I was scammed out of £3400 today and I feel suicidal

[MoSalahsBeard]

Scammy plumber firm ripped me off today to the tune of £3400. They ripped everything out of the bathroom to ‘investigate’ the problem for which they charged me £300 an hour emergency rate when I never said it was an emergency at any point. Was my word against theirs. Turns out they operate under many different company names and after doing digging into the other company names there are tonnes of awful reviews saying they rip you off by saying either they or you classed it as an emergency and charge a fortune. The man wouldn’t leave my house til I paid him, I’m on my own in the house as husband is away on business.

i spent all afternoon bawling my eyes out on the phone to Trading Standards, lawyers, and the company itself. I absolutely lost it. SENSITIVE CONTENT REDACTED BY MNHQ

Called the Samaritans crying saying I feel like killing myself. I’m trying to hold it together for my kid but I feel utterly broken. Ashamed, embarrassed, furious and feeling like I don’t deserve to eat for months until this is paid off. I don’t know how to cope with this. I’m utterly devastated.

They didn’t quote me at all, just came in to ‘look’ and started ripping the bathroom apart.

That's really unacceptable. Honestly you are a victim here . Your Bank will be able to advise. Please just ring them now.

Firstly: don’t be so hard on yourself. These rogue traders are everywhere and this is a lot more common than you think. You needed a job doing and they exploited that. This is on them, not you.

Next: Trading standards can help you with this. They can prosecute. You won’t be the only victim of these shysters.

Thirdly: speak to your card provider asap. Even debit cards have some level of protection. I can’t remember what, but we were once refunded for a carpet when the firm went bust before fitting it.

I’ll reiterate point one though. This is not your fault. It can and will be sorted. 🌺

Get back onto your bank. As poster above suggested, ask to speak to fraud department. Do not take no for an answer. Also get an email address and put your request in an email so that the date and time are recorded. Refer to the fact that you've already telephoned.

Tell them that if they don't put a hold on the payment you will consider that they are participating in the fraud. be forceful.

Op your bank are there to help.
I'd imagine the transaction is pending just now. Call the bank tomorrow, please explain what this has done to your mental health and and any financial difficulty this has put you in.
They will class you as a vulnerable customer, this has absolutely no detriment to yourself, it means they have processes and teams in place to help you, it is their job to help you.
You then ask to speak to the disputes team, explain you were forced to pay under duress, there will be a dispute raised and the bank will do everything from there. They deal with this daily unfortunately so they will know exactly what to do.
All is not lost op, but please call your bank tomorrow.

I've seen post saying speak to the fraud team, this is not fraud, it is a debit/credit card dispute but the bank staff will know this.

Honestly the small claims court is easy to navigate and they are likely to come down on your side. Take photos, gather all the evidence you can, pay a good plumber if necessary to itemise al that is wrong with the work the rogue plumbers did. The more hard evidence the better. You will win at small claims.

Report to police to get a crime number, then go to bank with that crime number.
Dont lose hope, I have been scammed…I know how it feels. I hope you feel better soon x

This isn't your fault OP please be kind to yourself x

Report to police to get a crime number, then go to bank with that crime number

It's not that simple. In cases like these it can be incredibly difficult to show criminality

Get straight onto your bank & explain to them.

They'll be more use than the Police. Situations like this are notoriously difficult for the Police. They'll know fine well he's at but proving it - that's a different matter.

As presumably a regular conman he'll be well versed in what to say. Things like you agreed to the work etc & if he has actually done work that makes it even harder.

Get onto your bank name & shame him all over Social media. Look for fb pages that expose con men and hit the bastard where it hurts.

At the end of the day it is only money & not worth self harming. Money can be replaced - you cant. He's taken your money don't give him anything else.

OP, this is not your fault please believe me. This man was deliberately intimidating you.
You're bound to feel very upset and overwhelmed but you're going to be okay. It might help if you can write things down, help you to get your thoughts in order.

I had read the ops replies, the pending payment will normally have debited the account overnight tonight so when the banks open tomorrow she can call them then and the disputes team will be able to discuss the payment.
Also the payment doesn't have to have debited for vulnerability markers to be added to the customers profile.

This has happened to me several times with tradesmen. It seems to be common practice now.

I've been through similar op. It's such a horrible feeling but you will get through it.
In time it will nothing but a distant memory.

Mine happened a few years back, I'd purchased an expensive item from an unbeknown cowboy company.
They refused to refund me and I took it to a small claims court. It's a bit of a long process and you need a few of their details ( name, address) to send letters to, but in the end they were ordered to refund me.

If you can get it done through the bank though it will probably be the quicker option.

It's really not your fault op.

I was scammed a few years ago by cowboy tradesmen, for a lot of money, and they left my house in a dangerous state. I remember the emotions - that dreadful sinking feeling, anger, guilt, worry, sleepless nights. I later found out they had many similar victims. It was a horrible thing to experience, but the feelings passed, and now I chalk it up as one of those things. This too will pass. Give yourself a break. It can happen to anyone.

I am so sorry OP, please don't beat yourself up, this is not your fault! I would ask your bank to hold the transaction, is that possible, whilst you email this company, CC in your solicitor and maybe agree a nominal amount to cover this?

Something similar happened to my son on a much smaller scale, he had burst pipes in freezing weather. Plumber knocked huge hole in his plaster and turned water off then said he was going to get some copper pipe and got him to sign a piece of paper then never returned. Money was taken out of his bank account but he raised it with the bank (can't remember the terminology) and they got his money back.

Contact police, bank and credit card company ( if that's the card you used )
Deep breaths. No body died. Be kind to yourself. It could have been a lot worse.

£3400 not £34000

I assume they claimed it took longer than one hour, and had other incidental charges added in top.

I don’t think you can expect a full refund on the allegation of a “scam”.

It sounds as though you had extensive work done which took all day and were provided with a costly part. All to a satisfactory standard, and all repairs made good. You were then sent an invoice via e mail on completion.

Your dispute is that you were unaware that you had used a company who attend emergency plumbing jobs and charge accordingly.

If a company offer Emergency call out/ same day service or use wording such as “urgent jobs attended” then you are hiring an emergency trade service.
Any “same day” service is always very costly.

Its not clear what work was done but I’d expect a big plumbing job that took all day and required parts to be costly anyway. Add in the fact that you (inadvertently) used an Emergency plumber then I’m not surprised at the bill.

You may be able to recoup some of the charges via small claims court (fees payable) on the premise that you weren’t made aware the company were charging you for labour at an emergency hourly rate.

I didn’t ask for a same day service. They offered that but I said nah tomorrow is fine.

I’ve done some more digging and found out that the shower pump they charged me a grand for cost them £450 so they outright lied to scam me. Fuming.

In addition to that I had a horrible conversation with the plumber boss who explained to me that they have random fake plumber names that come up on Google and they change them all the time!

Ive opened a dispute with the bank.

Ok fair enough op.
You sound far more level headed today anyway (albeit understandably angry).

The admission from the company boss that they use “fake company names online” is bizarre!?

Unfortunately this is a harsh lesson in not using random trades people advertising on line and getting a quote upfront in writing before work is carried out.
Many people (including me) have been stung by inflated charges for goods and labour. You’re not alone and it’s an easy “trap” to walk into when you’re panicking about needing an essential repair.

I hope you’re feeling a little better today x

I don’t understand op, were you not there when they started ripping the bathroom apart, could you not have stopped them?

also on the part, they can charge as they please, they don’t need to pass on what it cost them, as shitty as that is.