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!

Be sure to take pictures of his truck/car license plate and of him and make sure he sees you doing it. Great insurance.

No way would I pay him. You had no contract.

Well done. You said your an anxious person but you went out there and confronted him. I think paying him half is a result as you did agree to him doing the work. I wonder what your neighbour feels about his behaviour to you though, I'd feel mortified if someone I knew treated my neighbour like that.

I do not buy or sign up for anything at the door...in fact i usually dont answer the door to avoid these situations...i live alone and am crap at saying no so this works perfectly for me.

Something similar happened to me, being scammed, was waiting in que of traffic in my car, and from above a scaffold pole fell from the roof of a house, it slipped from his fingers bounce of the payment and hit my car, I got out and he made sure no one was injured apologise, I was very upset as you can imagine, about to ring the insurance company and he said he would fix my car no need to go through insurance, you can guess what happened I never heard from him again, lucky I got his reg number, reported him to my insurance, it took some time as he denied it happened ,he paid out in the end, lesson learned always go through with your insurance.

Call the police and ask their advice. This is threatening behaviour. This is very serious.

Don’t pay it
Call the police, It’s a scam
Goes on here in Ireland and they are not insured to work on your property and they use bully tactics to get more money for substandard work

No way. Call the police and inform them. Tell him if he ever comes near your property again you'll call the police. And give your neighbours a bollocking and tell them if they ever try to steal off you again they'll be sorry.

Give him £70 and it'll be £700 next time. He could.well have damaged your property rather than fix it. You shouldn't have let him touch it tbh

This is how these people operate: by intimidation.

You've had lots of great advice regarding contacting the police. I.would also speak to.your neighbour and ascertain who this man is and tell them about the intimidation.

You're right, you have been a fool and as someone who suffers from anxiety this is NOT an excuse to just roll over.

You need to deal with this appropriately for you're own sake if nothing else because you cannot allow this poor decision making to continue.

It's time to grow a spine.

You got off lightly. My mother in law paid one of these scammers £350 for pretending to fix her guttering.

These people deliberately get massively angry and affronted, it's part of how they operate. I think it's just an act.

They are total scammers.

I once chased a guy off our premises who pretended to be a tree surgeon and then almost smashed our conservatory roof with a massive falling branch.

I phoned the police on the mobile while he was stood there, and when I got through to them and explained there was a man there, he soon backed off. gratefilwhile I was on the phone, I said that the police would be very grateful if he could hang around and answer some enquiries for them.....

Literally heard the tyres screech as he pulled away.

Can everyone please be aware in future if anyone turns up and tells you 'your gutters need cleaning' the roof needs doing, you've got loose tiles etc etc, Just respond thank you for letting me know and I'm having the work done next week.

End of story.

Truth is the majority of gutters in this country need doing mainly in the spring or just before the winter sets in. It's not even difficult to do if you don't mind heights. I've often thought how good it would be if neighbours in a street had a mini diy task force. If you stop to think how many hand and power tools and garden stuff lie around in peoples houses gathering dust. One weekend every three months jobs like cleaning the gutters could be tackled. It would be a win win for everyone.

One thing I've learnt in this lockdown is I actually have got to know my neighbours, and visa versa, I want this to continue in the future, I live in a large city and to be truthful it can get lonely. Now days I have a cuppa (2 metres apart from my neighbours) outside and it's turned into a really good support group. So yes I am setting up my mini diy Street support group, even the litter is being collected now by ourselves, seeds have been scattered around the trees. So hopefully in a couple of months we will be living on a cleaner, street with some splashes of colour and more friendly than it ever was.

This is a widespread and common scam. Most people I know, including ourselves have learned this the hard way.

@Icepinkeskimo Thaqt's actually a good idea. I am getting to know my neighbours and do little things, and am hopeful of this improving.