A resident of the London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has been safeguarded from a suspected rogue roofer after the local Trading Standards service stepped in.
The resident had contacted the roofer after receiving a leaflet through their letterbox advertising roofing repair and maintenance services.
Initially the trader had quoted a price of £700 to fix a few roof tiles; however, following a site visit, that amount shot up to £7,000. The trader piled on the pressure to pay, calling the resident 40 times in one morning to chase payments.
Feeling under ‘extreme pressure’, the resident had already paid one instalment before reaching out to Trading Standards. Officers immediately visited the resident’s home and, using their phone, called the builder to inform him that no further payment would be made before written details of the work and the material costs were provided. They also said the police would be informed.
“Unsurprisingly, there was no further contact from the trader,” said Hammersmith & Fulham Trading Standards Team Manager, Marcella Donegal. “After we were contacted, we were able to intervene and minimise the resident’s losses.”
No paperwork was ever produced, and the legal name of the business was never revealed.
Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion and Community Safety at Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Cllr Rebecca Harvey, said: “Our Trading Standards team is working hard to protect residents from doorstep scams like this. This is the latest example of some of the work we are doing as a council to help make H&F a stronger, safer and kinder borough.”
