A cautionary tale picking a handyman from the forum

[easytiger]

I pm'd admin to check out 3 dubious one poster recommendstions about a dulwich plumber who conned us but still have no reply from admin if those one posters were genuine. He just must be too busy. Too bad, hopefully not too many other people will be done over by dodgy plumbers on this forum.

[Alan Medic]

What the heck to you expect admin to do? Check every feckin post on the forum? Use your own common sense. Admin isn't God (who may not even exist if you ever ventured into the drawing room). If you were conned by a plumber who had 3 one post recommendations then you are not old enough to be using the forum. I hope you're in bed, it's nearly 11 o'clock.

[Fuschia]

Administrator Wrote:

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> Fuschia Wrote:

> ----------------------------------------------

> >

> > I did pm admin as well as you

>

>

> No you did not.

I did. Why would I just pm the family room moderator to see if they could help as I had had no response, then wait a couple of months to complain on here that you didn't reply?

I sent several messages over the last few months about this/reported threads. I didn't receive any acknowledgement or reply to any if it apart from the family room moderator above.

Anyway, that's not what I was posting about. I just wanted forum members to take care.

But it does look like some auto response to complaints and reports would be hugely beneficial, to the avoid black hole syndrome!

[Administrator]

No you did not send any PMs about this. When it comes to crimes and this forum I have a great reputation for dealing with them swiftly where possible, go ask the police. I have not received one PM from you about this incident until this week so I'm telling you to stop tarring my reputation by lying.

Easytiger, I did get your message but just never got round to replying, apologies.

[pps]

i agree ,when i do work for anyone i do like to recieve a posting saying they was happy with the way i did they job ,on the other hand if there is something they are not happy about then i would expect them to contact me thus giving me the change to put it right .surely by getting a honest and true recomendation would serve to help other forum users in finding someone suitable for any work they might need doing .me myself have always been given keys to the house and been left to get on with the work ,that alone speaks volumes for my trustworthyness

shambles Wrote:

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> My partner does handyman work for forum users and

> is always grateful if someone takes the time to

> post a recommendation on here. I agree that you

> need to be extremely careful when employing

> someone but if they have done a good job for you

> then it's nice to say so and to let other forum

> users know. I don't understand your point Sue -

> that a tradesman recently asked you to post a

> recommendation and because of that you have been

> put off using them again? Seems a bit mean

> especially if they did some good work for you.

[JimH]

Administrator Wrote:

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> No you did not send any PMs about this. When it

> comes to crimes and this forum I have a great

> reputation for dealing with them swiftly where

> possible, go ask the police. I have not received

> one PM from you about this incident until this

> week so I'm telling you to stop tarring my

> reputation by lying.

>

> Easytiger, I did get your message but just never

> got round to replying, apologies.

Hahah

obviously no "dealing with them swiftly" for Easytiger!!!Just did't get round to it, but apart from that I am proud of my quick response time!! haha

[Administrator]

Easytiger didn't report a crime, ok it was suspicion of a crime but had the police been in touch then it would be different.

[Fuschia]

Admin, can you confirm whether you have received the copy emails from 12th August that I have forwarded to you, please?

I actually contacted the site via the button bottom right on each page. Perhaps that link is malfunctioning?

I have emailed you and pmed directly but you haven't replied, so perhaps it is a technical issue that needs to be fixed?

Thanks

[muffins78]

To be fair or concur what Admin said, the police were able to contact me about a post I made, after they were in touch with Admin for my personal information. He does provide it if the police make the request. Although I realise that is not the point.

This thread is a good one, 99% of the recommendations I've used on here have been fantastic. I had my first disappointment (if you could call it that) recently. But we have to be responsible ourselves and find out more about whoever we are thinking to use. Luckily now, I know who I want to use in terms of plumber, electrician, builder etc.. There's a huge volume of recommendations on here now, which can be mind boggling when you first start to look for a tradesperson. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start a thread on a particular person you use, and let others add their commentary, so everything is almost in one spot??

[reeko]

Something doesn't quite add up here. Fuschia has had what sounds like a pretty awful experience. It just makes no sense that she would not have contacted admin and then started a thread saying she had. Given what she has been through, fuschia seems to have been quite measured on here, even after being accused of lying by admin. It it were me I would probably be a frothing loon by now. if I were a betting woman I would have a fiver on there being some kind of glitch or mix up here.

[Fuschia]

I have forwarded the emails again to admin. They were messages sent via the 'email the forum' button. They were sent on August 12th. I resent them the other day, asking for confirmation they were received. When I got no answer to that, I pmed admin instead. Admin hasn't read the mail.

Perhaps admin is now on holiday or something?

I do find the aggressive tone of admin over this a bit disappointing. You're right, why would I pretend to have informed admin when I hadn't? Especially when the family room moderator did acknowledge a message I sent on 12th August when messages to admin weren't acknowledged.

Anyway, no matter. I have moved away now.

And Terry, I am not so stupid not to realise right away that Helen s is a false account set up by you.

[angelabbie]

I have to agree with you Fuchsia the tone of Admin is rather aggressive and unprofessional. Sorry admin but there clearly is an issue somewhere and I do not think either of you are lying, as above a glitch or some confusion has obviously happened somewhere along the line. Its a shame it has to get so personal. In any case yes, references are essential but even in those cases it can all go wrong. I have had problems with highly recommended contractors and now only use someone who has been used by a friend or colleague. Good luck everyone.

[Administrator]

Sorry, I agree that my tone was overly aggressive, fuschia and I have previous.

So it seems I was sent emails in August not PMs as stated and I don't get to read all of the emails sent to that address because there's so many.

I've now replied to fuschia's PM from two days ago, apologies for the delay.

[reeko]

Admin, putting aside your previous,II have to say that given that it looks like there had been a mix up, and given the ott tone of some of your posts that is a pretty weak apology. I did not know that the mail this forum button send mails to a different place than a pm, and I don't know how fuschia could have known either. Perhaps you should apologise for calling her a liar, not just the delay.

Btw, I know this has naff will to do with me, but OH has broken the telly, so I am at a bit of a loose end.

[StraferJack]

People can tell difference between a pm and an email surely?

We all have email addresses and we all have a pm inbox. We know they aren't same thing right?

[Fuschia]

I must admit I didn't realise that a pm to admin was a reliable form of communication but a message sent via the link on the bottom of each page 'email the forum' was not. It's usually the opposite on forums

I did also report various messages, none of which received any response. Where do those go, then? Do those generate pms, that get looked at, or emails, that don't?

[reeko]

For most users I would agree, but for admin, I would have assumed that all messages to him would go to the same place, for ease of management if nothing else. I didn't know that one route is more likely to be read than another. I would also probably use the terms pm and e mail interchangeably. I fully accept this may be due to me being a bit of a Muppet, but it seem clear to me that this was an honest mix up caused by admin giving less priority to some messages than others, and this not being particularly clear to users. I still think a better apology is in order.

[Fuschia]

And in what way do we have previous? All I can recall is one one occasion I was asked to make some comments on some new format of the forum or something, which I did, and on another occasion I noticed that Edf content as being harvested for some sort of parasite site, and was thanked for bringing it to the attention of the forum.

Am I being confused with someone else?

[Family Room Moderator]

Fuschia Wrote:

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> I did also report various messages, none of which

> received any response. Where do those go, then? Do

> those generate pms, that get looked at, or emails,

> that don't?

When you report a message, each moderator receives two emails to their standard email address (one via their moderator login, and one via their personal one). We can't reply to these system generated emails, so to acknowledge it would have to go onto the forum and PM each person.

Some mornings I wake up to find my email account absolutely flooded with messages, due to a number of forum users who feel its their duty to report every single thing they see. In that case, I tend to ignore anything that doesn't relate to the family room as unfortunately life has to take priority.

So please, if you find yourself about to report a message due to incorrect grammar, capital letters in the title, etc., think twice, as it means important things may be missed.

[hat282]

Recommendations can be tricky - in some ways everyone is only as good as their last job. I have recommended various local businesses and trades people over the years and recently I received a PM regarding a recommendation from last year. Fortunately the recommendation stands but it did make me think that these posts are an enduring resource without there necessarily being any follow up if things had not worked out well.

[lizbells6]

Sue Wrote:

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> They did a very minor job that took them about

> thirty seconds, and charged me thirty pounds :(

>

> It was something I could have done myself if I'd

> realised what needed to be done, but unfortunately

> googling had not brought up the information I

> needed.

?30 for a 30 second repair sounds a lot but most tradespeople have a call out charge to cover costs like travel to and from the work, possibly insurance and office costs. Perhaps the charge should have been made clear when you booked him.

Also you were paying for his knowledge and skill in being able to identify and fix a problem, which you hadn't been able to find out how to do yourself, even though it only took a short time.

[StraferJack]

Given how many people use this site, and how many emails and PMs are generated every day to him (and given he doesn't post often these days so we can assume his normal life is pretty busy) i would suggest that if something awful had happened to me and I wanted to engage him, my first public post on the thread mentioning him wouldn't be so accusatory as:

"I don't know, ask admin. It was pretty awful that on the day the police were round looking at the mess of our car, my pms to admin asking for them to confirm they could provide ip addresses to the police, were not even acknowledged.

They don't seem to care."

That seems fairly antagonistic to me regardless of any mixup in the background. It doesn't even allow for a mixup

It's another reminder of how people take this place for granted. Mentioning professionalism as if this was some subscription service. He might feel his responses warranted an apology but I think he has the patience of a saint

[Jeremy]

As SJ says... it's a free website, nobody's making a living from it. If it doesn't seem professional, that's because it isn't! I feel really bad for fuscia, I would be livid if it happened to me... but surely this is a private matter between her and admin.

[reeko]

SJ I agree with most of what you say. For what admin does, surely they must be drawing up the papers in Rome for a sainthood. This forum is a diamond, largely due to his selfless efforts. When there are disputes and squabbles on here 99.9% of the time I side with admin and how he handles situations. However, even saints make mistakes, and when they do, they should have the good grace to give a decent apology.

Jeremy on this being a private matter - I think it has brought to light an important issue that many users may not be aware of - that the different ways of contacting admin are processed differently.

[Sue]

lizbells6 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sue Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > They did a very minor job that took them about

> > thirty seconds, and charged me thirty pounds :(

> >

> > It was something I could have done myself if

> I'd

> > realised what needed to be done, but

> unfortunately

> > googling had not brought up the information I

> > needed.

xxxxxxx

>

> ?30 for a 30 second repair sounds a lot but most

> tradespeople have a call out charge to cover costs

> like travel to and from the work, possibly

> insurance and office costs. Perhaps the charge

> should have been made clear when you booked him.

>

> Also you were paying for his knowledge and skill

> in being able to identify and fix a problem, which

> you hadn't been able to find out how to do

> yourself, even though it only took a short time.

xxxxxxx

There was little knowledge and no skill involved in this particular case, but that's irrelevant really.

The point of my post was that this person specifically asked me to recommend him on the forum after doing such a small job, which made me realise why he had so many recent recommendations on here.

ETA: And it wasn't a "call-out" charge. It wasn't an emergency and he was on his way back from another job, just called in to look at mine. I wasn't expecting him to fix it there and then, and nor was he.

But again, my point was not about the cost, it was about the request to recommend him. It wasn't asked in any sort of intimidating way, but many people might have felt they had to comply in order to "keep in with him".