we hired a builder (on word of mouth) to refit our bathroom. after about a month of work he said he was finished, but the work was of a very poor standard and some bits had not been done. we had paid him half the money but said we would not pay him the rest until the shoddyness was fixed (wonky tiling, a hole in the sink cabinet where he mis-drilled, grouting splodged all over the place, the shower not working properly) and the missing work was done (flooring, light, towel rail and some other bits). He denied there was a problem. A very good friend of ours is a builder who came round and agreed with us and told the builder so.
after a few fraught phone calls we put everything in writing, giving him an opportunity to complete the work, which he didn't do, not agreeing there was a problem. there were a couple of to and fro letters in which he completely denied any problems with his work. we then were advised by consumer direct to get an independent report from a trustmarked firm, which we did, at our own expense. agreed with us and also found that the bathroom was not bonded to earth (?) so didn't meet electrical standards. we sent the builder the report and he wrote back disagreeing with it. we also got 2 quotes for remedial work which would cost us a lot more than the remaining money. he has seen these and disputed them.
this was all 9 months ago. about 4 months ago he rang the woman who originally recommended him to us and told her that my husband has been to prison (not true). about a month ago he rang the company that did the independent report demanding lots of information about them (because he thinks they're made up or are in cahoots with our builder friend to get his money). today he turned up at the house of our builder friend's parents demanding information about him and saying he was going to 'sort this out himself'. Our friend has called the police as he considers this harassment. the builder thinks we planned the whole thing all along and that it's all a big fix up. it's not, we would have paid him but our bathroom is AWFUL, and we'd already given him a substantial amount of money anyway.
He has not taken us to court yet. Please will someone just tell me that if he does they won't find in his favour? I'm so worried and anxious. We will hire a lawyer if he takes us, but not otherwise.