Not able to contact plumber - he has £3000

I’m sceptical about him being unwell. I’ve had a couple family members scammed and both times the builder was ill or had a broken leg. Really, they were scammers.

@Hello113 I completely agree with you, but when you're a self-employed sole trader and very ill the reality is there's not much you can do. A huge pita for you but people get sick and you just need to get your money back and get your job done.

Thank you and I hope the same for you too….. unfortunately this whole process has taken over a year and unless the bailiffs are successful then i’m not sure what else we can do and I bet he knows that
Some people are just rotten to the core!
we have invoices and also paid via bank transfer, when I called the bank, they refused to help! I hope you get your money back, please keep us updated 🤞🤞

I agree with visiting the address, but, he could actually genuinely be ill and can't really do much and has turned all of his work 'communications' off. The fact that the supplier offered this information makes it seem more genuine to me. So, don't go in 'guns blazing'.

If he is genuinely long-term ill, then play nice and ask for his 'plans' and a recommendation for someone who could do the job based on them, retaining the supplies you have paid for. Maybe consider losing £50+ on this transaction as 'goodwill'. It will keep you in good stead with the other plumbers that use the same local supplier.

Think of the supplier as a 'venue' where all the local plumbers meet up and have a bloody good gossip about their jobs/customers and other plumbers.

My mother was scammed and had paid by bank transfer. She phoned her bank and someone in a fraud team had her money refunded quite quickly.

Thank you......... I really hope we get it back too, It's such a shame there are such awful people around who will happily steal your hard earned money

It’s definitely not a quick fix for sure. The whole court system itself is in crisis with cases taking months / years.

I hope you manage to get the money!

@RunningJo - Small claims is an easy process but it takes forever!! I'm currently going through this process myself as our builder also stole £2K off of us, he then agreed to pay it back (via small claims) monthly but didn't make a single payment. Now i'm having to go through small claims again to send bailiffs, the letter alone took 3 months to send and it could take another 2 months for bailiffs to do anything. It's such a tedious task :-(

Do also speak to trading standards.

Have you paid for any of this on a credit card or using a loan which you said was for home improvements? Credit comes with section 75 protection, and when we were in this position we were able to recover all of our money from the CC provider. This is likely to be more successful than small claims, because small claims still depends on the individual having those funds and paying them over to you.

Can you and your partner ( or someone else) go to his address?….. don’t go alone

Yes I sent a letter via signed for delivery telling him I would be lodging a claim via Moneyclaim online on x date (the gov small claims process). The cash was posted through my door 2 days later as he knew I was serious.

Small claims court is a very easy process. You can follow it step by step online. It will cost you to do it, just a nominal fee, which you can also claim back for. You would of course lose this if the Plumber won the case.
Keep every bit of correspondence you have sent to him, and from him to you. Make notes of any conversations you have had with the plumber merchant too. You have to show you have tried to contact and be fair to the Plumber before taking it to small claims (which it seems you have been more than fair!). Good luck, I would be doing the small claims as soon as the 14 days is up.

Definitely collect the materials - it's madness to just write it off and start again!

Order my own materials & get them delivered to the house, pay them their day rate- I would not dream of paying up front.only our plasterer is fab & totally 💯 honest.

This.

It doesn't actually sound like a scam. More like something has happened that has put him out of action.

Either collect the materials yourself, or ask the store not to release them to him until you give them the go-ahead because he needs to contact you first.

Have you tried calling on his home address? I would try that and also ask on local Facebook pages if anyone knows why he isn't able to answer messages at the moment.

@Hello113 in that case maybe find another plumber, explain the situation and ask if they can use the materials.

Agree you would be crazy to start again, presumably you chose these materials so at least the huge majority of them are what you wanted?

I'd collect the materials if you can. Another plumber will be able to sort it.

We started doing our own bathroom then just couldn't find time so hired a plumber who just used the stuff we already bought.

If the materials get refunded back to him then I'd assume you can kiss your £3k goodbye. I'd rather at least have the materials to use for another job, any decent plumber would be able to use them as planned surely?

What do the materials cost in total?