dodgy spray job problem

[Rib]

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.

[Rib]

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.

[Rib]

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 , 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

[Rib]

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 , 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

[Rib]

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

[Rib]

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

[Rib]

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

[Rib]

Vaud said:

Can you look it up here?

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

That's what I checked, but it doesn't say when he applied for it or was indeed first registered

[Rib]

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......

[Rib]

Hi, I asure you that is the series of events. he did chase me for the extra money for a while but stuck to my guns and wasn't paying more than agreed.

The 'invoice' he's included doesn't even have my reg or mileage on so I'm guessing he's just made it up just for the debt people and can't remember it.