dodgy spray job problem

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Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Hi guys, bit of advice please. (I know there are countless times Ive been and idiot along the way with nothing being put on paper)

Had my car resprayed last year by a chap recommended to me from someone at work. cost was £1000 if I stripped it down and built it back up again after.

I agreed to this in person, should of had it on paper I know.

had the job done and in the end was pretty st in all honesty, was promised paint like glass and its FULL of orange peel and wasn't even primed, just flatted, base coat, top coat and laquer.

I thought at the end, well it was a cheap job, my fault, lesson learned for the future. when it came to paying he's tried to charge me another 600quid! for doing extra layers I never even asked for even though I paid for the paint also.

I paid him what I agreed in cash then had some ill health and felt so annoyed about the whole thing I didnt face him again (again I know I should have confronted him about it all but I'm not that type, and feel annoyed at myself for being such an idiot and trusting people)

fast forward 12months and I've just had a call off a debt agency for the outstanding amount, now the thing is, neither of us have any evidence of what was agreed and pricing etc so neither of us really have a leg to stand on, other than I could probably get a report saying that the paint job wasnt up to scratch and get trading standards involved?

I'm not one for doing people over, I run a business and work hard to earn my money and do so in an honest way, but any advice for going forward would be appreciated.

dingg

3,974 posts

218 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
nothing in writing ?

he's trying it on.

write to debt company setting out the basis of the agreement , you have paid in full and consider the debt honoured. This is the end of the matter.

Would not go down the road of poor workmanship tbh - you should have complained at the time and not 12 mths later

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
dingg said:
nothing in writing ?

he's trying it on.

write to debt company setting out the basis of the agreement , you have paid in full and consider the debt honoured. This is the end of the matter.

Would not go down the road of poor workmanship tbh - you should have complained at the time and not 12 mths later
I know I should have complained, but I knew nothing would come of it, I paid for quite expensive paint so I knew he wouldn't re-do it, and even if he did would most likely be crap again.

will await the email from them and let them see my side of it and see what happens, cant see how he has much of a leg to stand on, but as said, neither do I really.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
I agree with the others, he is just totally trying it on.

Write to the collection agency and say you have paid the agreed amount in full, and therefore you do not wish to hear from them again.

Durzel

12,232 posts

167 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
As an aside - why would you pay for expensive paint and then get a cheap as chips respray? I'm not in any way an expert but I've always been led to believe that prep & experience is everything with painting. Expensive paints can be made to look crap, and average paints can look spectacular.

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Durzel said:
As an aside - why would you pay for expensive paint and then get a cheap as chips respray? I'm not in any way an expert but I've always been led to believe that prep & experience is everything with painting. Expensive paints can be made to look crap, and average paints can look spectacular.
it was expensive as it was spectraflair paint, so its just that the colour is expensive to buy, and I was led to believe he was of good quality but doing it cheap as my partner had helped him out getting better service from his parts supplier.

The company is censored, who your right are probably just trying it on, my only fear is if he is making out I now owe him 2K he might try and take it to court

ETA

No names please.

Edited by Big Al. on Wednesday 20th May 18:08

btcc123

1,243 posts

146 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Rib said:
it was expensive as it was spectraflair paint, so its just that the colour is expensive to buy, and I was led to believe he was of good quality but doing it cheap as my partner had helped him out getting better service from his parts supplier.

The company is censored, who your right are probably just trying it on, my only fear is if he is making out I now owe him 2K he might try and take it to court
In your original post you said the guy was recommended by someone at work and you have not seen him since you paid for the respray.

Now you say that your partner helped him out getting a better deal on paint..A bit confusing.

Edited by jeremyc on Wednesday 20th May 18:29

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
btcc123 said:
Rib said:
it was expensive as it was spectraflair paint, so its just that the colour is expensive to buy, and I was led to believe he was of good quality but doing it cheap as my partner had helped him out getting better service from his parts supplier.

The company is censored, who your right are probably just trying it on, my only fear is if he is making out I now owe him 2K he might try and take it to court
In your original post you said the guy was recommended by someone at work and you have not seen him since you paid for the respray.

Now you say that your partner helped him out getting a better deal on paint..A bit confusing.
right partner worked at a car spares place, who one of her bosses was having work done there and generally quite a fussy bloke so was told that he would do us a good deal as it would then help him out with extra benifits from teeh spares place, that was the reason it was cheap. Was writing on my phone earlier so couldnt be arsed in all honesty to type it all out but just gave the basic details. As it happened his job was probably even stter than mine and wasnt happy about it. she no longer works for the compay so doesnt see him anymore.

plus as stated, I was paying for the paint (about 700 quid) and stripping it down and rebuilding it back up as part f the deal, being a convertible there wasnt a huge amount to be done, so wasnt quite 'cheap as chips'

As said, I know with hindsight/experience its my own fecking fault for not getting stuff down in writing etc but its too late now, I just need to see whether there is anyway way for him to try and claim nearly 2K off me for which I dont owe him

Edited by Rib on Wednesday 20th May 13:29


Edited by jeremyc on Wednesday 20th May 18:29

BertBert

18,954 posts

210 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Just to understand the sums...

You agreed to pay £1000 for the spray job
You agreed to buy the paint at £700 (from him or direct from supplier?)
He asked for another £600

You have paid the £1000 to painting company plus the £700 (to paint supplier or painting company) for the paint?

If you have nothing at all in writing, how did the conversation go?

"It'll be about a grand"
"Do it for £1000 fixed price"

Or other?

Bert


Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Just to understand the sums...

You agreed to pay £1000 for the spray job
You agreed to buy the paint at £700 (from indie paint supplier)

job done then he says its 1600 because he did 5 layers of top coat instead of the 2/3 we agreed when we did a sample peice ( never agreed to 5 layers)

You have paid the £1000 to painting company plus the £700 (to paint supplier or painting company) for the paint?

If you have nothing at all in writing, how did the conversation go?

"It'll be about a grand, unless you have expensive paint which costs more to buy" I replied, no worries, do you want me to buy the paint or shall I buy it?, to which he told me to pay for it.

so in actual fact it SHOULD be less as I paid for half the materials

Now I have an invoice for £1600 plus VAT being emailed to me



MrBarry123

6,025 posts

120 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Tell him to fk off and go and buy a watercolour set.

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
sorry if I am rambleing here and there, this is the 1st time in my life I have ever had any issue with somethig like this and feel quite shaken/shocked by it. I am not one for confrontations, generally they lead to stress which then causes a flare up in my health so its just not worth it to me, but Im not paying that scumbag any more of money unless I have to

BertBert

18,954 posts

210 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Have you paid him £1000 (+VAT)?

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
BertBert said:
Have you paid him £1000 (+VAT)?
paid him £1000, he said to me at the time he wasnt even VAT registered as I enquired about getting some insurance work done on my work van by him, but as he wasnt VAT registered he couldnt.

I have checked the VAT number on his invoice and it does say its a legitimate number but not when it was valid from or who for etc

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Rib said:
I have checked the VAT number on his invoice and it does say its a legitimate number but not when it was valid from or who for etc
Can you look it up here?

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
Vaud said:
That's what I checked, but it doesn't say when he applied for it or was indeed first registered

btcc123

1,243 posts

146 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
So you paid £700 for the paint and another £1000 to spray the car as agreed verbally and paid in cash.

If he wants another £600 why do you have an invoice for £1600 plus VAT being emailed to you.

I would just E-mail back to say that you have paid the agreed amount and will not be getting any more money.

So it was a cash deal so why does he include VAT now.I would tell him that if he continues to ask for more money you will inform the tax authorities that his business does cash deals and probably does not pay tax or VAT as they should.

Be careful what you put in a E-mail though.

Alucidnation

16,810 posts

169 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
quotequote all
If there is no invoice or scrap of paper that he gave you when the job was done, how does he prove he did work on your car at all?

Rib

Original Poster:

2,548 posts

188 months

Thursday 21st May 2015
quotequote all
a letter has now come stating I owe over 2700 quid! I can only think they are trying to panic me into paying something as there is just no logic behind it all. spoke to solicitors yesterday and they are dealing with the reply basically saying any further correspondence shall be done through the courts or to leave me alone. he seemed nice enough when I 1st got to know him but its looking like hes a very dodgy character indeed. will see what happens, whilst I have little evidence, neither does he and IF it went to the courts its up to him to convince the judge that a proffesional local businessman is trying to screw over a dodgy back street garage. hmmmm......

Autopilot

1,298 posts

183 months

Thursday 21st May 2015
quotequote all
Is it a legitimate Debt Collection Agency or just somebody (one of his mates) with some fancy stationery? The reason I ask is because while I've never used a debt collection agency, I'd have thought you'd probably need to demonstrate to them that what you're chasing is actually yours to chase and is a genuine debt.

I don't see how I could go to a collection agency, tell them that you owe me some money and them just start pestering you.