Telling the truth about a trader when people recommend them on Facebook

[Greatrainplane]

Hi All,

I wondered if anyone knew where we stood with this and if we’re opening ourselves up to legal action?

we employed a plasterer 2 years ago to do a small job that we were told would take 3 weeks. He took a deposit (apparently to buy materials), removed all the plaster and then disappeared for over a month. He occasionally let himself in to our house at night and removed the materials the deposit had paid for until there were no materials left and he wanted more money. We tried to be reasonable, we tried to manage him, gave him extended deadlines but we were left living in rubble with small children, Christmas was ruined and the impact was awful. He also damaged 2 sofas, a carpet had to be thrown away and he damaged a solid wood floor and several pieces of furniture. He visited the house every few days to demand more money.

4 months in he then sued us in small claims for more than the value of the original quotation. We counter- claimed and 9 months of stress followed involving solicitors, collecting evidence and then courts.

We won very easily and the judge was very unhappy with him and gave him a real dressing down. He admitted in court he had no idea how to do the job, no plan to finish our job and just planned to take more money off us. He was told to pay £5k to us but he declared himself bankrupt so we haven’t had a penny.

He’s still working in the area and we know he’s moved in with an elderly lady where he lives for free on the basis he’ll do small plastering jobs for her.

I’ve seen people on the local FB page ask for plasterer recommendations and his name comes up repeatedly. We know we’re not the first customers to have issues with either the quality of his work and/or him trying to extract money from them he wasn’t entitled to.

Where these people have mutual friends with me I’ve direct messaged them to tell them what happened and recommend someone else we know is good.

I suppose I’m just very angry that he’s still out there putting himself in a position where he could potentially do to someone else what he did to us. My partner also overheard him in a pub a few weeks ago telling someone what an amazing plasterer he is.

Would a response on one of this FB recommendation requests outlying what happened be OK legally or is this libel etc?

I was about to tell you to NAME AND SHAME HIM EVERYWHERE but then I read your question about legality 🤭

Well done for counter claiming against him, he was banking on you being intimidated by him. Pond life that he is

Please call the police and your council safeguarding for the elderly

They will step in

He will fleece her for everything including her house probably

Don't name and shame yet till you have helped this poor old lady

Please help her she's clearly vulnerable and might be living a complete nightmare due to this man

Forgot to mention the old lady. Agree with pps, poor thing needs protecting and if you could approach the police, it might help stop him taking everything from her 🥺

I'm not sure it could be libel if you factually state what happened and the court case result - that's not a false statement you're making, it's your experience and the outcome of a court case.

I mean I know it is not really the point of the post, but it doesn't really sound like you employed him for a "small job" if it was going to take that long and he caused that much damage in prepping the place.

@GasPanic 20m2 of lime plastering. In case you haven’t used lime, you put a coat on and leave it for a period until it’s just right and then add another until you have 3-4 layers. There’s a lot of down time but 3 weeks should have been enough for that area of plastering.

It's not libel because it's true and you have the court records to prove it

But he sounds like an unsavoury character and he knows where you live so I'd advice caution about openly calling him out

And, as others have said, contact the council adult safeguarding team as there is significant concern over his living arrangements

You can always direct message the FB person asking, just put a message on the post to say 'I will DM'
If you reference in your message the date and court case number, the person you are messaging can always look it up themselves to verify.

I’m sure that legally you’d be fine, but I wouldn’t put my name back out there in connection with him - things could quickly turn very nasty.

If you’re concerned about the elderly lady he’s moved in with, contact the police and/or adult social services.

Good luck! x

This. It's not libel if it's true.

I think if you phrase it along the lines of "I used this plasterer and the work did not get completed and we ended up in the small claims court where we won. Please DM for more details" then that would be sufficient to warn folks and is not libellous

It also annoys me when I see people recommending a guy we had to replace our gutters, DH virtually had to tell him what to buy and what to do, he never finished the job, DH did, left his ladders here for over a month, excuse after excuse, over 50 texts for a 2 day job and I see people on local Facebook groups saying what great work he does, personally I think they are relatives, I know one is his partner. I would direct message if they were friends, I wouldn’t say don’t use this person, but I say be prepared for a long drawn out job with someone who isn’t very knowledgeable or reliable.

Dh is a plasterer and had to go on a specialised course (which he paid for) to be able to do lime plastering properly. Sounds like this bloke was just winging it, and may be an okayish plasterer for nothing specialised. However he doesn't sound trustworthy and that is so important if you are having tradespeople in your home. I think you are able to say that you didn't find his work satisfactory but I agree with PP 's about his current living arrangements very suspect!

Why would it matter? Slander is only a thing if the claims you are making are untrue. You won in court, but didn't get a penny from him. Sing like canary! Tell everyone you can about him, nothing worse than getting ripped off by a cowboy. You have all the facts and evidence to back it up. No one can touch you.

I'd message the people who run the fb page and warn them. They may block him off the page and delete post recommending him.

I’ve had a similar experience, took two days for my husband to fill in walls after a plastering job, it’s disappointing to say the least. I wouldn’t put anything on FB as he knows where you live.

I was scammed by a guttering guy. Luckily got my money back from the bank (I'd paid for materials via bank transfer... I didn't think the bank would do anything, but they were amazing. Just mentioning it in case it's useful for anyone in the future to try).

If I saw him being recommended I'd PM the person I think. Regardless, I don't think it's libel to tell true verifiable facts.

This

He came into your house at night?

Did you tell the police?
Does he still have your keys?

Are Trading Standards aware of this man? Sounds like he needs investigation

Oh please name and shame. I had a decorator fleece my DM and made a mess of her house and we had to pay to have it redone. Every time he or his family recommended him I either private messaged or put photos of the mess he made of my mums house. I also reported him to trading standards, the council and tax people.

Calles Mark by any chance? Very similar story over here

He occasionally let himself in to our house at night and removed the materials the deposit had paid for until there were no materials left and he wanted more money.

WTF?! How could he do this?

If you stick to facts ('this was my experience...') then you will be fine.

I'd name and shame him everywhere. He's scum. Horrible, manipulative, criminal scum.