I occasionally read about elderly people who are scammed by rogue traders but
always thought that could never happen to me.
But I think it has.
It began when I noticed that a neighbour was having his 18 year old block drive
steam cleaned. I jet wash mine annually so it is much cleaner than his which has
been jet washed only once - by me! - but it was coming up impressively clean.
The contractor asked if I wanted mine done but I said no because I am equipped
to do it myself and as soon as the weather improves I will. However I did ask
about an area which has migrated sideways where 18 years of cars on full lock
have pushed the blocks apart. (The border with the lawn, top right of the Google Earth image
alongside.)
The problem has been getting rapidly worse with a gap in the region of an inch in places. The area involved was rather less
than four feet square but it needed attention. When I was a bit younger I would not have hesitated to do it myself.
I was a bit concerned that the contractor’s van, whilst festooned with claims
of their professionalism etc. did not display a landline phone number. I used
to make it a rule that I would not do business with anyone who relied solely on a mobile
phone but decided I was perhaps a little out of date.
The contractor said he could rip the blocks up and install a concrete buttress where the
drive faces the lawn, see Google Earth again, but before doing so he would like to seal the
brick surface with some special liquid to prevent lichen growing on the surface.
“How long will that take?” Maybe a day for the sealing and cleaning but the block repair was
a more specialised job and required up to four men who knew what they were doing.
There is also a small area by the yellow bush which has dropped a small amount relative to the grey border
bricks and it causes puddling. They said that such a minor drop was best fixed by injecting an
expanding compound under the bricks rather than pulling them up.
They named their price for the block repair which I didn’t think was too bad for
two days and a four man job, a load of concrete to retain the replaced blocks and a deep
clean beyond the capabilities of my Karcher. The clean to include the path
alongside the fence (barely visible top left) and the narrow path leading to the wheelie bins.
Before leaving they threw a bucket of soapy liquid over about a quarter of the
front drive which I assumed was left over sealant from the neighbour’s job. But
before the cleaning? What was that all about?
Next day two men showed up around 10 a.m. One stood by while the other
pulled up blocks. I didn’t count them but I would guess 25 at most and they were
back down inside 30 or 40 minutes. It was an OK sort of job, the bricks were not
perfectly aligned but the big gaps were gone and the promised concrete buttress
would keep them in place. How a company that was, according to my neighbour,
Check-a-Trade registered could get their time estimate so wrong was a bit of a
mystery but the job was done and it had saved my back and knees from more wear and tear.
They then jet washed the front drive using my water - contrary to earlier
assurances - but with no sign of the steam cleaner being brought into use. The
result was as if I had used the Karcher. Exactly the same so somewhat
disappointing. But they were much quicker than I would have been.
“What about the dropped area by the yellow bush?” We don’t want to lift blocks
near a manhole cover but the expanding compound will ease them up enough.
They then turned their attention to replacing the inter-brick sand which after
18 years is mainly washed away. “How much?” We recommend a fast setting resin
which will permanently seal the blocks so that they will never ever move again
and the weed problem will be entirely eradicated. “How much?” Well it is very
expensive. You will need 42 packs (very precise aren’t they?) and it costs £60 a pack.
“Forget it, I am not paying £3,000 to prevent a few weeds.”
Well as bona-fide traders we can get it much cheaper than that and we haggled a very much lower
price. Off they went to get it and were away for under an hour.
This is where I took my eye off the ball They said they bought it at a local
supplier but my guess is that they went home and got a few packs from their own
store. There is no way that 42 packs would fit into their van and it wouldn’t be
up to carrying almost half a tonne extra when it already contained a huge water
tank. Possibly they came back with half a dozen packs not 42.
Checking suppliers later I didn’t find anyone who had any stock. Maybe someone had been around to buy it all. Like 42 packs of the stuff!
I read the instructions that came with one pack.
It said each one was good for 20 square metres. 42 packs at 20 square metres
each is enough to cover my entire plot nearly three times over. I really should
have done that calculation earlier and get myself a dementia test before too long.
The minimum gap that can be filled was stated to be 5mm and my block gaps are barely 2mm. I queried that
because the manufacturer said the resin had to be compressed into the gaps but I
was told it didn’t matter. The datasheet also said the resin goes off very quickly once the pack
is opened and there is a quite short Use by Date (use after manufacture that
is) beyond which it won’t harden. A review of the product I found later said it
should not be used under 15 degrees Centigrade and it was only 8.
This may explain why four days later it has still not set and probably never
will. I rather hope it doesn’t because the entire surface is smeared with the
stuff. The contractor uses the Check-a-Trade blue tick but
Check-a-Trade standard they definitely are not.
Let’s round this off as quickly as possible…
Two front paths were entirely missed and no resin was applied to
a third of the back
patio presumably because their meagre supply ran out. There was no attempt to
lift the sunken blocks by the yellow bush and there is no concrete buttress.
Instead we have a one inch square section of resin which has not set four
days after being laid and can be dug out with a finger.
I didn’t notice all the unfinished bits at first because I was told I shouldn’t be walking
on it until everything had set. I’m still waiting for that.
I had already told these people that I wouldn’t be able to pay them immediately
and they were OK with that but when it came to them leaving without payment one of the
two got quite stroppy saying he had a mortgage to pay etc. This
may explain why he was demanding payment to his personal account bypassing the
company. It’s enough to bring the words Tax and Evasion to mind. Or ditto and VAT. What do you think?
The alarm bells rang more loudly when he said I was to get in the van to be
taken to my bank. I didn’t fall for that one, the standard trick of the scamming
fraternity and banks still open illustrates just how quickly they had finished what was said to be a two day job.
Hang around if you will, this gets better.
Being a fair minded sort of bloke I made a bank transfer for the block
repair plus a little bit extra for the small amount of resin used. I rather regret
that now but I didn’t realise at the time that the resin was applied by
self-proclaimed professionals who had used it totally outside the
manufacturer’s recommendations and published datasheet. It’s going to be useless.
So they are now after me for more money and they knocked on my neighbour’s
door, not mine, to ask for my phone number. He gave it to them!
Outrageous and a sacking offence when I was with GPO Telephones.
In the text discussion which followed he revealed what he had paid for
his steam clean and how he had entered into an agreement with the contractor to
get a reduced price which involved deceiving me, presumably so that the shortfall could be laid at my door.
Who needs enemies with neighbours like that?
That to my mind is little short of fraud. You may imagine the sort of reply
I sent and I sincerely hope our paths never cross again.
The unpaid Invoice does not bear any VAT registration number or company
address and neither does the contractor’s website. However the area of operations is centred on Bexleyheath so they must be local. If it was not for the neighbour’s
recommendation and Check-a-Trade reference I might have checked the address out earlier.
Because of my neighbour’s utter stupidity with the phone number I was
disturbed twice yesterday with calls complaining about a missing second payment.
The numbers are now blocked as is the conniving neighbour who negotiated a lower
price at my expense. Probably I will get unwanted knocks on the door next.
I could do without the aggro but I shall now have to make reports about
possible VAT fraud, tax evasion and abuse of the Check-a-Trade blue tick.
Then there is Trading Standards, not that Bexley Council has such a
department any more, they have outsourced it to Citizen’s Advice.
Here is the rogue company’s flyer.
Bexleyheath based Clean King Steam Cleaning. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
In summary…
• The surface sealer was notable by its total absence.
• A day’s job for four men became one man for half an hour.
• 42 packs of resin at £60 a go
became more like six packs past its sell by date.
Hence the failure to set. It costs £28 retail but no one locally has it in
stock. Hence the back of the shed theory.
• The manhole cover joints were not protected and if the resin had actually set it
would have been impossible to lift them ever again.
• Nowhere was the steam cleaner used and two paths were not jet washed.
• No attempt was made to raise the dropped blocks either by lifting them or using an expansion compound.
• As far as I could see the garden walls were not cleaned as promised. Certainly
there was no very obvious sign of it.
• The concrete buttress to prevent further movement turned out to be a one inch
strip of resin which hasn’t set.
• The promise that water would come from a tank on board the van was not
fulfilled. As far as I could tell it all came from my garden tap.
• The various items of garden furniture were removed to the back lawn and not replaced.
• Payment was requested to a non-business bank account
which may well have tax implications.
• The slogan ‘CheckOurWebsite’ is designed to look like Check-a-Trade and borrows the font and the probably
trademarked blue tick.
• No VAT was charged.
• No business address was provided.
• Various authorities will be informed and no further payment will be made. I have probably been far too generous already.
• Who needs friends and neighbours like mine?
If any reader knows the right contacts for making the complaints to appropriate official bodies I would very much like to hear from them.