Small Claims Court - Rougue Builder / Drive Guy

[kiteboy]

No luck with any quotes at all - guy came yesterday - he mentioned outside the house the different prices for tarmac concrete etc - I said can you email them over to confim.....took my email but then absolutely nothing at all.....he said he was from a certain town near me but his telephone number didnt have the right area code for that town..so I think this industry is rife with conman is my gut feeling.....Im thinking its not worth bothering taking anyone to court at the moment as Im just completely stuck and dont know where to turn too.......plus I have that issue of do I take the person or the company to court. (when I actually paid the person themselves)....I think that may also be a problem when it comes down to it. Even the RCS surveyors dont come back to me with any response........im thinking of essentially doing my own drive (in block though) thats how bad things are!

[JK2054]

I'm sorry but i think your dragging yourself through more than you need to.

You sue the original builder for the amount it will cost you. you have estimate quotes, use them, get to court.

You will be a small claim, its not that particular or precise, but you need to do things. You are saying you don't know where to turn. You turn to the OCMC website.

You sue the entity you contracted with for the work. But anyway that doesnt matter much because this is a small claim, if you sue the wrong entity you just ask the judge to amend it. It is very simple.

If you want to lose the money because you can;t be bothered thats one thing, but dont say its because you don't know where to turn. Its not as hard as you think and you are just overcomplicating yourself.

[kiteboy]

I'm sorry but i think your dragging yourself through more than you need to.

You sue the original builder for the amount it will cost you. you have estimate quotes, use them, get to court.

You will be a small claim, its not that particular or precise, but you need to do things. You are saying you don't know where to turn. You turn to the OCMC website.

You sue the entity you contracted with for the work. But anyway that doesnt matter much because this is a small claim, if you sue the wrong entity you just ask the judge to amend it. It is very simple.

If you want to lose the money because you can;t be bothered thats one thing, but dont say its because you don't know where to turn. Its not as hard as you think and you are just overcomplicating yourself.

Yeh you maybe right there...... Its just all new to me is the main thing ive never done the court thing and I think Im going to get caught out in little details regarding who I paid and stuff like that

At the end of the day I paid him to do a job and hes not done that so I am going to take to court as its just wrong

For the life of me I cant get quotes from people in writing so far or even RCS people to come out - Ill try a few more RCS people in the next few days but if no reply Im still going to carry on anyway

Im going to put the case together this week as I am off work....if its a waste of money then so be it...... Ill have to do some overtime!

Thanks for all the help everyone

[kiteboy]

Can I just check - do I have to send a recorded delivery letter of action??? Called the citizens advice and they wernt that great really. They just to send another letter with what ive already done included .....but recorded delivery instead??? I think ive read recorded delivery gives them a hint something is comming so the ones I have sent previously have been proof of postage only..... do I really need to send a recorded delivery one too?

[JK2054]

No you don't need to send it recorded. just get proof of posting.

[kiteboy]

Excellent - thanks - well Ive already done that then and given him the 30 days to complete the work and not just turn up for a few days to whacker plate some stone down - thanks - time to get things moving now

[kiteboy]

Hi - well court procedings have been started and he has until the 18th September to reply - Ive been waiting to see what happens. Then noticed a Whatsapp message this morning that hes planning to come out at the end of this week out of the blue again. Ive stopped chasing him now.......what do I do now is the question really? I suspect he will say he has recieved no court action papers.....whatever like but do I let him do the work do you think.....I have previously mentioned to him a scenario in that I was going to submit court action against him (mainly as I have no control over matters and he had all the power) and if he comes out and complete the job in the meantime then great I can cancel the court proceedings that made sense to me .....however that was months and months ago though. If he does appear and complete the job then great that is easiest for everyone in my eyes but Im not sure if I should let him or not really....any advice welcome.....Im guessing he maybe after some sort of reply from me to say no thanks we are going to court now - you know something along those lines so its my fault then in a nutshell.....but Im tempted to call his bluff and let him carry on with it

[JK2054]

you do nothing.

if he doesnt reply to the claim then request CCJ

otherwise act like it doesnt exisst.

dont start yapping about it

[kiteboy]

OK I wont do anything then - what about the scenario if he turns up at the end of the week and starts doing work??? Do I stop him then even if a lorry of concrete turns up??? Im pretty sure he will say he hasnt had a letter but it does seem a coincidence he wants to finish it all of a sudden pretty much 3 years after he started it!!! He has acknowledged letters I have sent there in the past too btw.

[JK2054]

if he wants to finish it let him...

[kiteboy]

Yeh thats what I think now - and guess what - hes just turned up right now! So not mentioning anything - let him crack on - if he messes it up again we can still go to CCJ

[kiteboy]

Hi again - OK hes been a few times getting things ready to do the job - hes left a lot of colouring at the side of house and hes put new drains in too .....so to be fair it does look like hes going to do something but he still hasnt done the drive as of writing this. Perfect weather this week so my question now is what do I do with the online judgement. He has until the 18th (tommorrow to respond) Im guessing he wont officially respond as he hasnt mentioned anything to me at all....do I still crack on and ask for judgement if he doesnt officially respond to it??

[kiteboy]

Hes just extended it by 14 days - at least hes aknowledged it I suppose - this is going to get interesting is my gut feeling - hope he does the drive but I suspect he has a game plan - just dont trust him

[kiteboy]

I.dont trust this person at all.....my feeling is he has some sort of game plan....it just seems a coincidence he showed up to do some work after I put the court case in....what if he comes ....does the job say and then does some sort of counter claim or something you know .....I'm really worried he has a plan to do me over or something.....so much so that maybe if he does come back to do the work I should actually stop him doing the job....or is that just stupid do you think

[kiteboy]

Should I in fact what's app him to say that if he does do the job and before he does a real start on it properly that I won't be paying him a penny more?.....So it's clear if he does do it it's in line with our agreements....years ago I did offer to pay more to get it finished as we were in a mess but that was a long time ago and it didn't make a difference in the real world....so there no ambiguity then and cuts off any counter claim he could try and make????....what ya think