Dodgy Plumber Legal Action

[SrirachaHotSauce]

Plumber undertook to do some work for us. Asked for half the money up front for parts and has fobbed us off for weeks and now is not responding to calls or messages. Last communication was that he couldn't do the work any more and would wire the £600 back to us. Cock and bull story about payment pending but it has never arrived and he will not respond. Sick of it and now want to escalate. Is the best thing to do to pursue him through the Small Claims Court? He does have a Companies House registered business LTD status.Any advice much appreciated.

You need to figure out whether you are taking action against him or his business. If you are unsure, you could sue both. You then need to send a letter before action setting out the facts, saying how much you want from him and how you have calculated that figure, listing any documents you will rely on, asking him for copies of any documents you want from him, giving him a deadline to respond (28 days is normal) and stating that, if he does not provide a satisfactory response by the deadline you anticipate taking legal action without further notice. Once the deadline has gone, you can then start legal action. This will be a small claim.

Thank you very much. Very helpful.

Whether you paid the money in to his company's bank account or his personal account will go most of the way to determining who you sue, but as advised better to sue both.

@Collaborate thank you. We paid the money into his business account. Is it possible to sue him personally as well when that is a limited company? Would that involve two sets of court fees?

You can name them both as defendants. From what you say, it is likely that the action against the company will succeed, but best to name them both. It won't cost you anything extra.

You can also report to Trading standards as he has scammed you- taken money and failed to provide services

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

It won't get your refund, you have to take him to small claims court for that

Don't forget to add charges for court fees, stationary, etc to the costs in claim, after you've done Letter before action and got to the taking to to court part