To pay this angry man for work not done?

[sillywoman456]

Basically, I've been a complete and utter fool and yesterday was doorstepped by a man working at my neighbour's house. He said I needed some work doing to my gutters, said he'd do it there and then, didn't appreciate me saying that I'd call my DH and discuss with him, and insisted that I do it and pay him the amount by balance transfer (because I at first said no, using no physical cash as a reason). My neighbours (who I previously got on well with) were with him, vouching for him and insisting that I needed it doing because it was affecting both properties etc. It wasn't a huge amount of money (£70) so I agreed.

Believe it or not, I'm usually less ridiculous than this, but I let myself down by agreeing to this deeply unpleasant man who was patronising and offensive. I'm so embarrassed of myself.

Anyway, he spent five minutes on the roof, showed me a few bits of concrete he'd pulled out, said he couldn't do the rest because it was too rotten and gave me some bank details. Now I don't know who this bloke was, but my neighbours knows him by first name and these bank details are for someone completely different.

Today, we've been and taken pictures of the work not done and contacted him to say we'd pay half, but not the full amount because much of the work was left undone. He won't agree to this, swore and shouted down the phone and said he'll be coming round to discuss it "face to fucking face" and basically that he won't let it go.

I've contacted CAB and I believe the law is on our side, but I think I should just pay it for a quiet life and less threats of him returning, damaging our property etc. I don't want to be worried everytime the kids are in the garden for the sake of £70! My DH hates confrontation and would rather do this. But if I pay this random person named in the bank details, what proof will I have that I've paid at all? I don't want him to come round and demand more.

It's starting to feel a bit like an extortion racket! But then it's only £70! Please tell me what to do now, because I can't seem to trust myself lately!

@forgetthehousework Thank you, and for what you said about my DH. I feel I should clarify to others that he is at work, not here, so he couldn't have gone out anyway. But he certainly didn't send me to deal with it - he wanted to pay so it would be ended.
Not all men are good at confrontation.

No way should you give this clown your money! He's an old fashioned trickster and he's pulled a fast one - you called him out on it and all he had left was hot air down the phone. Don't contact him, don't speak to him, he'll hopefully fuck off. He knows he's a charlatan which is why he threatened you. If he bothers you again call the police on his ass.

I'm glad you've solved the problem.
I hope he hasn't caused you more problems going up on a ladder eg moving your roof tiles to make it look like he did anything at all.
How on earth would you know if your guttering needed anything doing to it if you weren't having any issues with it and couldn't see the problem? Are you sure the concrete wasn't in his pocket before he went up the ladder?
Sorry but I'm instantly suspicious of people who do things like this. Genuine tradesmen don't just walk around housing estates looking at other people's houses on the offchance they might need some work doing, they're too busy working. Your neighbours have bought into his nonsense and he'll bleed them dry. Leave them all to it.

If I could get someone to climb up a ladder up our very high house and unblock our gutter (which is currently blocked) for £70 I would honestly bite their arm off

When our gutters were badly blocked, I rang a few numbers for local companies that I found online.

A very pleasant man came and did a smashing job, it took him about an hour, made no mess (he had this sort of big hoover thing) and I was more than happy to pay him the £70 he quoted.

I saw the amount of gunge and crap that came out of them, and it was beyond disgusting.

Are you usually talked round so easy.
I bet they have a ball game with you, he'll tell all his mates how you're such an easy touch

Ask your window cleaner, they charge a fiver extra.
never paid more than this to clean guttering, it's only a five minute job.

At least it's over now, and you've gained some experience. Next time, you'll know that it's better to say "no", no matter how upset the person (or the crappy neighbour) is at the moment.

The more they insist, the more I'd dig in my heels. No-one with good intentions will try to force you to agree on the spot. If what they're selling is worth having, they don't need to pressure you into it without giving you time to think.

I have no problem saying "I'll to discuss it with my husband" and just repeating that in different variations until I can get away. It's not strange for a couple to want to discuss things like home repairs before hiring workers, and anyway, I'm happy to let them think I'm a feeble, powerless, scatter-brained "little woman" if it gets them out of my way. Alternatively, you could just repeat, "I need to think about it.
I'll get back to you about it later."

This sort of scam is so infuriating! I just want to hop through the computer and march next door myself to give that bully a piece of my mind!

"I'll *have to discuss it..."

@Thinkingabout1t

doorstepped by a man working at my neighbour's house. He said I needed some work doing to my gutters, said he'd do it there and then, didn't appreciate me saying that I'd call my DH and discuss with him

OP, this is a very common and widespread scam, and I'm sorry you got caught. (So did I, once.)

He is not a genuine builder but a career conman. I would be very suspicious of your neighbours. Anyone can get conned, but if they're pretending you needed work done they are colluding with him.

I can almost guarantee he did not do any work, not anything that needed doing. Anyone can find something to show that looks dangerous.

Please send the photos and report to Trading Standards. They probably won't do anything but may keep his details on file. As others have said, he is usually robbing old and vulnerable people.

The neighbours might not be colluding. It,'s possible that he has bullied and intimidated them as well.

@Devlesko

Are you usually talked round so easy.
I bet they have a ball with you, he'll tell all his mates how you're such an easy touch

Well I'm glad I've amused someone today!

Glad it is (hopefully) sorted. I like looselegs standard reply too!

Basically you agreed a sum to to go up and try to unblock the gutter, which needed to be unblocked,

No, that's the whole point. It almost certainly didn't need to be unblocked. OP had no problem with it. The conman said it needed to be unblocked but offered no proof (because of course there wasn't any).

This is a very common scam.

My H doesn't like confrontation, he likes to do anything and everything to give himself an easy life and has cost our family easily £10k, I've had go to court to get some money refunded and the judge actually asked me (because H wouldn't speak) why on earth did you pay this man if the work was so bad? He actually said it went against my case that my H handed over the cash when he could have said no.

After that, any time a job on the house went wrong, and there were some corkers, H said well you can always take them to court after we've paid and get it back that way. Bit extreme I know (that's why he is not "D"H) but you can't live like this OP. What if it had been £170 and you could afford it? Or £1,700, or £7,000 - where do you draw the line? I've had a friend's husband pay up over £20k so as not to get any "hassle". No wonder some unscrupulous "trades" think every door they knock on is a wallet to be opened just for them

I would ask the ndn never to get involved in this sort of scam again.

All bluster. I got doorstopped by someone wanting to paint my pathway red. I said no. He insisted, I kept saying no and eventually told him it's not my house, it's my landlords (true), he wanted me to ask her for the money later! Absolute idiot. But yes to calling the police, he sounds dodgy and may well have a record, plus not fair for you to be feeling nervous in your own home.

Why are people insisting that ops husband should be the one dealing with this? Is op not capable just because she is a woman? In a situation like this, I know I'd be of more use in arguing than my partner as I'm more stubborn than him, quite willing to raise my voice and name drop police or trading standards to get conmen to bugger off. He'd probably just tell the guy to fuck off and shut the door because he can't be assed with the argument. I'm happy enough threatening them.

She's managed to sort it out fine, and I doubt this conman will try it again with her mentioning trading standards. They tend to scarper quickly as they know they'll lose then.

I wouldn’t pay him either but I would ask him for an invoice Ddetailing all work he thinks he has done and I’d also be asking for his VAT number, was his company registered on companies house etc.

What are your neighbours normally like? It's strange they seemed to also be pressuring you too.

Next time someone offers you a job from the doorstep just say you haven't got the money, sorry. Or that you don't own/live in the property and just visiting (not that you could have used the line with the neighbours there)

She hasn't sorted it out fine if she has paid someone £35 to climb a ladder and show her a handful of concrete. In future, don't open your door. It would have been better to go hide in the bathroom until he went away. He would have got bored and left eventually.

I agree with the other poster, call the police because he’s bullying you then call trading standards, tell him to leave you alone and report him for harassment and tell your neighbor that in future don’t ever bring anyone to your door the cheeky cow.

Why are people insisting that ops husband should be the one dealing with this? Is op not capable just because she is a woman? In a situation like this, I know I'd be of more use in arguing than my partner as I'm more stubborn than him, quite willing to raise my voice and name drop police or trading standards to get conmen to bugger off. He'd probably just tell the guy to fuck off and shut the door because he can't be assed with the argument. I'm happy enough threatening them

Probably because they're concerned the guy could become violent? I don't know why people pretend they don't understand why some women aren't happy to confront random men.

First of all your neighbors had no right joining in with the hard sell and vouching for him. Whether work needed doing or not that's not others to decided unless they're going to foot the bill of course.
He's probably threatening an elderly lady as we speak. I know people can't help being afraid of confrontation. However and rarely say this, but I think this may be one time where he needs to grow a back bone. You don't 'just pay ' for a half arsed job. Yes this time it might "only" be £70.00, but that's not the point . To you it doesn't seem a lot to others it's not a little either. Next time it'll probably be £700.

Don’t give him a same penny!

He’s trying to scam you.

Call the police if you feel threatened

Don’t answer the door if he knocks

Block all phone calls and messages from him

Never mind

Sorted already.

Frankly I think you was a bit of a pushover but there we go

For future reference, If I were in this situation I would say 'oh thanks for letting me know I'll give my cousin a ring, he's in the trade and can do it for free'. If they demand it's done that day say 'I'll give him a ring now and see what he says'.

Hard to argue with free. Imaginary cousin can shit down any situation like this