Checkatrade - roofing issues

[Radiatorvalves]

I’d welcome peoples thoughts on this. The AIBU bit is that after spending over £3k on a significant (but limited to one place in one bedroom) leak, my elderly father should expect to have the leak fixed.

The tradesman is Checkatrade registered. Has been round on 3 occasions, hasn’t fixed the problem, but told Dad that owing to the design of the roof (old) there were lots of other problems that needed fixing.
He has not provided any written estimates or invoices and all I can find are some fairly meaningless videos and photos of the roof which are unhelpful without context.

On his last visit he said that the leak was probably partly the neighbour’s responsibility (it’s semi detached but I cannot see how that could possibly be the case) and he could split the bill with the neighbour It may be me being too cynical but I think he’s seen an old lady who may be as gullible as my dad.

i called him this morning and asked for copies of paperwork (he said he’d given it to my dad which I’m 100% sure hasn’t happened). He got very rude and defensive and repeatedly said I was calling him a lier (I said dad hadn’t been given paperwork, he said he’d provided it). I also said this was about one leak (house is in good repair and there are no issues with leaks or discoloration other than in this one place) he countered the roof was ancient and he’d fixed loads of leaks. He also said he would meet face to face with me and bring the police as I’d called him a lier.

Anyway, I’m going to get some others to review and provide estimates to fix the problem. But assuming they confirm his actions have been inappropriate and ineffective, my inclination is to report him. I think I’m also perfectly entitled to ask for copies of paperwork. Surely any sensible business would have copies of invoices etc?

I suspect dad has lost his money, but keen to ensure no one else suffers. To be clear my purpose of the call was purely to ask for copies of the paperwork (Mainly so I can brief people as to what has happened). Odd that he suggested the police.

i welcome your thoughts!

We're just moving this to Elderly Parents at OP's request.

Checkatrade isn’t worth it.

We had elderly neighbours taken in like
this. The roofers tried to get us to do work as well, and were creepy, waiting until my DH was out before asking me about it, even though we’d already said no. The neighbours got some very dubious looking work done, with a distinct lack of health and safety. I don’t know what they paid, but the roofers came back several times to do extra bits. We tried earning the neighbours’ son as we were worried but I don’t know if anything came of it.

Checkatrade means nothing...well, it means the 'trade' has paid some money to Checkatrade to be listed on their website.

Thanks all. Depressing state of affairs. I’m going to try and highlight to Trading Standards. Any other thoughts most welcome.

I asked a few seemingly legitimate roofers on Checkatrade for quotes, the only ones that replied to me were not the actual roofers who had been reviewed, one came to do a quote who was a subcontractor from miles away.
Checkatrade is not the same as being registered to a Guild or something and again even Guild registers trades people seem to subcontract.
So you might get the legit person do a quote then never see them again and some random people turn up (often migrant workers with little English) to do the job.
I would only ever trust people recommended by people I know and trust that have actually used them.
On local FB groups you often see people being recommended but really you don’t know the person recommending or if they are just a mate or relative so I don’t trust them either.
Sadly you have to be wary of everyone.

I think you are probably going to have to cut your losses and find someone else to fix the problem, preferably someone you can get a personal recommendation for. The trade reference sites are useless, and with these cowboy small traders there is very little you can do to get your money back or force them to do the job properly.

The guy who ripped my vulnerable elderly parents off for £50k+ for a substandard roofing job, that has cost thousands to fix and knocked a huge amount off the value of their house, was a fully accredited member of the Federation of Master Builders with a limited company. I took legal advice but they said that if I sued him, he would probably just dissolve the company, so paying lawyers would be throwing even more money away.

That’s appalling. So sorry to hear about your parents. I think I’m lucky my dad’s sum is a fraction of that. To be fair to Checkatrade they seemed to take the issue seriously, BUT dad is scared the guy might come round and threaten him. So they can’t yet investigate it further. He has capacity and they need his consent.