To leave a bad review

[dragonflyflew]

I was recently royally ripped off by a tradesperson. Left out of pocket, liedto and ended up completing the job myself.
I have disabilities, single parent and work two jobs.
He never gave written quote, cost rose above verbal quote and he told me to finish it myself as costs had risen so much.
The icing on the cake was him leaving my keys sticking out of my front door when he 'finished', knowing I was on a night out.
The reason I've held back is because he's the boyfriend of a friend's daughter.
I feel awkward and weird making a fuss but at the same time I feel violated.
Nothing I asked for was done except the very basics.
I can explain more in subsequent posts but am rushing now, just wanted to glean responses, all his reviews are good but sparse.
A carpenter friend had a look after and said it's a complete joke and that he used scaffold planks for shelves hence why the shelves are night on useless as too narrow for purpose (he built an understairs cupboard)
The door doesn't shut, no latch or any other mechanisms to replace a latch. I ended up putting the game on myself (badly) he lied about so many things I ended up unable to talk to him at all.
Feel completely ripped off and now have a shit cupboard. I've asked numerous times for receipts etc
What would you do?

*nigh on useless

If you've given him plenty of opportunities to rectify I'd Name and shame to everyone on social media and leave a shitty review.

Tell the friend and daughter that he can either do the job properly or you’ll take him to small claims court. They should be ashamed.

You could tell him in writing that the work isn't up to standard/not fit for purpose. Give him a set amout of time to make good the work (say 2 weeks) and tell him that if its not done to your satisfaction then you will get a third party to complete the work/put right what he has done wrong and will be taking him to small claims for the amount it's cost you to do so. It's not not expensive to go to small claims court.

It's not anything to do with your friend but personally I'd forewarn your friend that there have been issues but you hope they can be resolved, to show you're trying to be reasonable etc. I've recently had issues with a rogue trader and I can imagine it would complicate things further and make things awkward for you with it being an acquaintance but you are still entitled to have the work done properly.

I wouldn't care less if he was a relative of the Queen. No one would be ripping me off and acting like they were doing me a favor when I was paying them good money to do a job.
Absolutely you should leave a bad review. To warn others to steer clear.
I had a decorator in a few years ago and he did a good job and was polite enough. Prices and jobs aggeeed before hand. However every day he was pulling a new thing out of the air and upping the price. Well he priced himself out of any further work.
Why do people like to shoot themselves in the foot.

Thank you for replies. I gave him opportunity to make good, he never showed up! Honestly it looks shit. Friends tell me at least I've got the cupboard but my painting is shit, the door handle I added I did completely wrong now can't move it without it leaving a big hole and the shelves are either too shallow or completely wrong, eg I asked for one to fit the vacuum cleaner underneath, the hoover was there and he's made the shelf too low.
It sounds basic but because of my disability and fatigue I need everything easy access and now means that the kids shoes etc are really awkward for them to access and put away tidily because of the hoover location. Hard to explain but there was a reason I spent all my savings having this cupboard built and it was to relieve stress! Every time I look at it I feel sad.
I know I'll get over it but it's the kind of job you'd grudgingly accept and learn to live with if you did it yourself or got your husband or someone to do for free!
If anyone can help with wording I'd really appreciate it. When I challenged him he lied so much that I don't want to be publicly humiliated!

I would start by sitting down and writing out a time line eg When you first indicated there was an issue and asked him to fix it, how long you gave him to make good, any contact you have had with him. Then write down details of what your carpenter friend has said was wrong and a quote of how much it will cost to fix it.

Put something in writing to him saying that you're not happy and why and you intend to take him to small claims court if he doesn't refund you. You can threaten to report him to the omburdsman. Also if he is a member of a professional body e.g. carpenters guild you can complain to them as well as trading standards along with leaving bad reviews.

Then open a case online for small claims on the gov.uk website. It's not expensive and if you win you'll get the fees back from him. Before taking someone to small claims you have to show you have acted reasonably and exhausted all other avenues of resolving the problem which is sounds like you have. Many claims aren't even challenged. Or you might find he suddenly wants to bend over backwards to fix it.

I recently had an issue with a trader taking a deposit (£1k) then blocking my number for 6 weeks I did all of the above (over email) as well as threaten him with reporting him to action fraud (police) and funnily enough he suddenly pulled his finger out and sorted it within a week. good luck.

Festeringpumpkininnards thank you so much for your guidance.
Would you write negative review prior to doing all the other bits?
He doesn't seem to have a registered business address anywhere, I have messaged him several times but not mentioned small claims court.
He hasn't responded to any of my messages. He did at first but it was all a lie, eg he told me it'd take one to two days to complete then it went into three and that's when he disappeared saying he had a big job on and would finish up in a couple of weeks.. It wasn't until I contacted him two weeks later that he denied ever having quoted me one to two days. He said he's a kitchen and bathroom fitter and that all jobs take at least two weeks, well why tell me one to two days then?! He tried to phone me at this point but I didn't pick up as was at work and tbh I was so angry I didn't (and still don't) want to speak to him.
When he disappeared to do the other job he left loads of rubbish and timber in my front gardens and it looked disgusting so I sent him a picture and asked him to clear it as was an eyesore. I ended up bringing lots into the house as it was bad weather.
When he left on the final day he messaged saying he'd cleared the garden, which was a relief until the next day when I realised he'd left loads in the downstairs toilet and the rest of it hidden in my back garden!
And while we were still 'getting on' he told some general worries about altercations with neighbours etc and from his language and body language etc he's clearly a very angry individual. I honestly don't want him back anywhere near my house to 'make good' especially as our last communication was me telling him he'd left his keys in my front door on the outside opening my household to all kinds of risk and him not replying or apologising. .