DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

What is a rogue trader?

Rogue traders pretend to be trades or sales people offering various goods and services to you in your home. Most of the time they carry out poor work and sometimes massively overcharge you. They often prey on the vulnerable and the elderly.

Doorstep scams, what to look out for?

Cold callers

Scammers may target you in your home by cold calling at your property offering you services such as roofing, gardening, driveways, damp proofing and TV aerial installation.

They may start by quoting you a small amount for the work to be carried out. They will often trick you into trusting them and then increase the costs when they start. They may tell you work needs doing when it’s not required.

Bogus Callers

These are people who will call at your home and pretend to be the waterboard, the council or a similar organisation. These bogus callers are actually burglars trying to get easy access to your home. NEVER let know one into your home if you have your doubts. Don’t trust them based on your ID as it could be a fake.

Bogus mobility equipment sellers

These potential scammers will usually arrange an appointment before visiting your home. They will often claim to be working with social services and say you are due mobility assessment. These are actually companies who will send sales people in to your home. They will try and pressure you into buying equipment that you may not need and could get somewhere you a lot cheaper.

Bogus home security sellers

These scammers often work in a similar way to mobility seller, but these may claim to be working with the police your or local council, offering free security checks. Again, they will send you a sales person and once they are in your home they will try and pressure you into buying an expensive alarm system. They put added pressure on you by claiming the price is ‘only available today’ when actually you may find a similar system elsewhere a lot cheaper.

What are you rights?

You have 7 days to cancel any contract to have signed in your home. This will be your cooling off period, designed to give you a chance to change your mind.

If the trader fails to give you your cancellation rights in the correct legal way they CANNOT enforce the contract and they could be prosecuted.

Its illegal for a trader to force you to sign away your cancellation rights

Never let the trader to start work there and then. Give yourself to think is this something you really want.

Never pay for work prior to completion. A legitimate trader will never ask for anything more than a deposit. You may be asked though to pay for materials.

Ask for a receipt detailing all the work that has been completed. If a trader refuses to do this, don’t pay them and call your local trading standards.

Great advice - generally i would suggest that if someone has approuched/found you to sell their service, be wairy. Its better to instead source someone through recommendation, web back ground check, accrediation, check their previous works. If someones knocking the door look for business, theris normally a reason - the best builders etc that i have found dont even advertise, their always busy and you got to find them.

Don't forget DIY Doctor is committed to helping you avoid Cowboy Builders and Rogue Traders, we have a number of tools to help you find a tradesman, check quotes, and protect your money including a free Desired Outcome Contract and free Price Doctor quote checking software. We call it Home Improvers Protection Solution https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/home-improv ... lution.htm

I have to agree with these suggestions, my uncle recently had someone at his door offering services. It was always our thought that if someone was quality, they would have people come to them instead of having to seek them out – especially when the lad suggested that he had twelve years of experience in the industry.

Lovely post! I think I came across Bogus Callers who were promising to give out the best home renovation services. Thankfully, I got saved with the help of a professional in my neighborhood.