can any one help please

[graham]

Hello all,im a self employed window repair man,last 3 days i have been working a round a ladies house as far as i was concerned every thing was fine un till today at 6.00 she called me and asked me not to come back and she will not be paying me either ,the whole job is £1300 but i have asked for £500 ,i understand she has the right not to have me work in her house,but she has gave me to chance to put right the so called complaints ,and i beleive as most of the hard work is done she is trying to tuck me up,where will i find out about my rights as a trades man?

Is my only action going to court?

[poppynurse]

Have you got anything in writing? Did you give her a quote or estimate which she accepted? Has she said why she doesn't want you to continue?

[Bookworm]

She can cancel the contract, but can not refuse to pay you for the work already done.

 

You need to protect yourself by getting it in writing that she wants to cancel the rest of the work, otherwise, she could pursue you later by saying you never finished the job. I would strongly advise not to communicate by phone any more, and only in letters.

 

I suggest writing to her something on the lines of: "I understand from our phone conversation of (date) that you no longer wish the job to be completed, this is to confirm that I have done x, y and z so far, and that a, b and c still need doing. Bill for xyz is £xxx, which remains outstanding at today's date, and for which I expect payment within x days."

 

If the reasons she doesn't want you back is because she is not happy about the standards, yes, you should be given the opportunity to set things right, and she has the right to withhold payment until then.

 

Let us know how you get on.

[midge61]

This happened to my other half 6years ago.

 

He was a self employed landscaper and the people he was doing job for let him get to the last week and when he asked for payment they refused.

 

we sent a letter asking for payment and giving them 2 weeks to sort it out.

 

Next we got call from TS and the people had made a complaint saying oh work was shoddy etc.

 

TS were very sympathetic (the people had done this before to a windows company) but as a sole trader you have no rights. If you are Ltd company you are ok.

 

Upshot was they got a report from another (very expensive ) firm and on the strengh of that they had the right to get the whole job redone at full cost to oh and he would also be held responsible for future repairs over the next 6 or 10 (can't remember without checking) years!

 

Ts told oh that Ltd company can be bought cheaply and if you want to work for yourself you should do this.

 

OH had to declare bankcruptcy to escape these people!