Not able to contact plumber - he has £3000

[Hello113]

Plumber was meant to start my bathroom this week but I can't reach him. I've been trying for 2.5 weeks. I've WhatsApp, text, email and call - nothing. Phone goes straight to voicemail. As of yesterday my WhatsApp messages are on one tick. He has £3000 of mine which I paid for materials. What to do now???

I lost a few thousand to a plumber 15 years ago, he was doing a lot of work for me and then said he had an accident, damaged his legs and couldn’t work anymore as he was now disabled. He said he owed money to lots of traders and he was now bankrupt so couldn’t pay me back. I consulted a solicitor but they said it would cost me a lot to take him to court and I still might not get anything back so it was best to give up.

Still unable to reach him via email phone WhatsApp and text message. The money I gave him was to order materials because he has a discount with the shop which has been confirmed by the manager of that store. I've emailed the bathroom shop he was ordering from to see where the order is up to because I don't know where I will stand if my materials have already been ordered.

have you called your bank yet?

Ive spoken to the shop and the materials have been ordered and are in a warehouse in my name. I gave him the money and he put the order in because he gets a big discount. I can cancel but the refund will go to the plumber and then he will need to give the money back to me.

Can you pick up the materials and then get a new plumber to install them? Has he spent all of the money on these materials or just part of it?

I'm worried another plumber wouldn't be happy to, for example one of the parts the plumber had made a special plan for how it was going to fit. I think it's wiser just to start again because I'm worried I'll just be left with materials I can't use. He spent all the money on the materials, I haven't paid him any labour costs.

I wonder if he is ill or something as he hasn't made a financial gain by not contacting you as the materials are still with the supplier.

I really think you should collect those materials that you've paid for that are in your name. I'm fairly certain another plumber can do whatever this no-show guy was going to do. You'd be crazy to kiss £3K of them goodbye.

Collect the materials and find another plumber. You should be able to use most if not all of them but if necessary sell on the part that won't fit properly. Chasing this guy for a refund has disaster written all over it and could take months if you have to use the small claims court.

If the materials get refunded back to him then I'd assume you can kiss your £3k goodbye. I'd rather at least have the materials to use for another job, any decent plumber would be able to use them as planned surely?

What do the materials cost in total?

I'd collect the materials if you can. Another plumber will be able to sort it.

We started doing our own bathroom then just couldn't find time so hired a plumber who just used the stuff we already bought.

@Hello113 in that case maybe find another plumber, explain the situation and ask if they can use the materials.

Agree you would be crazy to start again, presumably you chose these materials so at least the huge majority of them are what you wanted?

This.

It doesn't actually sound like a scam. More like something has happened that has put him out of action.

Either collect the materials yourself, or ask the store not to release them to him until you give them the go-ahead because he needs to contact you first.

Have you tried calling on his home address? I would try that and also ask on local Facebook pages if anyone knows why he isn't able to answer messages at the moment.

Order my own materials & get them delivered to the house, pay them their day rate- I would not dream of paying up front.only our plasterer is fab & totally 💯 honest.

Definitely collect the materials - it's madness to just write it off and start again!

So I'm still out by 3 grand. I've been told by bathroom showroom plumber is ill and now signed off work long term so order has been cancelled, I've asked Showroom twice if plumber has been refunded and they have not responded. I've sent a letter to plumber asking for a refund and given him 14 days to respond and said if not received I will be seeking legal advice. Does anyone have any experience with mediation or small claims court? Thinking that's my next step.

Small claims court is a very easy process. You can follow it step by step online. It will cost you to do it, just a nominal fee, which you can also claim back for. You would of course lose this if the Plumber won the case.
Keep every bit of correspondence you have sent to him, and from him to you. Make notes of any conversations you have had with the plumber merchant too. You have to show you have tried to contact and be fair to the Plumber before taking it to small claims (which it seems you have been more than fair!). Good luck, I would be doing the small claims as soon as the 14 days is up.

Yes I sent a letter via signed for delivery telling him I would be lodging a claim via Moneyclaim online on x date (the gov small claims process). The cash was posted through my door 2 days later as he knew I was serious.

Can you and your partner ( or someone else) go to his address?….. don’t go alone

Do also speak to trading standards.

Have you paid for any of this on a credit card or using a loan which you said was for home improvements? Credit comes with section 75 protection, and when we were in this position we were able to recover all of our money from the CC provider. This is likely to be more successful than small claims, because small claims still depends on the individual having those funds and paying them over to you.

@RunningJo - Small claims is an easy process but it takes forever!! I'm currently going through this process myself as our builder also stole £2K off of us, he then agreed to pay it back (via small claims) monthly but didn't make a single payment. Now i'm having to go through small claims again to send bailiffs, the letter alone took 3 months to send and it could take another 2 months for bailiffs to do anything. It's such a tedious task :-(

It’s definitely not a quick fix for sure. The whole court system itself is in crisis with cases taking months / years.

I hope you manage to get the money!

Thank you......... I really hope we get it back too, It's such a shame there are such awful people around who will happily steal your hard earned money

No I paid via bank transfer. I have an invoice and a receipt.

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through something similar. It's awful. I hope you get your money back. I don't know how people sleep at night who do things like this. It's been such a stressful process already and I'm no closer to getting my money back.