Tradesman owes me money, but has gone missing.

[Annjeo]

I booked a tradesman, who I have used reliably many times for household jobs over the last 3 years, in Oct last year to carry out 3 fairly large jobs around my house. I paid a £1500 deposit via bank transfer in Nov. During a wait for the work to start, we cancelled one of the jobs, but he was still to carry out the other 2, one a roof job and the other was exterior painting. Despite constant reminders from me for him to at least carry out one of the jobs (I agreed we should delay the painting due to weather conditions) the roof work was completed this February. The guy has been very difficult to get a hold of, due he says, to family issues and could not be relied on to keep dates for either a call or a visit. So after a lot of back and forth and getting nowhere I asked him to give me a final figure on the work completed and refund me the balance of my deposit. Since that request he did send me a final value on the roof work carried out, but from that point onwards he's gone quiet. I have tried all ways to get in touch with him, but to no avail. His phone goes to voicemail or just cuts off. His Facebook page no longer takes reviews and his messenger account is not responded to. I've also tried WhatsApp and Emails, but again no response.

I wanted to take him to the Small Claims Court, but my question is, will this work? I have no address for this business or tradesman and all contacts I do have are useless. I suspect the answer will be that the court won't be able to help in this case and I'll have to accept the loss, but I would very much appreciate someone's confirmation of that please.

Many thanks in advance for your time

Joanne

[atticus]

Do you have an address for this person?

EDIT: Sorry, I see you do not. You will need to find a way of tracing him if you are to have any chance of getting any of your money back.

What does he put on invoices, estimates etc?

[Annjeo]

Do you have an address for this person?

EDIT: Sorry, I see you do not. You will need to find a way of tracing him if you are to have any chance of getting any of your money back.

What does he put on invoices, estimates etc?

Sadly, no he hasn't put an address on any correspondence I've had from him.

Your response was what I had expected, but I just needed to hear it from someone who understands the system. Thank you very much for the prompt response. Lesson learned a hard , but valuable one. Trust no one when it comes to money.

[des8]

Have you tried using 192.com to find him?
If that fails there are companies who trace people, their fees vary.
Just google "tracing peoples address uk" and take your pick

[Annjeo]

Have you tried using 192.com to find him?
If that fails there are companies who trace people, their fees vary.
Just google "tracing peoples address uk" and take your pick

Many thanks. It's worth a try, but it depends on cost. At the end of the day it's around £500 he owes me. I will check both those suggestions out though.

[dslippy]

Bear in mind that you appear to re requesting back money paid as a deposit - the amount at stake may easily be less than you suggest (though we cannot say).

[Annjeo]

Bear in mind that you appear to re requesting back money paid as a deposit - the amount at stake may easily be less than you suggest (though we cannot say).

Yes, I realise without an invoice, which is the case, the final amount could be a problem. However, I do have 2 documents, one is the original Costings Sheet and the other is an updated one showing the work cancelled (Loft boarding), completed (Roof vent boxing) and still to be done (Exterior Painting, which I cancelled asking for the balance back). The deposit originally covered all 3 jobs and the one completed job plus his costs leave me in credit going by the updated sheet he sent me recently. I had asked for an invoice, but that didn't materialise. I can supply the documents if needed.

[dslippy]

Best of luck.

[atticus]

Do those documents show an address?

[Annjeo]

Do those documents show an address?

Not the 2 most recent no. I do have an address on an invoice for work done on a previous project in July'21, but since then he says he's moved address at least once, maybe twice. Once business wise and another domestic. I also have his bank account number, unless that too has changed.

[echat11]

If you have his name, previous address, then you should be able to trace his current address with no problem, just using Google and other basic services that might cost a small amount.

Also social media search might yield results.

[Annjeo]

If you have his name, previous address, then you should be able to trace his current address with no problem, just using Google and other basic services that might cost a small amount.

Yes, thank you. From an earlier post I've looked up tracing companies, I only found the earlier invoice a short while ago. My one concern is he did say that where they now lived was in his partners name, so I suppose she could deny he lives there. I'll go through trying to track him down as suggested its probably worth that at least.

[echat11]

Yes, thank you. From an earlier post I've looked up tracing companies, I only found the earlier invoice a short while ago. My one concern is he did say that where they now lived was in his partners name, so I suppose she could deny he lives there. I'll go through trying to track him down as suggested its probably worth that at least.

Try to do it without 'tracing companies first'.