(FAKE) Recommendation Patrick P&T

[P_W]

Dear EDmumma and all other users,

I wanna make a few things clear...

First of all u signed a contract with us weeks ago and payed a deposit of ?350 NOT ?1300!!!!!!!! Please dont lie!!!!

We still got all the paper work and proofs!!!

Secondly when signing a contract and leaving a deposit usually its not right to cancel on LAST MINUTE!! Thats what the contract and deposit is for...

Also I do have a insurance and you know as I showed you...

Calling and putting us under pressure saying if we pay back the money in 24h you wont send us to court and will write to the EDF again is not the right way to do and then keep lying on here again... hmmm...

Also getting other ppl involved is not nice at all!!!

So please I lost lots of jobs and received lots of cancellations bcs of this made up story!!!

I've never ever experienced something like that before coz I m an honest and reliable person/tradesman!!!! I m very disappointed about that coz you make me look like a very bad person... You have put me in a very bad position and ruined my business...

Thanks

Patrick

[edcam]

Patrick - if your business is above board why did your girlfriend post multiple fake recommendations?

[EDmumma]

Dear Patrick,

I am very surprised that you have chosen to address me publicly. You will see that I was very scarce about any details I posted but as you have insisted in telling your side of the story, allow me to do the same.

The following is the claim for court proceedings that was due to be submitted at 5pm Friday 20th December. Having received the money it was NOT submitted, however it provides a summary of the events that took place and letters that were written based on sound legal advice.

Attached are two photos - what our kitchen looks like (then and now) and our dining room. Noting that temperatures are below freezing in London right now, and we have two babies 5 months and 19 months - so not having a kitchen or dining room is very distressing.

Request the return of ?1300 deposit from P&T Building Services (Patrick Walsh & Tony Avergis) due to breech of contract

In early November we noticed water damage in our kitchen due to flooding which we believe was from the St Jude?s Day storm of Sunday 28th & Monday 29th October 2013.

We contacted our insurance company who sent a surveyor to assess the damage and cost of repairs. We were given the option of using the insurance company contractors, or sourcing our own local service providers. Having had a bad experience with builders in 2010*, I went on to the East Dulwich forum and read the reviews of recommended services in the area. Four companies came to the house for site inspection and provided quotes to repair the damage.

I was very impressed with the punctuality and friendliness of Patrick Walsh and Tony Avergis from P&T Building Services who visited the house on up to six occasions in the planning and preparation for building works. Because of their high level of professionalism, we decided to engage their services to re-fit other parts of the kitchen (replacing old kitchen cabinets), which we were paying for independently of and in addition to the water damage repair. The cost of engaging P&T Building services for 7-10 days was agreed at ?3480.

On the evening of Monday 2nd December 2013 Patrick and Tony turned up at my house asking for a 30% deposit to guarantee the work would commence that week. I said I would pay this via bank transfer and Tony wrote down his personal bank details. On Tuesday I received a message asking why the transfer had not taken place that morning. A receipt of bank transfer for ?1300 and a Service Agreement were emailed to Tony on Wednesday 4th December. He acknowledged receipt of the email via a text message at 10.06am (04.12.13).

Work was due to commence at 9.00am on Thursday 5th December 2013.

At 11.00am I received a phone call from Patrick saying that they would not be coming as Tony had spent the night (04.12.13) in hospital with his girlfriend. I asked why I hadn?t been contacted sooner and why Patrick could not come and get started. To which he replied that he ?was still finishing another job at Rachel?s house?. At 4pm he said he did not know what was going on with Tony but promised they would both turn up to start at 11am on Friday (mentioning he would be at Rachel's house again in the morning from 7.30am finishing there, then coming over).

Patrick arrived at 1pm on Friday and said he had not heard from Tony and was unsure what was going on. I asked again could he get started by removing shelving units etc. to demonstrate that work would take place. He said no, that they would start on Monday.

I questioned how could he be sure they would start Monday if he didn't know where Tony was or what was going on. Patrick said he was also concerned that he might lose money because of not knowing Tony?s whereabouts. This alarmed me and at this point I asked for our deposit to be returned.

An online search revealed that a Tony Avergis of Croydon had been declared bankrupt in 1993.

I telephoned the Consumer Advice Helpline and received legal advice to send a letter via recorded delivery requesting the deposit be returned immediately due to breech of contract under the legislation: supply of goods and services act 1982. I was also made aware that because we did not receive written documentation that allowed for a 7 day cooling off period, P&T Building Services were in breech of the Doorstep Selling Regulations. Letter sent 06.12.13 recorded delivery.

Our first contact with Tony was at 1.45pm on Saturday 7th December. He said he was out of town and couldn?t contact us earlier because his girlfriend had been diagnosed with cancer.

An agreement was made over the phone, a summary of which was emailed immediately afterwards (07.12.13), that Tony would return the ?1300 over the weekend or by Monday 9th December at 3pm by the latest. We would then draw up a new service agreement and pay the money in instalments as a day rate (for the ?3480 as agreed). A summary of this was also sent via sms to Patrick who acknowledged receipt of the message.

At this point we thought we had an amicable agreement in place. We offered a way for P&T Building services to restore our trust, as well as complete the work and get paid ? starting as soon as the deposit was returned.

The money was not returned and a message from Tony stated that ?No agreement has been made yet!!! I said I would call you to discuss this,. You have over reacted to a normal situation, u have broken our contact (sic) not me, you have now made this a legal matter, if you would just like to converse with my barristers please let me know?? (2.21pm 09.12.13).

With the threat of legal action, I telephoned the Consumer Advice Helpline who forwarded the case to the Department of Trading Standards (case number 11724846). On Tuesday 10th December I sent P&T Building services a letter informing them of this action and again requesting a return of the deposit.

On Thursday 12th December 2013, it was revealed that all of the recommendations for P&T Building Services on the East Dulwich forum were posted by the same person posing as different aliases. On discovering this, the eight (8) different user accounts were immediately terminated by the forum administrator (8.26pm) and their IP address banned (evidenced by letter from EDF forum administrator).

Again I telephoned the Consumer Advice Helpline asking what the legal implication was for fraud by false representation. The issue was referred to the Advertising Standards Authority for ongoing investigation: according to the advertising rules ?marketers must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial or endorsement used in a marketing communication is genuine? (CAP Code 3.45).

I was advised to send a final letter before claim (sent 14.12.13) and informed that our local Trading Standards Service (Southwark) does not offer an arbitration service, leaving us no alternative but to proceed with court action against Patrick Walsh and Tony Avergis from P&T Building Services to reclaim our ?1300 deposit for breech of contract.

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*As an aside, because of the previous bad experience in 2010, I was much more thorough about paperwork this time - having a service agreement in place, checking insurance papers etc. I have a record of every text message, email and phone call - including the abusive PMs via this forum.

My parting message is this:

DON'T EVER F*CK WITH AN EAST DULWICH MUM!!!

[EDmumma]

post script:

Patrick is a really lovely and likeable guy, I was especially impressed with how he engaged with my kids and as a married man and father of four, I thought he was in a good position to understand that a kitchen is the heart any family home.

It is regrettable that this event took place. I expect it was a one-off and we have all learned something from it.

[eberg]

That's the end of him then.