What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

That's an interesting link Wombats - thank you. (I paid £1200 for the ceiling).

[Wombats]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

There are many HCEO's around the country, so although this is a well known business, I have linked due to the information, NOT as an advertisement as them being good, bad or indifferent. I'm sure recommendations would be forthcoming if you get to that stage.

http://thesheriffsoffice.com/article...ment-key-facts

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

I'm not sure whether forum rules allow me to do this FlamingParrot, but this is the website address: http://www.trafalgaralltrades.co.uk/

They don't actually say that the photos are of jobs they've done, so they're not in breach of any ASA regulations - but I think to myself: a decent building firm would surely be proud to display pictures of work that they'd done themselves, rather than to merely 'decorate' their website with other peoples' handiwork.
I do think this kind of thing is misleading, and it's something that I will definitely be aware of in future (if I'm ever brave enough to get any more 'home improvements' carried out!)

[Wombats]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

It's fine to post the link. It's interesting also to note they claim no membership to any professional trade association.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

I'm not sure whether forum rules allow me to do this FlamingParrot, but this is the website address: http://www.trafalgaralltrades.co.uk/

They don't actually say that the photos are of jobs they've done, so they're not in breach of any ASA regulations - but I think to myself: a decent building firm would surely be proud to display pictures of work that they'd done themselves, rather than to merely 'decorate' their website with other peoples' handiwork.
I do think this kind of thing is misleading, and it's something that I will definitely be aware of in future (if I'm ever brave enough to get any more 'home improvements' carried out!)

That's a typical Wordpress slider which is part of many Wordpress themes. The way the pictures are presented is purely ornamental and is totally legitimate to use them in that context. I am a web designer and if I was doing their site, that's exactly what I'd use! :grin:

The website does look rather professional, which suggests the company that created the site a much more professional than the cowboys they created the site for. My guess is, the stock images were probably supplied by the web designers rather than the cowboys themselves.

[wales01man]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

I just fell over and picked myself up! 1200 quid how big was this ceiling and what exactly did they do

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

I just fell over and picked myself up! 1200 quid how big was this ceiling and what exactly did they do

Thanks for your interest wales01man. The ceiling measures approx 12ft x 9ft .
What happened was that I hired this firm to do a complete kitchen re-fit (for which I paid £2300). When the old wall cupboards were removed, a hole in the ceiling was revealed, where there had been a leak from the bathroom above. The hole was about 12ins x 12ins (maximum).
Also the old ceiling had been painted with a textured paint, so the builder said that the only way he could 'repair/refresh' it would be to put plasterboard over the whole lot and then plaster over the plasterboard.
NB: I was told later that the old ceiling ought to have been removed completely before the plasterboard was put on ... I think this is perhaps why the ceiling is sagging now: the new plasterboard was attached to the old ceiling, rather than to the joists (?)

The price for doing the ceiling was an additional £1200 - but this did include some wall plastering (skimming) too, as they were uneven where old tiles had been removed. When it was finished, the new wall plastering had the same uneven 'textured' finish that you see in the ceiling photo, and also the plaster was 'undulating' rather than being 'as flat as a pancake' (sorry, I don't know correct technical terms for this kind of thing!)

Anyway ... I wanted to have shelves put up for my pans/crockery and some new tiling done for splash-backs. And I wanted the walls to be painted. But unfortunately the plastering was so bad that these jobs couldn't be done - so I hired another man to re-plaster the walls (he is in no way associated with the 'cowboy' firm). He managed to smooth out a lot of the undulating 'waves' (not all - some areas were just too uneven) and he got a smooth surface to the plaster.
This second plasterer told me that another major fault was the fact that the first plasterer had failed to put metal strips along the 'corners' (ie: the corners around the window and door recesses) so they were left in a bad state. (I will try to upload a photo - I took photos of the shoddy work, as I think I'll probably need them if the case goes to court). He said the ceiling was too bad for him to carry out any sort of 'quick fix repair' as it requires major work. Unfortunately I don't have the money to pay for this - which is why I want the 'cowboy builder' to sort out the errors that a member of his team has made.

As this has been going on since 20th August when the job was 'finished', I'm not really holding out much hope of getting it done - which is why I was asking about the Small Claims Court.
NB: I had encountered trouble with the cowboy firm early on - apparently they don't have a licence to deposit waste building materials at the local tip, so the old kitchen debris remained dumped haphazardly in my garden for weeks on end, and I had to climb over it in order to put washing out etc. (It was eventually shifted, a little bit at a time!)

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Photo of a corner of one wall:
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[ostell]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Looks like you've got all your ducks lined up for the small claims court. Get your other tradesman to give you a quote for correcting the mistakes and specifically mentioning the errors. Claim for the full cost of rectifying the errors. Who to claim against is the problem. If it's not a limited company then claim against Mr xxxxxx trading as xxxxxxxxx. Others will say what exactly to say. It's worth the effort.

When you win then transfer to the high court and send in the high court enforcement officers to get your money.

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Thanks ostell. I looked on 'Companies House' website and the firm isn't mentioned - I'm guessing that this means they're not a limited company?

[wales01man]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Get a Court action started NOW I hope others on here can help you with this it need an expert to view the work and make a report this is the biggest rip off for a lot of shite work I have seen

[Little-Nancy]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

How do I find an expert, please wales01man?

[wales01man]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

I would contact trading standards first they must be able to offer some help or advice if they have ripped you off they must have ripped others off

[FlamingParrot]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Photo of a corner of one wall:]

Was that AFTER they did their job? :scared: :scared: :scared:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: What is the purpose of 'small claims courts' ?

Looks like you've got all your ducks lined up for the small claims court. Get your other tradesman to give you a quote for correcting the mistakes and specifically mentioning the errors. Claim for the full cost of rectifying the errors. Who to claim against is the problem. If it's not a limited company then claim against Mr xxxxxx trading as xxxxxxxxx. Others will say what exactly to say. It's worth the effort.

When you win then transfer to the high court and send in the high court enforcement officers to get your money.

There are two names mentioned on their website, any idea which one of them you dealt with? http://www.trafalgaralltrades.co.uk/contact-us/

Thanks ostell. I looked on 'Companies House' website and the firm isn't mentioned - I'm guessing that this means they're not a limited company?

If it was a limited company they should use the word 'limited' or the abbreviation 'ltd' after their name, certainly on their quotes, invoices and similar documents as well as on their website. Limited companies also have to have a line saying "Registered in England no. xxxxxxxxx" I think we can assume they are not a limited company.

I have also searched this site: http://companycheck.co.uk/director/index to see if either of them is a director of a company of similar name and, although there are similar names to one of the partners, none of them match the location or company name.