To think that this is unfair and DP should be able to do something about it?

[Timeforanamechangey]

Apologise for being vague but don't want to be too identifying and its a bit complicated!

DP has a useful skill (think, plumbing/electrician), is fully trained but is not currently working in the area the skill is due to lack of job opportunities in our local area.

In order to gain experience, he will sometimes take on small jobs from people he knows if they approach him to do a job.

A close friend of DP's recently asked him to do a job for her, he quoted her a price and she agreed to pay it and was happy with the price. Nothing in writing unfortunately. She also agreed to pay the cost of the supplies DP needed to do the job. The agreement was that DP would buy the supplies, provide her with a receipt and she would reimburse him on top of the labour costs previously agreed for the job.

DP did the job, took a few days and all was fine. Unfortunatly DP discovered a problem whilst completing the job that was nothing to do with him, it just happened to be him that discovered it whilst completing the work he was asked to do.

DP's friend was fine initially but when he contacted her to ask when the payment was going to be made, she kicked off saying that he had caused the damage/problem he discovered (even though he didn't) and she wasn't going to pay him. She also decided to take back some left over supplies from the job to the shop they were bought from (with the receipt she asked DP to provide as proof of the cost) and received a refund for them, which she has kept even though it is DP's money.

DP is now out of pocket as she refused to pay for either his labour or the costs of the supplies. Aibu to think this is awful of her and there must be something he can do to get his money back?

[SummerNights1986]

Small claims court?

There's a process to follow, which includes sending a couple of letters first, asking for the money or you will progress to SCC.

Hopefully the letters would be enough to scare her into paying.

[BolshierAryaStark]

Yep, small claims court I'd say.

[kissmethere]

That's really low.
Definitely legal action she's taken the piss totally.

[Timeforanamechangey]

Hopefully yes Summer. I honestly can't believe she has behaved like this, she was a good friend of DP's and it seems ridiculous that she would throw away their friendship over a relatively small amount of money (but not insubstantial to us!).

Does it seem likely he would win if it went to court? He doesn't have much of a paper trail, he gave her the receipts and there was no contract or anything between them :/

[whois]

Try small claims.

Also what a fucking bitch! Hopefully DP has told everyone in your circle of friends what she has done...

[myusernamewastaken]

What a bitch....id go round and bang on her door every night until she paid up...failing that id put a brick through her window....key her car etc.....these people are the lowest of the low and you cannot let her get away with it x

[bimandbam]

Is he registered as self employed? If not be careful how you handle this. Also csn he catogorically prove that the damage/problem wasn't caused by him?

She sounds an arse. But this is why tradesmen have the appropriate insurance to deal with issues of this kind. And if he hasn't any insurance he shouldn't be doing any work on anyone's house. Cash in hand work is tempting for everyone but it can and does backfire sometimes.

My dp is a tradesman too and we sometimes get asked to do bits and pieces for friends. We always give them a higher quote than what it should be and add the VAT in too to discourage this sort of work.

And of the two that we have actually done.like this one was an absolute fucking nightmare from start to finish so we won't ever do them again.

[SummerNights1986]

I 'won' when I took a plumber to the SCC. I had no paper trail at all, not even a receipt for the money i'd given him.

He was stupid enough to ignore the letters that were sent to him from the SCC, meaning they found automatically in my favour.

As he was also stupid enough to ignore the letter telling him the case had been found in my favour and he had to pay me back, I then progressed to bailiffs and had to pay another £100 on top for their action.

The total he owed me was £300. I got that back (Court appointed bailiffs really don't take no for an answer) and his total he had to pay was about £500 because he had to pay all of mine and the Courts costs too.

[laffymeal]

Er, criminal damage is hardly the way forward myusername

[TheBunnyOfDoom]

Do you have a text record or anything of her saying she'd pay? If you do, definitely go to small claims.

[Timeforanamechangey]

She is acting like a bitch and I am fuming about it, I'd be quite happy to tell all and sundry how she is behaving but DP wants to take the high road and just go down a more official route. I think doing that would cause more problems than it solves username, especially if he ends up getting arrested :/ He's not really that kind of guy anyway.

I think he does have text/facebook messages that confirm what she was going to pay. She has the receipts but he has bank statements that show he paid xx for xx as he paid on his card so we have that too.

Bim he isn't registered although is considering it if he can get enough business. He hasn't yet as he doesn't know much about running a business but I think this has put him off a bit to be honest.

He definatly didn't cause the damage. He merely discovere it in the process. Her dad decided to carry on and try and fix the damage/problem himself afterwards and even he admitted it could not have been caused by DP.

[serin]

How can you go to the small claims court for a job that wasn't officially a 'job' ?

I sympathise with you OP but is your DP likely to get into more trouble if he isn't paying tax etc on cash in hand work?

[Topseyt]

Small claims court, and never agree to do any work for her again.

Put together any trail you can, including text, other messaging services, or emails.

Don't go the route suggested by myusername. I am sure you won't anyway, but what a hot-headed, ill thought out and irresponsible post.

[Topseyt]

Did your DP buy the goods using a credit or debit card? If so then he might be able to find the transactions listed on his statements, even though she has kept the receipts.

It might help form part of the case, though I am no expert in these things.

[RubbleBubble00]

Er if he's electrician or gas fitter, thye need to be registered. If he's not claimed himself as self employed then watch out for the tax man. If he's employed by an employer u also have to declare any other work

[Aeroflotgirl]

What an utter cow, not much of a friend. Definitely small claims court. Hope he gets paid

[RubbleBubble00]

If he doesn't have insurance either she might try to sue him to try and prove he did the damage, he discovered

[expatinscotland]

I'd do small claims court. And never, ever have anything to do with her again.

[Timeforanamechangey]

This is why I'm asking serin, I don't know if he can claim, if he has a leg to stand on etc.

[Timeforanamechangey]

Rubble he isn't either of those that was just an example to give an idea of the job ie not financial/paperwork etc.

[RunRabbitRunRabbit]

Yes, small claims court. There is plenty of information about how to do it if you google. Definitely don't let her get away with it. If he is going to run a small business as a tradesman he must learn how to work with the small claims court. Consider it on the job training.

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

You can have a contract without anything in writing, all you need is an offer (here from your DH to do the work ) acceptance of that offer (from your friend) and "consideration" (here the agreed price). You can definitely go to small claims with these things present, the difficulty with having no written agreement is proof but texts etc. can be used as evidence. She may counter -claim for loss caused by your DH's alleged negligence causing the other problem but that would be quite a hassle so if she's just trying it on she might well not bother.

[pocketsaviour]

You can go to Small Claims court for any reason if you are owed money. My friend took someone to SCC (and won) over an eBay dispute.

As the job happened this tax year, there will be no problem - yet - with him not having declared it as taxable income, since he will be declaring it when he does his tax return for 2015-2016. Make sure he does do his self-assessment next year, though.

Small Claims Court is the website, he can file online. Make sure he keeps all texts/messages/emails etc as supporting evidence, in the event she does decide to fight it.

[Bluetrews25]

I think you have 6 months to register as self employed after you start trading.
Get the right accounts book from amazon/ebay (the yellow one, for non-VAT registered small business/sole traders, around £13) and it really helps with accounting and makes it easy.
Don't let this put you off SCC case.