Cheshire West and Chester Council
November 16, 2023
Council Trading Standards officers warn of cowboy builders using social media platform
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s trading standards officers have seen an increase in cowboy builders using on-line methods to target their victims.
Rogue builders use a range of tactics to trick homeowners into using them. The latest methods include fake online reviews and quickly responding to any requests posted by homeowners asking for traders on local social media groups.
The use of an online messaging app or social media platform as the only method of contacting a trader is a real red flag. Many rogue tradespeople rely on being able to disappear after securing large sums of money from their victims, who then have no way of tracing them.
It can be incredibly dangerous to allow an unqualified person, who does not really know what they are doing, to work on your home, particularly structural work and anything involving gas or electricity. Always check your tradesperson is registered.
The Council’s Cabinet Member for Homes, Planning and Safer Communities, Councillor Christine Warner, said:
Traditionally we have warned of rogue traders cold calling on residents by knocking on doors, however they have become increasingly high tech. We hope that by raising awareness of building fraud and the methods used by rogue traders, we will educate consumers, give them the confidence to make the right decisions and make it more difficult for fraudsters to operate. Rogue traders can be very convincing, but their work will be incorrectly priced and shoddy and their actions can have a devastating impact upon the lives of their victims, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable. If you’re looking to have work done then our Trading Standards officers always advise you get recommendations from friends and family, or Trade Associations. Unfortunately, even websites that claim to help you source reputable tradespeople can sometimes include misleading reviews.
Cllr Warner
This article is more than 7 months old
Lack of UK regulations means anyone can set up as a builder – and cowboy traders are thought to cost homeowners £3.5bn a year
Sat 9 Mar 2024 08.00 GMT
The nightmare began with a leaking roof. Andrea Giles* duly sought out a specialist company to repair it. But in the space of a month, Giles, a full-time carer for her disabled husband and two special needs children, had lost almost £13,000 and part of the roof of her home after falling victim to two sets of cowboy builders.
Her plight highlights the lack of protection for householders who are conned or persuaded into paying rogue builders for botched or unnecessary repairs.
Nationally, unscrupulous traders cost homeowners about £3.5bn a year, according to trading standards authorities, and the problem is escalating as demand for home improvements, loft conversions and extensions increases.
In Giles’s home city, trading standards received more than 200 complaints about home improvements in the space of a year, with some householders reporting losses of up to £250,000.
In an unregulated sector, anyone can set up as a builder without scrutiny, and most rogue traders get off scot-free, typically vanishing without a paper trail when rumbled and leaving householders to pick up the bill.
Giles ended up losing out twice over, after seeking a reputable company to fix her leak.
“I initially chose a company which had a very thin online presence, but the job was small and their quote was the most thorough of the three I obtained,” she says. “More fool me! The workmen put up a wobbly scaffolding tower and proceeded to tear chunks off my roof. They then told me the roof was thoroughly rotten, and said they would help me out by replacing it for £10,000.”
Giles was asked to transfer £5,000 there and then but declined. The workmen departed, leaving a large hole in her roof.
Fortunately, she had not yet paid their initial quote and set about finding another firm that would make good the damage.
“We are always being told to ask for recommendations, but none of my family and friends had ever needed a roofer,” she says.
“I was advised to use Checkatrade, so I would know I was dealing with a legitimate and reliable roofer. I ended up choosing a sole trader who had great reviews on Checkatrade. I completely fell for his patter that he felt sorry for me having been scammed, so he was keeping the price as low as he could and offering a 15-year guarantee.”
Since he had, in her opinion, used Checkatrade to give his operation “a veneer of respectability,” Giles says she asked the site if it could consider helping with a discretionary payment, but it told her it was not liable.
“We live on my husband’s disability benefits and my part-time job and can’t afford to pay a third builder. I feel so foolish,” she says.
Checkatrade promises “guaranteed” traders, “rigorous checks” and “recommendations you can rely on”. Its 12-month guarantee pays up to £1,000 if workmanship is found to be substandard, but ultimately it and other similar platforms offering vetted contractors are not liable if a trader fails to deliver. The guarantee doesn’t cover cases where a trader absconds with the deposit or ceases trading.
Giles was told she was eligible for the £1,000. A Checkatrade surveyor then estimated that it would cost £10,000 plus VAT to replace the wrecked roof. Checkatrade initially told her that since the trader was no longer a member, it could not investigate further. It then said that this was an error, and that he was still a member and her complaint was being investigated; it later cancelled the trader’s membership.
However, after Guardian Money got in touch, Checkatrade persuaded the trader to hand back £6,000 of Giles’s £12,900 payment and said it would support her in reclaiming the full repair costs.
It says that when it ends a trader’s membership, it engages with them to find a resolution, and says it has supported Giles since her complaint.
“Her experience with this tradesperson does not reflect the high standard we expect of members,” says a spokesperson. “On the rare occasion that things do go wrong, we leverage our team of customer dispute specialists to support homeowners, often helping them to secure a better outcome than they might outside Checkatrade. This level of support, alongside our 12 checks and ongoing review monitoring, is testament to why Checkatrade remains the best and safest place to find a trade.”
View image in fullscreeAnyone can trade as a builder with or without qualifications. Photograph: Tyler Olson/Shutterstock
* Name has been changed
