Scum bags!

[simonm]

I would like to share a very recent bad experience we have had involving some traveling scum!!! Got a phone call a few weeks ago to look at some tree work, yes no problem I said what's your address? Oh erm it's...do u know where the layby is down so & so road...yes I do...meet me there! I thought it seemed strange but when I got there the house was down a single track road off this layby, I just thought he asked to meet there because it was easier to find. Meets this lad mid 20s tells me what he wants doing, I voiced my concerns and eventually come up with a solution. He told me it was his house and he wasn't living there as it had been flooded, he even walked around the outside of the house and pointed through the windows to show me the water damage. Gave my price and left it with him. A week later he rings up, can you do the job? Yes no problem, gave a date and time he agreed. Turned up rang just to confirm the work, he text me back and said yes crack on! I had quoted to crown lift these confers for vehicle access to 10', 3 hours in he text me saying do u mean they will be 10' tall when your finished? No...as agreed they are to be crown lifted on 1 side for access. rang him and said we had nearly done as his wife was to come and pay us, oh erm I don finish work while 8 u will have to collect payment then! 7 days later he had bloked my number & wouldn't answer calls / texts! Someone finally rang today claiming to be the property owner and we had ruined his trees but he would only pay me if I returned and reduced the height for another £100!!! 2 days work extra! Turns out the lad I spoke who claimed to live there had flyerd the real customer, real customer rang him got him to quote, he rang me knowing the house wasn't lived in, got me to quote him pretending house was his, we did the work discussed that unbeknown to me the real house owner had not agreed to, the scum bag then got his friend to contact me pretending to be the property owner wanting me to put the work right so I assume they can get paid then disappear while doing nothing, and letting us do all the work!!! All an elaborate scam to make money off of us an honest firm! I cannot believe the lengths people go to especially the traveling scum to extract money out of unsuspecting people. Don't trust anyone, always question their actions if your unsure! Luckily it was a piss easy job and only cost me £110 in costs! Could have been a lot worse

[Mountain man]

I would say your spidey sense should have been telling you something early on.

[s.varty]

That's ingenious really , you have to admit. Total scum all the same.

[simonm]

I agree there was stuff I questioned but once on site it all made sense, house hard to find so meet in layby right outside the property, house is flooded hence why nobody is in, he even had the nerve to walk me around the house, saying they had had it 2 years before it flooded etc, very convincing. It's not until the fake property owner rang me did it become clear what was going on.

[Stubby]

Makes you want kill them. Bloody shytsters

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 7, 2014 by David Humphries
Language

[IVECOKID]

Sounds very familiar,i had a phone call from a disgruntled bloke ranting when are you finishing job off and removing brash ,i said "what job and what brash " turned out he used my number off van and told the bloke that i would come and clean up .......i never met either of them and they got paid for making a mess .

 

 

Ste

 

 

Ste

[Little Steven]

Good job there isn't/wasn't any prohibition on them..... or may be there is!

[Michael C]

I agree there was stuff I questioned but once on site it all made sense, house hard to find so meet in layby right outside the property, house is flooded hence why nobody is in, he even had the nerve to walk me around the house, saying they had had it 2 years before it flooded etc, very convincing. It's not until the fake property owner rang me did it become clear what was going on.

 

But if they were 'Travelling scum' why did you even think about doing the job

[simonm]

Because the person i originally met was just a front man, he sounded as Yorkshire as me! The bloke who rang a week later was clearly Irish! He even claimed another company had said they would put it right for 100quid! Utter rubbish as the other firm was run by a m8 of mine who had never seen the job. You live and learn, sure everyone has been stung at some point, just hope others will also learn from this too.

[Mountain man]

I have been, different circumstances. Too boring to go into.

With hindsight I was desperate for work and ignored my inner voice.

Like you I only lost costs for two days.

Rite of passage.