Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Rogue Roofing Company
I had a leaking roof after the heavy downpour on Sunday 25th. I went through Barks.com and unfortunately selected a rogue Roofer to whom I paid a huge deposit. The Contractor has not visited since day 2 of the 4 day job - he said he was pinged by the NHS covid test & trace app and could not oversee the work. He had one worker whose english was not very good, he sent the Contractor regular photos and videos of his work. The work has been signed off and he is now demanding the balance. I had no choice, but to hire an independent Roofer to check the work done against the agreed list. He found that the work was substandard, no new materials were used, there were holes and gaps left etc. I have received threatening telephone calls and text messages from the Contractor, "purporting to take this all the way." He also told his worker to rip all of the tiles from my roof, thankfully this order of criminal damage was not followed. He has also stated he will leave the scaffolding up around my home, which is a security risk. He has now stopped responding to my calls, I have left him a message asking him to rectify and complete the work. He has refused to provide an itemized invoice, report or a certificate of guarantee, which I have requested several times.
I shall contact the Citizens advice Bureau and Trading Standards and will look into employing a Solicitor. This whole, stressful process has left me traumatised and frightened of any further threats of reprisal to my home and family. Is there anything else I can do? I have the paperwork, copies of text messages etc.
Please don't respond to this post telling me how silly I have been to pay him a deposit or chide me for any of the other mistakes I made, I am beating myself up enough already. I thought I was savvy, but realize I am like everyone else and can be easily scammed by a supposedly, reputable Company.
This is a synopsis of the events to keep the post relatively short. Thank you for your kind words and advice.
Tags for Forum Posts: roofer
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sal on
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I have had a similar horrible experience with roofers first found via “bark” website and I was in a complacent false sense of security as this contractor was also on “checkatrade”.
I realise I am very late to contribute on this thread but to Jane Bain and Christopher Fowler the similarities are so stark I think we could have been scammed by the same characters. Initially I had a problem with leaking gutters (bodged and full of standing water from a poor installation a few years ago) and some minor repointing required where a plumber had used mostly sand to fill in around bathroom pipes (done before I lived here).
Knowing that all reputable traders busy/booked up I stupidly used bark as a starting point to get quotes and see who was available to work on gutters before the autumn (30th Sept had my first encounter with these complete charlatans!) the initial diagnosis and quote for gutters seemed ok so I let them start work. They removed old gutters and I stupidly stopped watching them. They then removed a few rows of tiles from the roof and said they’d found more problems.
The job then grew bigger and bigger despite the roof not leaking there were some legit issues due to the age of the property and they convinced me and my husband we needed a new roof sooner rather than later (we did not but were fooled) and because they were “contractors already on site” bullied us into not getting other quotes for the bigger job…then came the request for a bigger deposit which I stupidly paid by bank transfer (initially had paid scaffolding company directly for small deposit/scaffolding cost).
To make a long story short we were roofless all October. We had full scaffold and “tin lid” roof. I knew it should only take a week to replace a roof but because this was unplanned work was way too accommodating of delays due to other jobs being worked around etc…
During the October half term these people said the new roof needed to “settle for a day” (we asked but never got an explanation and how dare we question- I don’t want to upset them when the roof wasn’t finished!) then came back 28th October and said whole house was structurally unsound due to water damage in load-bearing chimney breasts. (The house is fine but they smashed all plaster off chimney breast in bedroom and hammered bricks into the flue to make it look as bad as possible.
That was when (finally!!!) I realize they are criminals and not just roofers overcharging us for an urgent repair because they can since the whole industry is busy. The only work was done by foreign subcontractors who were ordered not to speak to me or my husband - but I made the effort to talk to them throughout and fortunately are on good terms they’d been scammed too and unpaid and had been told by the contractors to trash my house(they didn’t).
The threats to remove the roof is exactly the tactic you’ve described here too. As are the phone calls threatening me to pay even more money to complete the job and/or avoid them tearing off the incomplete roof (despite incomplete and substandard work!) Would you be willing to communicate with me to see if we’ve been “done” by the same characters?
In the end we have a roof that needs completely redoing in the spring/summer, still no gutters- now the least of my worries) and resident pigeons. I am too ashamed to go into details but they also smashed up the party parapet wall and chimney (on the pretense of removing loose and dangerous bricks and coping stones) and caused leak on my neighbour's side. I have now had all repaired/rebuilt by reputable roofers. I.e neighbour’s house and party wall fully restored/fixed and my side temporarily watertight.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Bain on
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Hi Sal, I am sorry about what has happened to you. I have been through the Citizens Advice Bureau, Action Fraud, Barks.com and my Bank. I have taken their advice, not to contact him, sent letters etc, all to no avail - they were either left unanswered or sent back.
There is no real help for victims of this type of fraud. This is why this horrible man felt so confident with taking my £11k, without doing anything but lying to me. I have had to have counselling to get over the effects this has had on me.
The Trading Standards Department contacted Haringey Building Control to come out to survey the work. The person appeared nice and was sympathetic at the time of the inspection. Unfortunately, I received a letter from them on the 21st December informing me that a Contravene had been place on my home, because as the Owner, I should have gotten Building Control permission. This was just an emergency leak repair, not a new roof or any structural work. The person then went on holidays until the 10th January and there was no one who could assist me, but her. I was left anxious and worried over the holiday period.
I have now contacted a local Roofing Company who will give me a quote on Tuesday to repair the damage left by the criminal Roofer. They have told me that they have heard of lots of scams of this nature over the last year. I have accepted that there is no chance of getting any of my money back or the likelihood of any criminal charges being brought against this odious man.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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My sympathies to you both. It sounds like you've both been through the wringer.
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I am so full of sympathy for all you have been through. Building control were at least kind to us. I too found Citizen’s Advice helpful and supportive but their procedures of polite letter writing only get you so far when the crooks ignore everything (and mail gets returned because they gave me a fake/incomplete address.) At the moment I’m still on the solicitor and PI route (to identify the crooks as they didn’t use their real names when dealing with me). I am not sure it’s worth spending a fortune on solicitor/PI fees. At some point I may have to give up for own sanity and health. But want to do all I can to stop these people from scamming others. The crooks will just disappear and re brand then do the same to somebody else in a few months…my solicitor has said if we’re determined enough to go the civil courts route if /when tue crooks fail to turn up or reply then it’s legal to send bailiffs…
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This is what I have been told, they don't use their real names and move on. I have not employed a Solicitor, because I was told by one of them that even if you were able to find the crooks, they would either go into liquidation or claim bankruptcy. I would have wasted more money.
They know that by going on your roof and doing some work, no matter how substandard, it cannot be viewed as a scam. This is why the Banks won't reimburse your money and say its a Trading Standard issue. The more people they cheat, the more skilful they become at avoiding arrest. The only good thing is that his Company and name are now known to the Action Fraud, Trading Standards and the Police. They have the power to contact Company House and get him unregistered, obtain his home address (if it is genuine) and hopefully stop him this way.
His scam was successful, because he spent money on a website, vans and paperwork, making him appear legitimate. I have recently found out that his Roofing Business address was just a paid site used for his mail, apparently this is common. Watch out for any Company with this address:-
80-83 Long Lane, London EC1A 9ET There can be other numbers, but note the Long Lane and postcode.
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The thread is quite long ( understandably) can you name the alleged rogue roofer company?
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I don't think I can legally do that Nicole. I am sure Hugh would not be able to print it, without jeopardising and possibly risking legal actions against this site. I can send you a p/m, if we were connected.
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Ah ok- yes not sure how to connect- we have had a v bad experience w heating engineers who r still highly rated on check- trade. I’m a member Haringey online so will look into how to message 1 person directly thank you
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Thanks for this. I'm currently looking for a builder to do a loft conversion and your warnings are most salutary. I asked Bark for suggestions. I don't suppose ALL Bark's connections are incompetent or crooks but obviously I need to check very carefully. One estimate raised a red flag immediately when he said he could start next week as he had had a cancellation. Very convenient !
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