Unprofessional Surveyor (Deeply Worried) :(

[SurveyorProblems]

Hi lovely Mumsnetters,
First-time poster, but long-term lurker :)

Sorry to bother you all just before Christmas, but I am desperate for some wisdom and advice and I thought AIBU might be the best place for support. :(

A few weeks ago, we asked a surveyor to do a Level 3 Building Survey for a property we would like to purchase. We have just received the completed report from him and the quality of the report is shocking.

As first-time buyers we didn't know what to expect really. So we spoke to friends and looked at examples of Level 3 surveys online.
Unfortunately, the quality of the report he has sent to us is shocking.

For example, he has misspelt our names (not a big issue in itself), but also there are numerous spelling errors across the whole report (including sections/descriptions which do not make any grammatical sense at all).

More concerningly, he boasted of taking lots of photographs.
However, the attached photos are of very low quality. The images are extremely blurry and sometimes it is impossible to determine what exact issue is being highlighted here. (Think taking a picture of the boiler from a weird angle and in bad lighting - so bad it is impossible to read the model).

He has requested that we pay him £700 for this report.
We are not sure if we are being unreasonable with our concerns. So any advice is really appreciated.

I would be happy to attach some sections which highlight the poor quality.

@woodlandarchitect I would love to report this chancer, but my relative is stopping me from doing so.

I cannot quite explain their reasoning as it will sound completely absurd to outsiders. But let me assure you that this is the type of mindset I have had to put up and reason with for years (much to the detriment of my own mental health)!

In essence, relative thinks it is morally wrong for us to report someone for a bad deed/unprofessionalism/fraud. Apparently that makes us the bad guys…

I even explained to relative that we have a moral obligation to report this chancer in order to prevent any future problems for more vulnerable people.

I strongly suspect that relative is embarrassed about their mistake. If it wasn’t for me, they would have already paid this gentleman for a substandard, horrendous and unsafe service.

I think on one hand they are genuinely worried about upsetting an elderly gentlemen. On the other hand, I think it might be an ego issue too - reporting this guy to the professional bodies will just highlight my relative’s mistake to a wider audience.

This is unfortunately not the first time the relative has stopped us from complaining about a substandard or dangerous service.

Another time which makes my blood boil was when a medical professional behaved extremely inappropriately. Think behaviour that would raise serious question about someone’s fitness to practise.

Again, relative would not allow any complaint to be made. Although, they were not the affected patient who suffered the pain and consequences.

As mentioned before, relative is a British National, but they are originally from a different country. Therefore, they always feel like there will be dire consequences for them if they report anyone’s misconduct.
I tried to get them to shift this mindset, but I have been unsuccessful so far.

Meanwhile I do not know where I stand or what my next move will be as
(a) I am apparently not allowed to report this unprofessional gentleman to professional bodies
(b) I am not receiving proper response from the surveyor.
As mentioned before, he only emailed to say that he knew I wasn’t going to pay him.
I mean what am I supposed to send as a response to this?
‘Yes, mate. I am not paying you cause you misrepresented yourself and your services. Jog on ‘cause you won’t see a penny from me…’

I don't think your relative can actually stop you from reporting them to be honest ... it's your money & your decision

Your relative isn’t boss of the world. You see something dangerous, report it. We all have obligations to each other. Where someone can’t (too young, too infirm, too vulnerable whatever), the rest of us stepping in can protect them.

That said, if they are purchasing the property and they instructed this chancer, there’s not much you can do about them paying. But you can still report him for his misrepresentation.

As I said above, just ignore him until you have sought the proper advice. Unlikely you’ll have that for a while yet as everyone has been on leave. There’s no point in engaging in endless back and forth with him.

People do go back to experiences in their youth. They don’t want hassle as they get older as well. So that kind of stuff is normal although annoying and to my mind wrong.

Is your relative going to pay the chancer in full for his work? That really does seem wrong.

Don’t pay. Write back with the following then block:

‘We cannot pay you as you have not delivered the service you were contracted to provide. You held yourself out as an architect, professionally qualified to provide a survey with all the relevant protection and accountability. It is clear that we have not received that service and the product you offered was misrepresented by you. If you continue to pursue us, we will take this up directly with those professional bodies.’