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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Handyman took my (old) stuff without asking...

78 replies

InAQuandry2019 · 03/10/2019 19:50

Last week a handyman chap we sometimes use for odd jobs etc came to fit a new stainless steel cooker hood as the motor had gone in the old one.

I bought the exact same model to make replacement easy (and so I wouldn't have to repaint Wink )

When I saw the finished job he'd replaced the triangular hood bit (with the motor in) but left the original stainless steel chimney bit as he said it was in good condition and made the job quicker. I said fine as it looked OK etc.

He left me the old cooker hood in the box from the new one and said 'that old one will need to go to the tip' and I said fine. (our council charges ££ for tradesman vans, so they prefer to leave stuff for householder to take in a car).

Thing is, I hate dumping stuff and prefer to offer on eBay or Freecycle as spares or repair, so today I got it out to photograph and found that the new chimney wasn't in the box, nor were the slide in filters for the
bottom of the hood. Hmm

I texted him and asked him if he 'left them' somewhere (our garage is a bit of jumble).

Him: I’ll have a check, I might of put them in my shed when I cleared out my car at the weekend!

Me: I'd like to put the whole thing on ebay/Freecycle

Him: I never throw any thing away - if and when I find them I let you know and drop them back.

Me: Well I would like them back. Please check and let me know.

HIm: I think I just said I would drop them back. They are no use to me and I just cleared them as I was tidying up. I just got home and will look in my shed tomorrow morning.

Me: Great, thanks.

AIBU to think he nicked them to sell on etc thinking I wouldn't notice, but now realises he's been rumbled?
Seems he went quite quickly from "I might have them" to "I just cleared them up" (if so, why not put them in the box with the rest of the old hood?)

OP posts:
Original poster
InAQuandry2019 · 04/10/2019 10:39

Decorators charging for 7.5 litres of paint for a job that takes 2 litres is another one we've had.

Obviously seen as the 'perks of the job' and they mostly get away with it from householders who have more money than sense don't notice.

OP posts:
zingally · 04/10/2019 10:41

He's a "try it on".

He took it in the hope you wouldn't notice, so that he could sell it on (more likely than not).

Don't hire him again.

That being said... You say yourself you were just going to freecycle it anyway... He's saved you a job I guess! But, to me anyway, this sounds fishy. I'd find someone else in the future.

regmover · 04/10/2019 10:46

Jeez people... RTFT!! Op has already explained everything in painstaking detail.

Potnoodledoo · 04/10/2019 11:49

@InAQuandry2019 just makes you think what else he took.I wouldnt be able to trust him again.So hes lost reliable income for the sake of a few quid.

easyandy101 · 04/10/2019 12:34

Some tradesmen view scrap recovery as a means of keeping overall cost to client down

And yeah recovering scrap is a perk if the job also, unless you're actually planning on going and weighing it in yourself.

I've seen jobs repriced when it becomes clear a customer is going to keep the scrap

OrchidInTheSun · 04/10/2019 12:37

It wasn't scrap. He left the scrap but took the brand new parts which the OP had paid for which he advised didn't need replacing.

AngelsSins · 04/10/2019 12:43

I think you were quite rude to him and if you’re putting them on freecycle anyway it was unnecessary.

Oh yes, remember ladies, even when some fucker steals from your house, you should always be polite to him...Hmm

Sunshine93 · 04/10/2019 12:51

Oh yes, remember ladies, even when some fucker steals from your house, you should always be polite to him...hmm
Why do women still think we have to be polite to men who mistreat us? His response wasn't particularly polite and he was avoiding taking any responsibility or making any commitments. Why the fuck can't she expect him to return her own property that he's stolen?

easyandy101 · 04/10/2019 12:52

It wasn't scrap

Yeah I meant to quote the person on page 1 saying that it was a scam and then using scrap recovery as an example of something similar

SciFiRules · 04/10/2019 12:54

I read your post. I think you are over thinking this. If he has a job for the chimney eating it's not going to waste. No one will pay £50 for a hood plus £60 for a motor when a new item is £180. Going to the tip is hardly a huge inconvenience, especially compared to listing and selling. Just wait till you have several items and make one run. But it's just my take on the world!

BenWillbondsPants · 04/10/2019 12:56

To be fair, I may be a little tetchy with someone who stole from me. Doesn't matter what it is.

AngelsSins · 04/10/2019 13:07

I think you are over thinking this. If he has a job for the chimney eating it's not going to waste. No one will pay £50 for a hood plus £60 for a motor when a new item is £180. Going to the tip is hardly a huge inconvenience, especially compared to listing and selling. Just wait till you have several items and make one run. But it's just my take on the world!

So stealing is ok if you have a good enough excuse? It doesn’t matter what OP was going to do with it, it doesn’t matter how inconvenient it may have been for her - IT WAS HER PROPERTY. Other people don’t get to decide if you need something or not, and then take it without even asking if they decide it’s more useful to them.

wibbletooth · 04/10/2019 13:16

I would also have thought that if the filters need to be changed occasionally then they would have been useful for the OP to keep as spares rather than have to buy new when the time comes to need them!

Original poster
InAQuandry2019 · 04/10/2019 13:30

Going to the tip is hardly a huge inconvenience, especially compared to listing and selling.

Sorry, but I disagree:
Tip = 1 hour of my time, plus hassle of having to go during the daytime (weekends are crazy queues), plus fuel, + faffing around with putting car seats down etc

Ebay - 2 minutes with my phone taking photos for the app and describing!

Plenty of people buying and selling this stuff on ebay e.g. new chimneys for between £25-£50.

If he was relying on scrap value as part of his payment then he should have made that clear up front. Besides, as has been mentioned - the chimney wasn't scrap - it was a new part!

OP posts:
Butterymuffin · 04/10/2019 14:04

Some tradesmen view scrap recovery as a means of keeping overall cost to client down

Fine if they're transparent about it. This guy wasn't. He was dishonest and I wouldn't use him again.

pumkinspicetime · 04/10/2019 14:14

He should have asked. Our handyman takes stuff, but the old stuff usually. However he always asks and sometimes I say no because I can reuse the thing elsewhere.

Potnoodledoo · 06/10/2019 12:37

So has he dropped the stuff back to you yet?

bridgetreilly · 06/10/2019 12:57

He said it needed to go to the tip and you said fine. I think it's a bit much to now expect him to bring it back for you to freecycle. You don't need it and it's gone. Get over it.

bridgetreilly · 06/10/2019 13:02

Oh, okay, he took the other stuff, not the old hood. Nope, that's not okay.

AmyFl · 06/10/2019 13:03

He's a thief, and like all dishonest people, he HATES that he's been found out.

IncrediblySadToo · 06/10/2019 13:06

He said it needed to go to the tip and you said fine. I think it's a bit much to now expect him to bring it back for you to freecycle. You don't need it and it's gone. Get over it.*

Work on your comprehension skills

WellTidy · 06/10/2019 13:14

Something similar that I’ve had - having carpet fitted. Odd shaped room, and had to buy carpet (as is the norm) in certain widths. Gutters and suppliers are the same firm. Carpet was fitted, they did a good job. They left. I looked for the excess as I knew there’d be a lot of it and I thought I’d have some good sized mats made. No, they’d ‘disposed of it as we didn’t think you’d want it’. Bollocks.

Honeyroar · 06/10/2019 13:17

To me it sounds like he suggested they needed to go to the tip and you said fine, therefore agreeing - so if he took them it was possibly because you said you were throwing them away. I read it as though he would take it to the tip for you (as in you wanted him to). It could just be crossed lines?

OrchidInTheSun · 06/10/2019 13:41

Reading comprehension on here is bloody dreadful

roses2 · 06/10/2019 14:27

Regardless of whether the OP was going to give them away for free or not, he stole them. Why should she let him keep the parts even if she is/was giving them away for free since this was his behaviour?