Rogue Trader/Cowboy Builder WARNING ? ?Will? Prestige Property Services (PPS)

[AlexDw]

Dishonest. Incompetent. Unreliable.

I was recommended this person on this forum after appealing for help when it turned out the bathroom of my new house needed replacing pronto as there were bad leaks. These recommendations came through private rather than public messages.

I?m now starting a small claims court claim against him to get my money back; and informing trading standards.

I was over trusting of this forum ? I thought if someone comes recommended by private messages, these must be from real people. I?m not sure this is the case anymore. I wish I had searched the archives of this forum before hiring him ? there are a host of bad reviews. I am angry at myself for being so stupid.

I gave ?Will? (real name Scott Pike) ?850 up front (again, stupid) ? this was 1/3 of the cost of the job. I later gave him ?200 in cash for rubbish collection; and transferred an additional ?359 for 'materials'. Again, I am angry at myself for being so stupid.

I was immediately concerned ? he seemed flaky, not showing up when he said he would, ignoring texts, emails and calls, for days at a time, and he seemed to do very little work.

At one point he called saying he was going to do some tiling, but was going to have a double brandy and coke at the local pub to relax first. ?!

And the subcontracters he hired were equally incompetent ? one ?plumber? caused an incident with the police after getting a ?spade? out on another job (at least this was according to a text from 'Will').

Concerned, I messaged the people who recommended him saying I was worried ? he had been recommended to me as a competent and reliable tradesman, but he seemed anything but.

I then get a text from ?Will? saying he is quitting the job ? he?s heard from two customers I think his work is rubbish, so that?s it, rather than do the job to a high standard, he?s quitting. Leaving me with an unusable bathroom set-up (especially in a house that two people live in!) - the sink is gone from the bathroom; the doors have been removed from both rooms; and the toilet is leaking.

But in hindsight, that has been something of a blessing. Tradesmen who came round to quote in the aftermath of this have described the work done as ?cowboy?; ?worthless?; ?beyond incompetent?. Including wonky wall tiles that would never meet the floor tiles, tiling on the wrong surfaces, unsafe plumbing, and buying the wrong materials. Two have offered to appear as witnesses in court.

I demanded my money back from ?Will? ? saying I would take him to court, and to trading standards unless he does so. He agrees, but this leads to a merry dance ? including the ridiculous lie that he had ?left the money outside my house? (?and so someone must have taken it?)? that hasn?t seen a single penny repaid. So I?m taking him to court.

Inexplicably, this person is still getting private recommendations. The people who are doing these should be ashamed of themselves ? people are losing money and having misery inflicted on them. Although, I strongly suspect these are not genuine, one person appears to have posted almost nothing but recommendations for ?Will?. The ?architect? who always hires ?Will? and has done for years sounds too good to be true. Apparently he has done complete house refits ? but his workmanship is so incompetent I struggle to see how this is possible.

Avoid at all costs. Spread the word.

[Sue]

Really sorry to hear this.

I've been in similar situations but yours sounds worse.

Look at the positive - would you rather be you, a lovely trusting person, or him?

Imagine what that must be like.

[peachy]

Alex, exactly the same thing happened to me just before Christmas. I have the fraud police looking into it. He and his partner came round just before Christmas and they persuaded me to give them ?600 up front. I stupidly obliged thinking that he probably has people letting him down last minute. I asked for references but I believe they are probably all written by him. I then dug a bit further and saw some bad reviews on the forum. I e-mailed these people for advice but did not hear back. I also got in touch with the administrator asking if the people who had recommended were one and the same. I began to get more and more nervous and on the actual day he did not show up. I had taken the day off. Finally at about 2pm we received a response (it was obviously Will/Scott or whatever his real name is) saying that he'd been involved in a small accident and his brother should be with us! We didn't employ his brother to do the job so needless to say we asked for the money back. It's now January and still nothing. Alex I recommend you report it to the police.

I think you'll find the two people who constantly recommend Will from Prestige is actually Will himself.

[peachy]

Alex, see below

If you know anyone else who believes they have been a victim of fraud who wants to report the incident please ask them to complete the online report found at www.actionfraud.police.uk, or phone the contact centre on 0330 303 0800.

[Pugwash]

I take it that this is a different company from Prestige Builders (Jay Gentle) who is a genuine building company of which many EDF readers have used without complaint (including me)

[phobic3000]

Scumbag! It's especially bad if he's using a similar name to a genuine company.

[Fuschia]

What does this guy look like?

[Administrator]

Who recommended them, or where is the recommendation on the forum?

[Administrator]

I believe the recommendations on the forum may have been fake. If you get trading standards/fraud police involved please PM me with their details and crime number, I'm happy to provide any evidence I can gather that that have been gaining business by fraud.

[peachy]

Thanks, I have sent you an e-mail with the Action Fraud helpline reference.

They were recommended on this forum by "lordshiplanegirl" and "JenniferSE22". I also asked for references which I now believe to be fake. I've given all the details to the police. I had been recommended Will and he came round with his "partner" who I believe is called Chris. Will is probably mid 30's and his partner probably in his 60's. His partner didn't look English but not sure of his nationality. I also paid by cash and he asked for the cheque to be made out to Scott Pike. I believe I had a very lucky escape in the fact they didn't do any work on my flat. I had been saving to get my bathroom done for ages and just feel so stupid how I could misjudge someone so badly.

[peachy]

sorry, meant to say I paid by cheque, not cash!

[ernesto]

ther may be others posting bogush reccs for PPS btw

[Administrator]

Is it possible to send me the message by PM please as my inbox is somewhat overloaded and so I don't really read emails.

Just so you know JenniferSE22's email address is prestige-propertyservices@******.com so if 'she' did not disclose that she was Prestige Property Services then they could be guilty of Fraud by false representation (i.e. lying to get your business), http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

I'm making this post sticky for while so it appears at the top of the business section.

[peachy]

Thanks very much, I've just done so.

[Administrator]

I have contacted the Fraud Action Helpline.

If anyone else had had trouble with this company please call the helpline on 0300 123 2040, they will pass the information onto the police. The more information they have the better.

[Jeremy]

Alex, so sorry to hear what happened... having building work done in your home is stressful at the best of times, it must have been an awful experience. And peachy, in some ways you had a lucky escape, but still must have been incredibly frustrating being let down and ripped off like that. I hope this guy gets nailed.

[peachy]

Thanks Jeremy, I really hope they get their come-uppance!

[Salsaboy]

Whilst we're on the subject of questionable recommendations:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1455600

[Administrator]

Thanks for that Salsaboy, action taken.

[AlexDw]

My recommendations also came from "lordshiplanegirl" and "JenniferSE22"

I then had a dialogue with "lordshiplanegirl" that led to 'Will' firstly walking on the job (as he had been told by two good customers I thought his work was rubbish!). And then that continued afterwards, with her robustly defending his work and saying how great he is.

She knew all sorts of details like this being my first house, that Will had allegedly told her.

With hindsight it's obvious - Lordshiplanegirl *is* 'Will'.

'Will' has also used the email address Will Spike will20130@****.com in his correspondence with me.

I don't suppose this matches with any Dulwich Forum accounts does it, Admin?

[Administrator]

That email address corresponds to the user "lordshiplanelaura" who, strangely enough, also recommended Prestige Property Services.

All these fraudulent accounts have been deactivated by the way.

[AlexDw]

Is there a dedicated police officer to this case?

Be better to speak to the same human being, rather than just going through a helpline. I'm wary of this all getting chucked down a black hole.

[peachy]

I have pm'd you.

[peachy]

Admin, I was also supplied references from: mattsmith4563@******.co.uk and chrissymarshal2009@*****.com I wonder if these are one of the same?

[handymaneast dulwich]

Good job Admin for being on the case so quick! sorry to hear about the bad experiences