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How to Avoid Being Ripped Off by Cowboy Builders, Dodgy Plumbers and Block-Paving Companies
- Published: August 26, 2010 by Umma Queenan Comments (0)
Unless you’ve got money to burn (which most of us don’t), we naturally like to feel we’re getting value for money and not being ripped off or sold short. There’s not much point congratulating yourself on negotiating a great price or deal if you leave yourself open to being ripped off.
With your opportunist doorstep caller, the typical patter is often that they’re working in the area, have got materials left over and conveniently noticed that your roof, drive or brickwork needs work doing. You’ll probably get an instantly low quote, but they’ll want cash payment (upfront), and your only form of con¬tact will often be nothing more than a mobile phone number.
If you want a job done, always contact tradespeople yourself for quotes. There are lots of ways to check a trader’s credentials, so don’t believe what they say just because they’ve got a business card or website. A business card could have totally bogus numbers and addresses, and websites are nothing more than pictures and words on the internet – very easy to set up if you know how.
If you’re asked to pay up before a job’s finished you should be skeptical and ask why. Any decent tradesperson will want to make sure you’re happy before you hand over payment. Another well-known rip-off is the builder (or tradesperson) who comes in for one job and then finds a long list of other problems (usually on the roof or up in the loft where you can’t see them) which ‘really should be fixed’, and of course they’re available and willing to do the job for you at an inflated price.
Watch for the cheap quote that goes up (and up)
You get what looks like a cheap quote for the job, much cheaper than anyone else, so you go for it, but then the price goes up with lots of little extras, like the fact that disposing of all the debris and rubbish wasn’t part of the deal so your friendly trader can take it to the dump, but it’ll cost you.
Or the fact that they now need more materials to do the job, or it’s taking longer than they thought, so you’ve got to pay another two days’ labour. Alternatively, there’s the one where they decide they need to bring along someone else to help them but, yes, you’ve guessed it, you’re the one who’ll pay the bill. This is why it’s really important to ask lots of questions and try to cover every eventuality when you first agree the job.
There’s lots of advice on how to check out tradespeople and garages, compare quotes, protect yourself and avoid being ripped off on small businesses, but it’s also worth saying that there are some really good tradespeople out there and some of them get ripped off by customers who try to avoid paying up or attempt to get something for nothing.
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