Builder asking for payment after cash paid and VAT quote concerns

[AmIbeingscammed]

I had a quote for landscaping that said including vat. Work has been done and I paid £1000 by bank transfer for some materials prior to completion. The chap then called round and asked for £1000 in cash to pay his workers ( I was waiting for an ambulance to come as was extremely unwell with a raging infection) I paid the £1000 cash.
He has now messaged me asking if he can come round for payment, I said to send me an invoice including the vat breakdown and I will pay. I don't think he is vat registered but does seem to be a registered Ltd company.
I just have a bad feeling, I'm still not well and he told me whilst the work was in progress that one of the workers was due in court for putting his fist through someone's window. I would never have agreed to employing his services if I had known this.
I'm cross with myself for paying the cash , I'm worried he'll come round and mess up the work that's been done.
He finished the job 3 days ago.

It was the fact that he came round asking for cash and said he would return (when I was feeling better) for more cash . The vat thing just made me a bit nervous because why mention vat if he isn't registered.

Bit funny to ask to be paid to a different bank account than the one on the invoice. Could say you thought it was a scam message if he asks.

There seems to be some confusion over whether or not he is vat registered. You don't have to be vat registered just because you have a company. If he doesn't meet the turnover thresholds the company doesn't need to be VAT registered. If the OP is concerned she should pay the amount due (which she has done) then raise any suspicions with HMRC, rather than fretting herself.

The OP wants a 20% discount though

It was just a number of things that made me nervous (on top of being hospitalised and not thinking clearly) the vat, the turning up asking for cash, the different bank accounts , I am a worrier anyway and I panicked a bit.

I didn't want a discount, I never said I did.

But he has only asked you for the amount that you'd agreed to pay him, is that right?

He didn't invoice me though , he came round and asked for cash

Lots of tradesmen do this.

Have you even checked that he's not VAT registered?

OP hasn't said anything if the kind

She was worried he’d turn up at the door
There’s a professional way to deal with payments and his methods were coming across as intimidating and not professional

The whole coming to the house thing is weird. But surely solved by just paying the outstanding amount by BACs?

I always pay immediately as run a small business myself and hate non or late payers with a vengeance. Plus dread I would forget to pay and be a hated non payer myself.

Do they? There was no mention of any cash payment, he turned up unannounced asking for cash .

Have you got proper receipts for all the cash you paid? This all sounds so scammy to me that I can’t help but think he’s going to claim you haven’t paid him the £2k cash and still owe that much. The business with the bank accounts is a well known scam, too. I think I’d make sure he sends a final receipt for the final payment you’ve made - don’t change anything about the transfer, he’s given you an account to pay on the invoice and that’s what you’ve done, so please don’t be pressured into reversing it and paying any other account.

I absolutely hate owing money, I always pay on time. If he had sent an invoice I would have paid straight away but he turned up asking for cash, despite telling me in the first place that he would invoice me.

He's been pretty poor not communicating well with you how he wanted to be paid.

I would say most tradesmen primarily deal in cash - but for an amount nearly £7k it would probably be at least anticipated that you might pay by BACS or cheque.

You say he messaged with an invoice you can download. Did the invoice have a VAT registration number on it?

I think @AmIbeingscammed has been really clear here.

Job total £6700 The invoice stated 'including VAT', which implies VAT registration
£1000 paid by bank transfer for materials
£1000 paid by cash for his workers (amazing that you managed to do that while waiting for an ambulance! He should be very happy)

Now the work is done and the OP wanted an updated invoice showing VAT breakdown and interim payments made. Builder says 'I'll come and collect'

OP doesn't want this, so builder sends invoice that gives the outstanding balance, but no mention of VAT. It has an automated bank payment link, which she has used.

Now, he wants payment to a different account, but she has already paid to the nominated account.

I can see why you're worried @AmIbeingscammed

In the past two years I've had two bathrooms refurbished, a boiler replaced, a new consumer board and partial rewire, some decking laid, a new bedroom window, and a couple of window panes replaced. Six different trades/companies and none of them asked for cash.

If your invoice has a VAT number on it, and he has listed a VAT amount, we can check to see if he's actually registered for VAT. I've had plenty of tradesmen issue invoices listing VAT who aren't registered and shouldn't be charging it.

Nobody carries that amount of cash in their house, you still owed him over £4k. You were right to transfer it imo, you also have a record of it.

All done now, think no more of it.

No

Turning up demanding cash is very suspect - intimidating and concerning. Combined with his telling you that one of his workers put someone’s window through, I think you’re underreacting, if anything.

You say he sent you an invoice with a payment link which suggests it was sent from some kind of computer accounting software, which imo is at least an indication that hes above board. Is it a limited company?

This. I don’t understand the thread.

You have paid. That’s it.

Of course they do, loads of people have cash in their house for lots of different reasons