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I have been in a dispute with a body shop for over a year now, he has chaged his name once as well in this time
The story, end of 2005 i had my car resprayed by a body shop, months later i discovered defects and corners cut by the body shop
I complained face to face, i was told he was moving and can not rectify my car, he got a new unit and then told me he would not rectify the car let alone refund me my money or any of it
There are also numerous other car owners un happy with his work, his work is no were near satisfactory work and i mean is terrible
I set the ball rolling with the leters, gathering pictures and i have 2 reports. all my letters sent to this guy were all ignored and then he went on to a forum claiming he was stopping trading but no reason why. i have since discoverd he has resprayed a car in this time but still un aware of his standing with his bisuniess. he is a back street cow boy as u call them
i want to go the small claims court route but wondering if i can. i have my particulars of claims wrote out ready too, well in draft
He is not taxed registered that i no of or a legit business with health and safety. He is not registered with compnay house too
Thing is i have just tried warning some car owners and they think he's fab etc.............. truly upsetting am in a right state
Anyway the thing is he is suppose to be leaving his unit and stop business very soon, well has claimed but not claimed bankruptcy
What can i actually do?
i am so sorry if this all seems a little mad as i am a little upset at the min
It was me that asked/told her to come here to CAG, (from another forum we both frequent) with her problem as she is just going round in circles with the guy that has done this to her car and also other friends cars. You know when you get that feeling your just never going to get justice? That's how it's been since 05 for her.
Is there any way of her getting this sorted out once and for all? I really hope someone on here might have some valuable info or advice to help her with this problem.
I assume from what you have said that he is a sole trader, therefore you can sue him personally.
However bear in mind that if - if - he is going bankrupt and does not have the capital to pay up, you may have a struggle on your hands to sue him.
You would need to be looking at the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, which states that all work carried out must be done with reasonable care and skill (i.e. to a professional standard). If this is not the case, you would be entitled to have the poor work put right to a satisfactory standard, or if he has been given a chance to do this and not responded, the cost of getting the work put right elsewhere.
You have already given him reasonable opportunity to put the work right himself, from what you have said, so you now need to move on to claiming the costs of getting the work put right elsewhere. Get two or three quotes for this, so you can prove that the cost you are claiming is reasonable. I would write him one final letter - a letter before action - claiming this cost and giving him a reasonable date by which to pay up or you will be commencing action in the Small Claims Court.
Then it is your decision whether you want to go to court, bearing in mind that even if you win, if he doesn't have the money to pay up you might have further struggles to reclaim what you are owed.
How did you pay him for the work and how much did it cost you?
Please note I'm not insured in this capacity, so if you need to, do get official legal advice.
I payed cash in hand for the work, i no bad and he gave me no receipt and i no bad, i kick my self for it
But i have my bank statements showing the with drawel of the money on and te dates i picked the car up.
This is were i am hesitating on taking this matter further the fact he will make out that he has no money and therefore be hard to get the money back fom him
He is a sole trader, is that were he just works on his own but has his own business name. He has not ever registered the business name and i am sure he doesnt tax him self and he rents a unit
He does own 3 cars though so if i do take him persoanlly would court make him a sell a car to pay me off?
I have got 2 quotes already and both are over £2000 to put is work right and satisfacotory, that show bad the car is :9
I paid £700 but i just didnt no at all what i was getting i put my trust in him to provide a service to me in which he made my car worse
How do i actually go about sueing him personally?
i dont even no where he lives and he will be leaving his unit soon
He has not said he is bankrupt but rumours are about he owes alot of money but then owns 3 cars so i thnk y doesnt he well one?
I have told trading standrds they told me to send the letters in which i did but no reposnse of him they were delivered as i sent them recorded delivery and from the no reposnse bit they told me to take him to the small claims court, i got the papers and started gathering evidence like photos of the car and 2 reports or rectification of work
There are some forums were people have talked about jus having work done by him and worse thing is with taking pictures of his unit its rather far away from me now, he moved about another hour away from were his orginal unit was
The worse thing is he goes around saying stuff like he's not trading and its proving hard to take it further
Hey Amber thanks for pointin gme in the right direction andi do feel like i am going round in circles now
If he's a sole trader he doesn't have to register with Companies House - this is for limited companies only. I would be careful about any allegations about his taxpaying, as well - without any evidence, you won't know what he's paying.
As he is a sole trader, he is personally liable for any failures by his business.
If you get no response to a final letter before action (make it clear in this letter that you will be going to court, even if you later decide not to), then you can begin court action if you choose. If he is still trading you can sue him at his business address. If not, you will need an address for him to sue him.
If you win your case, and he refuses to pay as he has no money, there are paths you can follow such as sending in bailiffs to repossess any goods he has which are non-essential to his business. These will be sold at auction to pay his creditors.
Ultimately you are looking at court action to progress anywhere with this; however there are complications if he genuinely has no money to pay.
Please note I'm not insured in this capacity, so if you need to, do get official legal advice.
You won't like what I am going to say, but it has to be said.
1) Why use a backstreet cowboy in the first place?
2) Why pay cash and not get a receipt?
3) Why have you allowed this to carry on for so long?
4) Taking money out of your bank account doesn't prove anything.
Right it appears that you wanted something done, but were not prepared to pay a fair price for it, hence the reason you went to a backstreet outfit. Your not the first and won't be the last to try and save a few bob. As for going to court forget it, you have no chance of winning unless you can prove 100% that this guy did the work and from what you have said, I don't think you can. It would be so easy for him to deny that he did the work.
Forget about it and put it down to one of lifes many learning curves and move on is my advice.
tlusnoc vbmenu_register("postmenu _643778", true); is correct
no eveidence and he has moved and changed his trading name, so even if he admitted doing the work (unlikey) he would say his original business failed with debts. so you can only look to him personally which wont work as it sounds as if he lives day to day offering cheap services to make enough to live on and no more so he wont even have a great deal of personal money,
i agree here, you paid £700 for a £2000 job and now you want £2000 worth????
if your going to pay less than haf price then you should expect to run into problems, he could argue the job is a reasonble standard for the price paid in comparison to other garages with £2000 quotes
the way modern cars are now refinishing is alway expesive to get "as new" finish and bearing in mind aswell it has been 12 months then it seams you may have noticed so bubles in the paint or similar appear and now want to complain but like i said pay cheap and get cheap results, i dare say the job would have been fine if you intended to sell the car after having it done but the price you paid was never going to give you long lasting results
Thing is i am no expert in body repaire and went to a friend of a friend who had reccomended him to me, he seemed fair at the time and i do hate that comment about u pay for what u get which i dont belive in at all, but everyone has different opinions
after all this now i actually no body shops who charge the same but give 200% more effort and what u get compared to him
I have to say yes it has taken a long time to do but i have had serious personal problems with my life and alot has been put on hold because of this
Anyways thanks for your help and reading this post
Body shop
am in a right state
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