off the federation of master builders website! what a joke.

anyway, i got him struck off from there, but didn't have the energy to pursue it thru the small claims.

is there a group these guys must belong to or something? not that it'd worry them i suppose, if they were struck off.

it happens all the time, you have my sympathies, but i bet you'll catch up with him sooner or later. why don't you get a mate to phone to arrange for him to do a quote then corner him when he shows? i would recommend this approach using a particularly large, tough mate, you can work out the rest...

g

There's not a lot you can do. There is no legislative body regulating builders. If you write in to Watchdog, they may expose him?

Ary.

Doe you have legal expenses insurance and, if so, could you pursue it on that?

Easy to be wise after the event but its a good rule to stick to contractors with real addresses. That's one advantage of using a local firm - you know they are valid and easy to track down (and badmouth if necessary) if there's a problem.