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Hi,*
Sorry for long post but hope you can help with some advice.
About 3 months ago, we set about trying to get a builders quote for house renovation. The builder told me to contact a man who does 'measurements' in order to get an accurate quote. We were told he would charge but despite asking no upfront price was given. We phoned some other builders who told us measurements would cost £40 at most. The man himself refused to give an upfront charge but as we were told it would cost £40 by other builders went with this price.
We thought this was affordable so invited the man to the house. He came measured up, as he was leaving he told us we would be charged £200 for the measurements!
We were stunned and called the Consumerline. They told us to wait until we got an invoice in writing and dispute it in writing. Nothing came but this man started to call repeatedly stating he wanted £220 now and that he completed some 'report' for us. We told him we disputed this, only wanted measurements and received no quote, invoice or report from him. He became very angry and demanded the money.
We got a consumer advocate to phone him to resolve the matter. The man denied he knew us and said he'd never been to our house! However a month later the phone calls from him restarted. We were advised not to engage with him and keep a log of his calls which we did. We still had not received anything from him, only had his name and number. No address, business card, or any paperwork.
But 2 weeks ago he turned up at the door blocking our driveway and waiting for us after following our car. After this, we contacted the police reporting his behaviour. They said it met the threshold of harassment and that they would speak to him. We have chased up but the police have not yet actioned anything. A few days ago we received a signed for letter from this man. We were not at home.
As we have opened up a police case against him we are wondering whether we should open the letter? We are worried it's a trap ( I sent you the report - aha you owe me money now!) but also think we need to see whether the letter contains a legal threat/physical threat. However the advice we received to date was to not engage with him at all, this was from a solicitor and a barrister friend who stated he was trying to intimidate us. However now we have something in writing should we look at it?
What should we do? It has now been 3 months, this is the first correspondence from him. We still have no quote, invoice, paperwork from him. We don't have his address so have been unable to write to him.
Should we receive the mail? Or should we continue to ignore, even letters?
Sorry for long post but hope you can help with some advice.
About 3 months ago, we set about trying to get a builders quote for house renovation. The builder told me to contact a man who does 'measurements' in order to get an accurate quote. We were told he would charge but despite asking no upfront price was given. We phoned some other builders who told us measurements would cost £40 at most. The man himself refused to give an upfront charge but as we were told it would cost £40 by other builders went with this price.
We thought this was affordable so invited the man to the house. He came measured up, as he was leaving he told us we would be charged £200 for the measurements!
We were stunned and called the Consumerline. They told us to wait until we got an invoice in writing and dispute it in writing. Nothing came but this man started to call repeatedly stating he wanted £220 now and that he completed some 'report' for us. We told him we disputed this, only wanted measurements and received no quote, invoice or report from him. He became very angry and demanded the money.
We got a consumer advocate to phone him to resolve the matter. The man denied he knew us and said he'd never been to our house! However a month later the phone calls from him restarted. We were advised not to engage with him and keep a log of his calls which we did. We still had not received anything from him, only had his name and number. No address, business card, or any paperwork.
But 2 weeks ago he turned up at the door blocking our driveway and waiting for us after following our car. After this, we contacted the police reporting his behaviour. They said it met the threshold of harassment and that they would speak to him. We have chased up but the police have not yet actioned anything. A few days ago we received a signed for letter from this man. We were not at home.
As we have opened up a police case against him we are wondering whether we should open the letter? We are worried it's a trap ( I sent you the report - aha you owe me money now!) but also think we need to see whether the letter contains a legal threat/physical threat. However the advice we received to date was to not engage with him at all, this was from a solicitor and a barrister friend who stated he was trying to intimidate us. However now we have something in writing should we look at it?
What should we do? It has now been 3 months, this is the first correspondence from him. We still have no quote, invoice, paperwork from him. We don't have his address so have been unable to write to him.
Should we receive the mail? Or should we continue to ignore, even letters?
