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Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice on my situation with a gardener. I'll try to keep it short but it's a bit of a long story.
I found someone to sort out my garden with some turf and patio slabs through a recommendation on a local Facebook group. We messaged initially on WhatsApp and he directed me to his Instagram page, Gary's Gardening, and we then communicated via WhatsApp and Instagram DM. This was in March, and we agreed a price of £3,250 and that the job would be completed during the last week of April. He asked for a £800 deposit which I paid.
On his Instragram page, Gary promotes Paul's Paving. The job didn't get completed during the last week of April, and Gary had several excuses, mainly blaming suppliers. Gary showed up a couple of times over the next couple of weeks to do bits of work, but not much progress. In mid-May, Paul's Paving turned up and did the patio slabs part of the job. Paul demanded payment, and sent me a couple of messages demanding payment that day, which I stupidly did, paying the balance of £2,350.
Below is a list of some of the things that have happened.
1. On 24 separate occasions, Gary has messaged to say he's coming round to do the work, but not showed up.
2. Gary had a pile of soil/mud delivered and dumped on my driveaway, and it took him 7 days to come back and move it from the front to the back (during this time, the weather was mixed and the front area of the house is a mess.
3. Gary had rolls of turf delivered and he didn't come round to lay it. I had to move it from the front to the back, and as he didn't come back it died and he had it removeed 21 days later.
4. On one of the occasions Gary turned up, he piled all of his rubbish, weeds etc. into an industrial sized, extremely heavy bag on the front lawn which is shared with a neighbour. It took 23 days for him to get a waste company to remove the bag (with the dead turf mentioned above) and it has destroyed the grass it was on top of.
5. Gary had more turf delivered, which he laid 3 days later. He didn't order enough, so there's a gap down the side of the garden.
6. The soil work has not been completed.
7. One of the patio slabs Paul put down has cracked, and several of the slabs are wobbly and don't look like they'd be put down correctly.
Paul said he would come round at the weekend to fix the problems but didn't turn up. I haven't seen Gary for 3 weeks and his messages are sporadic. Gary has said he's having health problems but I'm not sure I believe him. He's told me he's been abroad on holiday, and his open Facebook profile shows that he's been at the cinema and playing golf.
So, it's been 11 weeks that I've been messed around, the job is not complete and the work that has been done if of a very poor standard. I've been extremely reasonable, and I've asking Gary what his plan is to sort this out and he's ignoring me.
What are my legal next steps? I feel like I should threaten Gary with small claims court to get my money back for breach of contract. Some thoughts
1. Can I claim the full amount from Gary? My agreement was with him, but most of the money has been paid to Paul (I did confirm with Gary that he was happy for me to do this before I paid).
2. I don't know if these guys are sole traders, or if they are actually set up as businesses at all. I had a look on companies house record, but I couldn't find anything.
3. I don't have an address for any of them. Gary claimed to send me an invoice/receipt at the beginning of this, but he didn't. Google brings up nothing. I have found from an open Twitter profile an address he posted in 2015 (it was a receipt where he was asking for a refund - ironic) and Zoopla says that property was sold in 2017. Can I send him a letter before action by email only and ask under pre-action protocol for his address, and say that otherwise I'll use last known address which is the one I found on Twitter?
Also to note, he's blamed two different turf companies for some of the problems. I contacted the second one, who said he had cancelled the order 4 times and didn't pay until they threatened him with legal action and he's now banned. I'm wondering if sending some type of action will spur him into action to complete the job or agree to some type of refund.
I'm at my wits end with this. It's thoroughly ruined the last few months and a big part of the experience of sorting out a new home for my family. Any thoughts on next steps and what I can reasonably do would be very much appreciated. Finally, I'm slightly worried about some sort of retaliation from my interactions with Gary and Paul thus far, especially as they know my address, if I do start some type of legal action.
I found someone to sort out my garden with some turf and patio slabs through a recommendation on a local Facebook group. We messaged initially on WhatsApp and he directed me to his Instagram page, Gary's Gardening, and we then communicated via WhatsApp and Instagram DM. This was in March, and we agreed a price of £3,250 and that the job would be completed during the last week of April. He asked for a £800 deposit which I paid.
On his Instragram page, Gary promotes Paul's Paving. The job didn't get completed during the last week of April, and Gary had several excuses, mainly blaming suppliers. Gary showed up a couple of times over the next couple of weeks to do bits of work, but not much progress. In mid-May, Paul's Paving turned up and did the patio slabs part of the job. Paul demanded payment, and sent me a couple of messages demanding payment that day, which I stupidly did, paying the balance of £2,350.
Below is a list of some of the things that have happened.
1. On 24 separate occasions, Gary has messaged to say he's coming round to do the work, but not showed up.
2. Gary had a pile of soil/mud delivered and dumped on my driveaway, and it took him 7 days to come back and move it from the front to the back (during this time, the weather was mixed and the front area of the house is a mess.
3. Gary had rolls of turf delivered and he didn't come round to lay it. I had to move it from the front to the back, and as he didn't come back it died and he had it removeed 21 days later.
4. On one of the occasions Gary turned up, he piled all of his rubbish, weeds etc. into an industrial sized, extremely heavy bag on the front lawn which is shared with a neighbour. It took 23 days for him to get a waste company to remove the bag (with the dead turf mentioned above) and it has destroyed the grass it was on top of.
5. Gary had more turf delivered, which he laid 3 days later. He didn't order enough, so there's a gap down the side of the garden.
6. The soil work has not been completed.
7. One of the patio slabs Paul put down has cracked, and several of the slabs are wobbly and don't look like they'd be put down correctly.
Paul said he would come round at the weekend to fix the problems but didn't turn up. I haven't seen Gary for 3 weeks and his messages are sporadic. Gary has said he's having health problems but I'm not sure I believe him. He's told me he's been abroad on holiday, and his open Facebook profile shows that he's been at the cinema and playing golf.
So, it's been 11 weeks that I've been messed around, the job is not complete and the work that has been done if of a very poor standard. I've been extremely reasonable, and I've asking Gary what his plan is to sort this out and he's ignoring me.
What are my legal next steps? I feel like I should threaten Gary with small claims court to get my money back for breach of contract. Some thoughts
1. Can I claim the full amount from Gary? My agreement was with him, but most of the money has been paid to Paul (I did confirm with Gary that he was happy for me to do this before I paid).
2. I don't know if these guys are sole traders, or if they are actually set up as businesses at all. I had a look on companies house record, but I couldn't find anything.
3. I don't have an address for any of them. Gary claimed to send me an invoice/receipt at the beginning of this, but he didn't. Google brings up nothing. I have found from an open Twitter profile an address he posted in 2015 (it was a receipt where he was asking for a refund - ironic) and Zoopla says that property was sold in 2017. Can I send him a letter before action by email only and ask under pre-action protocol for his address, and say that otherwise I'll use last known address which is the one I found on Twitter?
Also to note, he's blamed two different turf companies for some of the problems. I contacted the second one, who said he had cancelled the order 4 times and didn't pay until they threatened him with legal action and he's now banned. I'm wondering if sending some type of action will spur him into action to complete the job or agree to some type of refund.
I'm at my wits end with this. It's thoroughly ruined the last few months and a big part of the experience of sorting out a new home for my family. Any thoughts on next steps and what I can reasonably do would be very much appreciated. Finally, I'm slightly worried about some sort of retaliation from my interactions with Gary and Paul thus far, especially as they know my address, if I do start some type of legal action.
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