Checkatrade

[ReganAndCarter]

My brother works for trading standards. Recently I was in his kitchen when the post dropped through the front door onto the mat. He came back into the kitchen and started reading the Checkatrade leaflet that had come with his mail.

In the leaflet there were some examples of local 'tradesmen' available on Checkatrade. As he read through the list he said - "I've prosecuted him.", "He's a ***** (word rhymes with Mikey).", "And this one's dodgy as hell."

So out of a short list of example businesses in their brochure he found three that you wouldn't let within a country mile of your home. Just goes to prove that Checkatrade is not a reliable source of tradesmen. But we always knew that.

 

[ETAF]

But we always knew that.

pretty much, had a few bad experiences with highly recommended people
BUT also had a few recommendations and they have been great , and also discovered they are on check-a-trade.

shame really

 

[Dork Lard]

Checkatrade checks out very well on TrustPilot, so I'm going to go with the flow & would happily risk all of my money on anything they say.

 

[albaPhenom]

I've had a mix, the guy who did a lot of the work in my bathroom was great... more knowledgeable and keener to do things the correct way, using the correct materials than most of the local guys who I found through recommendations and social media.

The joiner guy we got in to do a bunch of second fix joinery like doors, archs, skirtings was absolutely hopeless, took 3 days and was there maybe 3-4 hours each day... didn't give a single poop about quality of finish, never completed filling joints and nail holes, didn't do a single thing to sweeten up a detail e.g. fitting infill pieces or renewing old materials which I asked him to renew.

All in all a crappy job which sticks in my throat to this day so I vowed never to let another person do work like that in my house again... I'd rather spend that money on tools, take twice as long to do it myself and get the finished product I want.

When I look at his reviews it was tons of wifeys crowing about what a nice lad he was and what a great job he did.

 

[Diver Fred]

New neighbours over the road had a 'checkatrade' company in to do some 'repairs' to the flashing on an extension - the F******g prats walked all over the unprotected slate roof breaking how many? It was the sound of slates breaking that first caught my attention. Oh why don't they go and talk to the (long term) locals and ask about local builders. Can see the neighbours will be having someone repair/replace the roof before the year is out.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

New neighbours over the road had a 'checkatrade' company in to do some 'repairs' to the flashing on an extension - the F******g prats walked all over the unprotected slate roof breaking how many? It was the sound of slates breaking that first caught my attention. Oh why don't they go and talk to the (long term) locals and ask about local builders. Can see the neighbours will be having someone repair/replace the roof before the year is out.

Members of the oppressed travelling minority community specialise in three trades in these 'ere parts - tree butchery, driveways and roofing. Maybe it was one of these 'artisans'.

 

[The Samaritan]

Thanks

Members of the oppressed travelling minority community specialise in three trades in these 'ere parts - tree butchery, driveways and roofing. Maybe it was one of these 'artisans'.

You hit the nail on the head.

Re drives, even a clon can do you a new drive that looks fantastic for a day/week month, its the aftermath.
A couple of years ago we had a drive done had the old one taken out. The feedback was good, A1 in fact.
I got 5 quotes I think, 2 just looked and gave me a price. I asked questions about exactly how deep, how long it will take
what exact sub-bases bricks etc to be used and drainage. Chose one, heseemed to know what it was doing.
We were all WFH and keep an eye on them as that is one trade I dod not trust. They tood out the concrete in from of the garages and took the trees out and soild befor and hard it removed but kept some conrete back an said loory was full.

edited as gave too many details

Roofers, I wuold never use certain types of roofers even if they offered to do it for free

 

[transam]

On a different note

there are instances were I regret being recommended by some customers

jeez us some of the dip sticks we have worked for u wonder how they got hold of you in the first place than you find out you were recommended by some one they know that you worked for

 

[opps]

My other half decided to go down the MyBuilder path.

T Smith of Harefield came a long, did some small jobs (reasonably). She then told him him that she was planning to redo our downstairs bathroom. He convinced her that he was the man for the job (claiming that tiling is his forte). Took £2800 as a deposit to purchase the tiles and fittings. In the meantime she recommended him to my stepson who wanted to retile his bathroom.

I got a phone call from my stepson, asking me to unblock the pipes in his bathroom. Toby had "nearly" finished the job but gone on holiday.

The tiling was shockingly bad. The pipes were blocked with residue from him washing his tools/sponges/etc in the bath.

At this point alarm bells in my GF's head started ringing. She contacted Toby via Whatsapp. He assured her that he had ordered everything from one company and that he would turn up once it was delivered to our house. She rang the company in question. No such order had been placed.

In panic, she grabbed the tools that Toby had left at her son's and brought them back to our place. She rang the old bill to ask if ransoming the tools was illegal. They told her that they would be unlikely to do anything about it.

At this point I was still in the dark about the large deposit. She asked me to calculate a resale/replacement value for the tools. The only single tool that when new would have been more than £40 was a Hilti cordless (which had a scratched off serial number). The total value of the other tools was less than £400.

She tried to initiate a chargeback via her bank. When he found out he threatened her. She lost her bottle and asked me to return the tools to his brother (as per his instructions).

I did some research, discovered that he is listed at living at his parent's house. His mum's Facebook account is littered with likes for horse drawn caravans and brags that she can fake brand logos to be sewn in to clothing. I then discovered that he has a numerous unfulfilled CCJs (presumably from customers that he ripped off).

And then I found a site dedicated to him.

https://homeowneruk.wordpress.com/tag/toby-smith/

He has been banned from MyBuilder on numerous occasions but just opens new profiles. I have no idea if he has ever listed on Checkatrade but (IMO) those sites don't really give a toss about customers being ripped off so long as they get their slice.

 

[fillyboy]

My other half decided to go down the MyBuilder path.

T Smith of Harefield came a long, did some small jobs (reasonably). She then told him him that she was planning to redo our downstairs bathroom. He convinced her that he was the man for the job (claiming that tiling is his forte). Took £2800 as a deposit to purchase the tiles and fittings. In the meantime she recommended him to my stepson who wanted to retile his bathroom.

I got a phone call from my stepson, asking me to unblock the pipes in his bathroom. Toby had "nearly" finished the job but gone on holiday.

The tiling was shockingly bad. The pipes were blocked with residue from him washing his tools/sponges/etc in the bath.

At this point alarm bells in my GF's head started ringing. She contacted Toby via Whatsapp. He assured her that he had ordered everything from one company and that he would turn up once it was delivered to our house. She rang the company in question. No such order had been placed.

In panic, she grabbed the tools that Toby had left at her son's and brought them back to our place. She rang the old bill to ask if ransoming the tools was illegal. They told her that they would be unlikely to do anything about it.

At this point I was still in the dark about the large deposit. She asked me to calculate a resale/replacement value for the tools. The only single tool that when new would have been more than £40 was a Hilti cordless (which had a scratched off serial number). The total value of the other tools was less than £400.

She tried to initiate a chargeback via her bank. When he found out he threatened her. She lost her bottle and asked me to return the tools to his brother (as per his instructions).

I did some research, discovered that he is listed at living at his parent's house. His mum's Facebook account is littered with likes for horse drawn caravans and brags that she can fake brand logos to be sewn in to clothing. I then discovered that he has a numerous unfulfilled CCJs (presumably from customers that he ripped off).

And then I found a site dedicated to him.

https://homeowneruk.wordpress.com/tag/toby-smith/

He has been banned from MyBuilder on numerous occasions but just opens new profiles. I have no idea if he has ever listed on Checkatrade but (IMO) those sites don't really give a toss about customers being ripped off so long as they get their slice.

Wow.

 

[The Samaritan]

We never pay up front, never.

When we had the roof redone, I always ask about us paying at the end but rightly so they need money for the roof tiles etc etc, well some of them do.
We agreed I would pay the builders merchant a well-establised place direct - I rang up and told them that xx was doing the job at our place and paid via credit card. then we paid the bloke when he finnished the job as per agreed time.
I always ask who is doing the job as i've seen people take on someone that looks as though they can do the job but send in a donkey.
Thanks

 

[transam]

The other side of the coin is the dodgy customer out to scam a trade person

 

[Notch7]

The other side of the coin is the dodgy customer out to scam a trade person

watch out for those customers that want a break down of the quote