Buildteam - Clapham based company "Side return specialists"

[Daisy123abc]

Hello world. Has anyone else used this company?
I am seeking others who may have had issues similar to the ones we have experienced in order to convince me that it wasn't all just our bad luck.
We are in recovery (and may need therapy) from using Buildteam's services. A truly ghastly experience which has included: delays, empty promises, appalling customer service, hidden costs, serious disinterest in quality, non English speaking workforce, major building errors, staff changes, some dishonesty, absent project management etc.
The list goes on and on.
Given our experience, their shiny website now reads like an imaginative comedy script detailing all the things we didn't get. I have a huge file (think dossier) of documented evidence, including video, which provides examples of how we didn't. Blog, book, TV series and movie to follow. Maybe.
Who are all these happy customers? Why aren't I one of them?
If you are thinking of a side return I am happy to share details so you can make your own mind up but if you want my advice, don't go there.

imip It was better than my Poirot joke

Here's my joke

Do Build Team realise what a hole they have Doug themselves into (allegedly)?

I think for us observers this is all now taking surreal twists and turns and is hard not to joke about. However for the (alleged) victims, this must be all too real. The trauma of having half a home with ongoing botched building work, particularly impacting the kitchen must be immense. Add to that threats of legal actions and now for poor Daisy this sanity testing plagiarism accusation. I could imagine nerves are on edge.

It can't help that people like me keep saying, "allegedly", and "in my opinion" etc. in every post. I hope Daisy and all understand why I am doing this.

Daisy - have you sought the opinion of your lawyer friend? It really sounds to me like someone has committed fraud - i.e. our American friend Doug Bush or whoever was behind the plagiarism report. I do think, at some point, you should consider reporting it. I don't suppose they will ever catch the perpetrator, unless there is a UK front to the operation which can be targeted, but it could at least raise the profile of the practice and help render it ineffective.

www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Think about it. Take advice from real people not us internet posters.

Good luck

Sorry Imip, brain wasn't engaged after Friday night wine

I thought I would update the followers on what I have decided to do about all this.
Today I have contacted the necessary authorities and am in receipt of a crime number. I believe this to be a false accusation of copyright infringement which falls into the category of internet fraud.

This accusation has had a severely detrimental impact on my health and well-being and is a slur on my personal and professional character which I seek to protect and am prepared to defend.

I do not know who or why anyone would do such a thing.

In accordance with advice I have posted on the website in question asking Mr Bush to both remove his claim against me from Google and also his copy of my narrative by the 4th May. This comment is "Pending moderation" so I am also stating this information here as I assume Mr. Bush may have a natural interest in this website.

Could you link this thread to legal???

Buildteam of Clapham, you might want to google 'Pyrrhic victory', for future reference. Then you might want to give some thought to just leaving people who have paid you to do work for them to express their entirely legitimate feelings about your company, and some more thought to the first law of reputational damage since at least Watergate: it's not the original cock-up that does for you, it's always the cover-up . Here's a handy note for your office wall, in case you forget.

Wow what terrible behaviour from BuildTeam. They come out so very badly

Have you had legal advice, Daisy?

Do you have tangible proof that you wrote the post before Mr Bush? It's a weird situation so it won't be surprising if there isn't any, but if you do have anything, it'd be interesting to know what.

it looks like there is an embedded code in this website that stops search engines from indexing it

Minor point but no, that isn't what that robots.txt does. It stops search engines indexing the administrative back end. They can index the site itself. To stop search engines indexing the site the robots.txt file would need to say:

Disallow: /

The success of the allegation hangs primarily on the alleged dating of the posts. I wrote mine in December, DB claims to have written his in September. I do not personally have the ability to technically unpick that, but there will be people that can. The fact is that I can evidence totally everything I stated in the original post with photos, witness testimony, written communications, facebook posts etc. All which fit within the relevant time line as stated in the text. I also invite you to look at the website where this review is posted and examine it closely. I will be interested to know what you think. I have absolutely nothing to hide nor any need to copy another persons review in order to describe my own experience. I love writing! Especially long flowery sentences. This seemingly legitimate method of operating allows judgement to be passed and control taken over ownership of copyright without the opportunity to represent your own case or for there to be any independent full examination of the authenticity of both sides. A decision was just made and now the onus is completely on me to prove otherwise. What has been exposed here is that this is something that could happen to any of us at any time and we are all vulnerable to it. What is there to prevent this happening to say published research material for example, or an ebook? Whoever really wrote the material first is innocent, the consideration is what another party would stand to gain by passing copied material off as their own.

Daisy have you asked Google to investigate your claim?

Wow. They really are digging themselves a massive hole. I don't really understand all the technicalities here, but a small company to go to such lengths looks dodgy.

Word of mouth travels very fast.

I agree with everything written on here - It is less damning that they are allegedly not very good at building extensions and allegedly not great at customer service, than such heavy handed efforts to silence any one who complains about the service they have (allegedly) received.

I think I should add another - allegedly - for good measure.

I really hope that this post doesnt die and that people are aware precisely who they are dealing with.

I really hope that this post doesnt die and that people are aware precisely who they are dealing with.

Yes, exactly. Any updates, OP?

Not yet FRC, but I am very grateful for the considerable public interest in this thread and the support shown to me by this community.

Anyone noticed how our favourite DIY Tips and Tricks site with a name sounding more appropriate for Malaysian Homestays has not had any new articles since 18th April. www.gotohomestay.com/

If a malign organisation behind the site or at least certain articles on it, happens to be reading this post - you really should have thrown more good money after bad and paid them to keep maintaining the site until we all lost interest. Right now the dates of the last updates look suspiciously like someone someone gave up on the site about the time the complaint about the Buildteam review was raised with Google. This doesn't help the site look genuine, mind you neither does the site itself so.......

I must have spoken to soon, as there is now an article on ceiling fans dated the 9th May.

Incidentally, if anyone thinks this alleged abuse of DMCA notices sounds far fetched, well a quick internet search reveals it happens.

A big issue for self publishers apparently the-active-voice.com/2015/03/01/nolander-blocked-at-amazon-and-smashwords/

A similar story of content appearing in the Indian Sub continent
retractionwatch.com/2013/02/05/wordpress-removes-anil-potti-posts-from-retraction-watch-in-error-after-false-dmca-copyright-claim/
retractionwatch.com/2014/03/14/fight-against-false-copyright-claims-goes-to-capitol-hill/

I'm not going to post them, because I don't want to give ideas to malign forces, but there are a couple of easy ways you could get something on a website you own with a false date.

For the record, I have no reason to believe the ceiling fan article was not posted on the 9th May, it just wasn't there at the point on the 9th May I checked.

This article is about the use of reputation management companies to remove negative reviews using DMCA take downs. www.techdirt.com/articles/20160424/16230834264/reputation-management-revolution-fake-news-sites-even-faker-dmca-notices.shtml
All sounds very familiar.

Am loving your posts! Hope the world is watching!

I was up last night with the little one ( and yes my nipples are still sore) and did a little digging.

So Daisy, changing the subject from internet fraud, I was wondering which company your contract was with. I quick search reveals a number of Build Team companies, some of the early ones are no longer with us.

The following is from companies house - I may have mistranscribed things so please check the links rather than place any reliance on my notes.

Build Team London Ltd
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06601658
Incorporated: 23 May 2008
Dissolved: 10 May 2011
Owners: Bruton Street Partners Ltd beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06278230 which was owned 33.3% Dan Davidson 33.3% Ben Davidson 33.3% a third party
Nature of business : 4545 - Other building completion

Build Team (Holdings) Ltd
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07384749
Incorporated: 22 September 2010
Dissolved: 4 September 2012
Owners: Dan Davidson
Nature of business : 4521 - General construction & civil engineer

Build Team Holborn Ltd
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07249621
Incorporated: 11 May 2010
Dissolved: ACTIVE
Owners: 80 % Dan Davidson 20% Mark Eden
Nature of business : 41202 - Construction of domestic buildings

Build Team (Holdings) Ltd
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09352041
Incorporated: 12 December 2014
Dissolved: ACTIVE
Owners: 40% Dan Davidson 40%Sarah Davidson 20%Mark Eden
Nature of business: 64209 - Activities of other holding companies not elsewhere classified

i.e. this is just part of the corporate structure not the trading company.

Build Team Clapham Ltd
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10038144
Incorporated: 2 March 2016
Dissolved: ACTIVE
Owners: Build Team (Holdings) Ltd – see above
Nature of business : To be provided next annual return

The build team website www.buildteam.com/ names the holdings company

Our story www.buildteam.com/about-us/our-story-page.html says they were set up in 2007
The 10 year guarantee refers to the Holborn company www.buildteam.com/about-us/guarantees-and-insurance-page.html ( set up in 2010) which is the only build team company registered with the Federation of Master Builders.

The news section implies continuous business back to 2008 www.buildteam.com/news.php?p=12

This all could be completely innocent, but I do wonder what the implications on warranty are if the company keeps changing.

I have to say the Holborn company's accounts don't look too healthy IMO. I know it is common to be creative to minimise profit and tax, but they don't have enough cash in the bank to cover their debts due in a year and are relying on their tangible assets to show a positive net balance of 1.5K. The new Clapham company started on March – it would be interesting to know if new work was going via them.

it really depends on the wording of the warranty, but it is usual practice to limit the recourse of the person relying on the warranty as much as reasonably possible - so only one company in a holding structure would enter into the warranty with a customer.

because of privity of contract - the warranty can only be pursued against the company that signed the contract, not other entities or ultimate beneficial owners. therefore a warranty is only good if the company that offers the warranty can stump up the cash. if a company is in financial difficulty, a warranty would be worthless.

there are limited instances where a court would "pierce the corporate veil" and allow recourse against an owner. such circumstances would be deliberate and concerted efforts to conceal assets and to escape legal obligations.

For construction works I wouldn't want a company guarantee at all, I'd want an independent one.

excellent work sorenipples

Wow what an interesting thread.

I'm sorry that so many people have allegedly had a terrible time at the hands of Build Team, the side return specialists.

Daisy the copyright claim is astounding, I hope that this isn't causing you too much ongoing stress.

In my opinion It's truely horrible to live with incompetent building and to try and fix the aftermath.

My partners family had a big reno project that was done by total cow boy builders (despite being project manager by the architect, who turned out to be a total shit) poor project management, things not to building regs, cheaper materials, not done to plan etc. It was a terrible time for them.

The community on 'NappyValley'.net also remains supportive also even if the original, detailed thread about BuildTeam has been taken down. Locals like me are sure to use the powerful tool of word of mouth too wherever we go. Daisy, would it be impertinent to ask you what you want to achieve from this thread? In other words if Buildteam offered you a solution to the mess that is your house (say a large sum of money to pay for another builder to redo), and an apology (for what it would be worth) would you take it? Has the time come to negotiate? I just wonder about you and your life, is this campaign/ crusade getting you the recourse you personally need? Have Buildteam approached you with an offer? I certainly would think no less of you if you decided to take a 'solution' even if it meant dropping your entirely legitimate campaign.