Hi,

A friend of mine hired builders who were working for another friend of
his but this friend of mine did not satisfy himself with the quality of
work they are doing and hired them to build a porch and fit kitchen just
on hearsay. He gave the builders £8000 advance and sent these builders
to me to build my porch and toilet.

I also did not see what they have done at my friend's place and thinking
that they are reliable and good builders gave them the advance of £3500
against a contract worth £6500.

Then these builders did not appear to be reliable and after digging the
foundation of my friend's porch, they left the muck lying around with no
skip to take it away.

After the builders left my friend in lurch, then he was worried as to be
the genuineness of the builders. My friend visited the Builder's address
in Gloucester to talk to the builders why they are delaying his project?
Then, the builders brought in some blocks and material for him and that
was it.

These builders have put two others known to my friend in the same
situation and they have paid the builders sums of £40,000 each.

Hearing all these stories, I became suspicious of the builders and when
they sent a team of three on Saturday, 6th August to dig my foundation
without any skip to put the dug out material, I told the workers that I
do not want a mess in front of my house and they should bring the
construction material and the skip before starting the job as the
advance was paid against the materials, skip, etc.

They promised to bring in material last Monday/Tuesday 15/16 August but
nothing so far and they promised to finish my job within 5 weeks of 27
July.

Now, the builders have disconnected their telephone line that used to
have a fax as well and there is no way we can contact them and it seems
the address is of a rented house. Mobile phones are not answered. I
sent them a Special Delivery Letter on 04 August, 05 demanding my money
back but no reply or telephone call.

Now, the facts of the case in a nutshell a-

The Company is a sole trader and is owned by a person who never visits
the sites or signs the contracts but sends workers. The persons
representing his company do not have any business cards that they are
authorised to sign the contracts and these two representatives are
taking money in the name of a private person who claims to be an
employee of the company. The signatures of the person signing the
contract are also dubious. For example, our cheque was taken in his
name on 27 July and presented the very day to be cashed next day from my
Abbey National Bank. I did contact this person on his mobile and asked
him when would he bring the materials but he made false promises and
refused to give his private address saying that he is just an employee
of the company/sole trader.

To me the whole thing is a scam and I would like your advise what course
of action should I take to recover my money please? How could I find
the private address of this private person to sue him for the money
please? I have written to the Police of Gloucester but so far I have
not heard from them.

This Builder has done no work at my place but in the other cases, he
just dug his teeth in to argue his case. Total money involved is around
£91,500. The other three being in a deeper waters rang some solicitors
in Gloucester for assistance but they claim to be already acting for
this Builder.

Trading Standards Officer of Gloucester has been informed for assistance
but he says, we should forget about recovering our money. The employees
of the Builder who have collected the money already stress that they
have not committed any crime and Police cannot touch them.

Rajinder Nijjhar