My mum lives in a ground floor flat. Her upstairs neighbour has had a problem with a leaking ceiling and consequently they've had a couple of people to come and look at the roof.
The two quotes were hugely divergent and (without much contemplation it seems!) they decided to go with the lower quote.
Work has recently begun and the estimated cost has sky rocketed by around 20K. All kinds of alarm bells are ringing, and another roofer - a friend of a friend with no vested interest in misleading anyone - has had a look at the roof and is of the opinion that the original roofer is vastly exaggerating the amount of work which needs to be done. I've contacted Trading Standards who have opened an investigation (implying they too consider something to be amiss). Meanwhile, despite having signed a contract with a cooling off period, and which states "payment on completion" my mum's neighbour has already parted with her half of the cash and so is insisting they stick with the original guy, refusing to entertain the possibility that he's potentially scamming the pair of them.
If anyone could clarify what the legal position is in this situation it would be immensely helpful.