Firstly - sorry for the length of this!
My 89 year old grandmother has been royally ripped off to the tune of £5k by a rogue tradesman.
She was in hospital over Christmas (intensive care for 3 weeks) and very nearly died. Luckily she pulled through and was allowed home after Christmas to recover (with carers) this is relevant as at the time the tradesman contacted - she was very vulnerable. Usually she would have no problem with spotting a cowboy a mile off but was still very poorly in Feb when someone cold called her to ask if she needed a new boiler. She actually did need a new boiler but was going to wait until later on this year to sort. Anyway, this guy came around and fitted her new boiler and took 4 different amounts in 4 different cheques over various visits between Feb and May. She has paid him a total of £8k. He hasn't given her one scrap of paperwork. No quote was provided and she hasn't had an invoice or paperwork for the boiler. He filled in every cheque and asked her to sign them! The last two cheques she was very hesitant to sign and said she felt pressured in to doing so.
Some time after that, she decided to contact trading standards who then convinced her to confide in a family member... this is where I come in! Nobody in the family knew about this situation and I'm the only one who knows now as she is a proud woman! The TS officer also told her to obtain a quote from another source for the same work so we can see what a reasonable charge would be. She did and has a quote in writing for £3k for the same work. Three weeks ago, I called the trader in question and politely explained that he has made a mistake and could she have some of her money back. He said he was looking in to it that they had made a 'cock up' their end and would send her a cheque as well as the missing paperwork. We waited a week. Nothing. I called and chased him again and gave him a deadline of another 7 days. Again, nothing. Week before I sent him a letter 'final letter before action' and gave him 7 days to respond. Still nothing.
Here is the major problem - if we take his ltd company to court (that already has 1 CCJ against it and he is closing down - so he says) the chances of my Nan winning are high but chances of her actually getting her money back are pretty much zero. So she gets no money back AND lumbered with court costs! Obviously not an ideal outcome.
The TS officer said that she could argue that in the absence of any paperwork, she was trading with him the individual rather than his company giving us a better chance of any of his personal assets being used to reimburse her. He advised my Nan to get copies of the 4 cheques and if he had made them out to his personal bank this would back her claim. She has the copies and I have bought them home with me. They are made out to his company NOT him. So my question is, what can I do about it?? Surely it's not just a dead end now and no point in pursuing the matter further? Could she still argue that she thought she was trading with the individual as HE filled the cheques in for her to sign?
I desperately want to get her money back for her - she is so distressed about the whole thing and is having trouble sleeping etc. Surely there must be something I can do??
I really do not know how some people sleep at night!!