Roof repairs

[Webbo2]

Last year we had some roofers to repoint/ render our ridge tiles. So after 6 months lumps of the cement, render keep falling off.
I have rung the roofers who were going to come round and sort it two weeks ago. Guess what no show and they haven’t replied to my last phone call. We did that bad/ stupid thing of paying them cash for the job.
so do I when the next time I ring them threaten them with
A. bad review on trust pilot and all the local Facebook pages
B. Tell them I might have a word with the tax man.
C. Mention I might have a word with a couple of gentlemen in their locality who like to do things with inflammables.
Any other suggestions.🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[raleighnut]

No shortage of dodgy roofers out there.

 

[MichaelW2]

I chose my roofer , a family firm est for generations. Too many cowboys , its the wild west.

 

[DRM]

We were lucky, it was a recommendation from another tradesman, turned out to be a really good genuine roofer who took pride in his work

 

[wakemalcolm]

Had some roof work done recently.
I think the whole roofing industry up here is cash only. The penalties for choosing another payment method seemed to amount to more than VAT. He's a personable chap so I asked him about it and he said the main materials supplier around is cash only.

He's got some tidying up to do which I've had to chase him on but if he doesn't show up I'll threaten give him a trash review on Google reviews (which is where I found him) on the basis that I'll update it if he comes through for me.

 

[MontyVeda]

In this day and age, I'd seriously steer clear of any tradesperson who will only accept a cash payment.

 

[oxoman]

Assuming they turn up, dont threaten just tell them you want it sorted. They probably know more dodgy people than you. Don't pay cash again and use a different builder / roofer. I'm guessing they've used a weak mortar mix and not rebedded the tiles properly, they've probably just done what is called buttering over the existing mortar after maybe raking the lose out.

 

[Webbo2]

Assuming they turn up, dont threaten just tell them you want it sorted. They probably know more dodgy people than you. Don't pay cash again and use a different builder / roofer. I'm guessing they've used a weak mortar mix and not rebedded the tiles properly, they've probably just done what is called buttering over the existing mortar after maybe raking the lose out.

If they turn up I don’t need to threaten them. It’s getting them to turn up that’s the problem. I wasn’t really being serious other than giving them a crap review.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Here in Norfolk some tradesmen use a ploy to get work, it goes like this......
TM "Hmm it's cost £1500" Me "wow, I wasn't expecting that" TM "that's a very good price - tell you what I'll do it for 1200 cash". Me "no thanks"
Two days later telephone call from TM " I'll do it for 1200 cash and throw in a new gutter" Me "No Thanks"
That actually happened, and the next week another tradesman came round to give a quote.

He was much more professional, looked at job, measured and said "I'll pop it in the post - it will be with you inside a week"
FOR THE SAME JOB it was £625 +VAT so £750 total, he didn't want anything up front, he turned up on the day and the price was as quoted.
We paid by bank transfer.

So clever ploy, start with a massively inflated price, offer a 'cash' price (which they may or not put through the taxman), but they get paid more by using a bit of psychology!

When I was trading (I'm retired from plumbing n.b don't believe that plumbers are rich - that is unless they are 'heating engineers' or rip people off) I treated all customers fairly. On very few occasions I was asked 'how much for cash?' and I replied with "it's the same price, because I give a guarantee and also pay my taxes".
Another local trader (also to be trusted), if asked "how much for cash?" used to say a higher price and say "there's more paperwork involved"

 

[Pat "5mph"]

In this day and age, I'd seriously steer clear of any tradesperson who will only accept a cash payment.

I agree, but sometimes one doesn't have a choice.
New kitchen last year, the kitchen company was fine with bank transfer for payment.
However, their fitting team wanted paid cash.
The joiner was the "team coordinator", I had to pay him, then he paid the others.
I have no doubt he overcharged me (the end of job refuse collector said it's £200, while I had already paid the main man £250 for the service!) but I couldn't possibly have arranged all the workmen needed by doing it myself.
Then there are the small jobs, "homers" done on the side by someone that already has a job for a company.
Of course they want cash; then again a proper company that gives invoices will not do such small jobs - or they say they will do them but don't show
I had a nice surprise a while back, we were having difficulties finding a gutter cleaner due to our building being quite high.
One day I saw a guy holding a big ladder while cycling home, we exchanged numbers, I sent him pictures, we agreed on a price.
I never saw him again (in a good way), because he sent me pictures of him doing the job while I was at work.
I asked him for a simple receipt for the owners of the other flats, stating I didn't need an invoice.
He sent me a proper VAT receipt: of course he now gets to clean our gutters every year, even though he's more expensive than the others that don't come

 

[Fastpedaller]

When we wanted quotes for a new felt roof on our garage one guy turned up and asked if I had a ladder he could use - I sent him away. Another guy said "I don't need to look at it, It's a standard roof £700"I replied 'ok, just put the quote in the post, as I'm getting others and will forget whose said what' (I wanted it in writing). After he went I said to my Wife "we won't hear from him again, he didn't want to give anything in writing because he'd do it and then say 'price is 2k mate'. They must think we are a push-over.
Next guy came, very thorough, gave a written quote including facia board and gutter. More expensive, but he got the job. After he'd finished he gave me the bill, 25% more than his quote (Not an estimate, it was a quotation). I said "there must be a mistake?" He said "I've done the facia board and gutter, they cost me £80" my reply "So why are they £160 on the bill? and furthermore they are included on your original quote - I can get it for you to look at". I gave him a choice, he could have my cheque for the quoted price or wait to see what I send in the post. He chose the former I decided not to charge him for filling the skip with other rubbish he brought in his van on the second day.
They must think it's ok to intimidate old people