Ah, I see. He does have a habit of doing this kind of thing apparently, from what I can gather. I was looking to warn whomever it might be. Well...I've warned him in a text that bailiffs might well be on their way soon. We'll see what he does/says next.

I found those too, but couldn't see anything he'd commented on.

I think that's him, yes. The address I had was in Sandway, so not a million miles from Ashford - so very likely. I can't find a post from him on there, so assume he has me blocked/banned (I don't really use Facebook much). Whoever it is needs warning!

Ha, well, fair enough. I've done what you said, and I've sent him a message saying that the next step will be to send bailiffs if he continues to ignore me. Time will tell... Thanks for the responses. Hope everything is going well.

This is the issue. I have obviously never met his mother - she might be a perfectly lovely woman who is concerned that her son appears to be ripping people off. I don't want to add that kind of stress to someone. I've been on the other end of it, and it's not much fun.

I think you're right. He seemed like a nice bloke, but I think he must have some kind of problem, as I was fronting him materials per room plastered (Aside from the doors), and then paying him on completion of the plastering - again per room. Almost immediately after paying him (a day or two), he'd have problems getting back to the job due to having no money for petrol. I helped him out with this on more than one occasion. The last thing I wanted was to kick a man when he was down, but then came across facebook posts of people looking for him - he'd supposedly taken £1000 as a deposit from someone's grandmother, and then not returned to do the job. Another claimed that she'd had to take him to court for £3000 for unfinished work etc... I'm in two minds. I still don't want to kick someone who's having a hard time, but I feel that someone with a skill like plastering at the moment, should be able to make a killing legitimately without having to resort to this kind of thing. I'm inclined now to go the bailiff route, if only to put the wind up him a little. If it means risking another 50 quid, so be it.

His name is Gary Kellar, and the claim (including costs), is now £386.00.

He does not own a house. In our agreement, the address he gave was that of his mother's house, as he was "in between" places.

Hi. I had a plasterer come to do plastering for me - gave me a quote which was very reasonable and I accepted. Unfortunately, the condition of the walls was such that he couldn't prepare them until they were dry (long story), and he levelled with me that he wanted to get the job done quickly as he needed the money, but couldn't, in all conscience start work when the walls were damp as the job would only be good for a few months, or a year at best. So, in the meantime, I was also replacing all doors and door frames. I asked him to quote me for that job too, and I accepted his quote and asked him to start on that immediately whilst the walls were drying (I had hired dehumidifiers). I gave him the money for the materials up-front: 7 door frame kits and 7 doors. After a few days he did not return to the job, and eventually messaged me to inform me that he had lost his driving licence for 4 months. I said, "tell me that you ordered the door kits, and I will fit them myself". He replied that he had spent the money. At this point, he and I, between us had removed all the doors and rotting door frames, so I had no doors at all. I begrudgingly fronted the doors and frame kits again - this time having them delivered directly. He then returned a little while later and actually did a reasonable job. I then wrote an agreement between us, giving him 3 months to return the money I had fronted him for the doors etc...which he and I both signed and had witnessed. Upon reaching the date in the agreement, he then said that he didn't have the money. I gave him an extra month to pay it back to me. Since then, he ignored all messages, and I, of course, still didn't have the money, so I sent him a letter giving him 28 days to pay up, or I would take him to court. He ignored it, so I started proceedings against him. It had now been another month, and there has been no acknowledgement and/or defence, and as such I applied for judgement and was awarded it. It has since come to light that he has done similar things to many other people, and for far larger sums than I fronted him. Initially, I was going to leave it there, but, in honesty, I feel that rogue traders like this should be taught that taking money from people then ignoring them is NOT on. Judgement was issued last week. So, my question is...what next?

Hi. Thanks for this. I will do exactly that. The losses to me are almost negligible - well, around 2k in interest etc... It's the extra stamp duty that the poor buyers of my uncle's property are going to have to stomach if this doesn't get sorted shortly, that is the big financial loss.

Well, I'm not having that luck. A quick google shows that I'm not the only one either. It's very hit and miss it seems. Currently, I'm looking for some recourse, as this is eating my and my sister's inheritance up in interest and government fees, when it should have been a cut and shut case.

I started by doing it myself. Did exactly the same (aside from the forms were actually online - they complete the same paper forms and you get a PDF that looks the same as if you had filled them in physically). Did the inventory, and then the tax forms etc... everything was fine until they lost the will (which was sent by the most recorded/tracked/guaranteed service as well - apparently didn't get there). Before I sent the will, I made copies (there was a copy already, stamped COPY), and I took a video of every page to prove it hadn't been tampered with in case it was lost. I must have had a premonition or something, as it was lost, but they sent me an email saying that they had received it, so I thought no more of it. I've taken the whole thing back once already, and then passed it to the solicitor (actually the firm that has been linked above). If I do it again, that will be the fourth time (one application, one lost will questionnaire and subsequent application, and the application from the solicitor). I don't think it will speed things up at all. I think the probate office/service has collapsed due to the "streamlining" and the shutting of sub-offices (in the middle of a pandemic - smart!). It's no longer fit for purpose, but nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. My MP is as helpful as a chocolate teapot, the ombudsman is just as slow and has already said that delays are not worth looking into. Over 98% of probate solicitors surveyed by the Public Services Union, say the on-line application process isn't fit for purpose, and 57% have said that they have seen house sales fall through due to delays since 2019. There has to be someone in government that wants to sort this out.

That's my issue. I have no clue where we are and neither does my solicitor. It's like a black hole. I had to get a solicitor as dealing with the probate office (or rather the outsourced call centre) is hell on earth and I was not in a mental state to be able to deal with the incompetence any longer. I simply couldn't take the 2 hour queues coupled with the idiots on the other end when you finally got through. One even answered with "S'up blud?" on one occasion. Another told me to send documents to the wrong address and then another berated me for doing so. It was time to pass the baton to someone used to dealing with them. We're now 7 months down the line, which is considerably longer than the 8 weeks, or even the 3-4 months stated elsewhere. There appears to be nobody that can be contacted. I even wrote to my MP who said that he can't get involved, although to start with simply said "get a solicitor". There's a waiting period of something like 3 months for the ombudsman etc... so it seems that they can simply throw wills in the bin, ignore applications and just take the money and run...with impunity.

Cheers. Yes. When we applied, it was supposed to be delays of 8 weeks. That's now changed, but this seems somewhat excessive for a very simple application. There's no tax to pay, no other descendants, nobody contesting, and my sister and I are the natural beneficiaries in any case, "lost" will or not.

...or it would be if it were funny. Sadly, my uncle died in July of last year, at which time we applied for probate. I enlisted 3 estate agents to value his property so as to find a value for the inheritance tax forms, and was told by one of them to put it on the market as soon as possible as it takes as long to get a completion date as it does a grant of probate. Having never been through this before, I believed him (and to be fair, I believe he thought he was telling the truth). In any case, the property sold within hours of going on the market (Sold, subject to probate). I then saw a flat for sale close to where I live now, and asked the estate agent if I could put an offer in "subject to probate" - she agreed that this was quite common, and so I did. The offer was accepted. We then, after 8 weeks (the probate office refuse to talk to you until 8 weeks has passed) and much faffing around with hours and hours spent in phone queues, discovered that the email they send a few days after applying that says "we have received your supporting documents" actually means "We have your electronic application". I took the former to mean that they had received my uncle's will - which they hadn't. Someone, somewhere had lost it. The post office blamed them, they blamed the post office, yada yada yada... The short and curlies of it was that meant we had to them complete a "lost will" questionnaire, which we did, and then posted it special delivery (as we had the original will) to the address they had given. Another 8 weeks passed, and finally I was able to talk to someone...who informed me that they had given me the incorrect address and that I need to send a copy to Manchester, and also to withdraw my initial application as we no longer had a copy of the will. At this point, I gave up and enlisted a probate solicitor. They told me to withdraw my application, which I did, both in writing and then followed up by a phone call to make sure they had it (was in the phone queue for 2 hours and 16 minutes). Then, 12 weeks later, I am chasing my solicitor for an update (they had since changed the "Won't talk to you for 8 weeks" to "Won't talk to anyone at all until 12 weeks has passed"). At that point they were informed that they hadn't actually withdrawn my initial application, and that they were sorry. Sorry. Yes. So, every week since then, I have been asking my solicitor for an update as the buyers of my uncle's house, quite understandably want to complete before the stamp duty holiday, and it transpires that the probate office hadn't even made a start on our application. All the while, my uncle's estate is being eaten up in interest on a "equity release" loan that is still running. In the small print it says that they will apply for something or other to take control of the house if probate is not issued within 12 months of the policy holder dying. I thought at the time that 12 months was ample time for such a simple application, but it seems I was wrong. Our application has now been to the London office, then Manchester. I discovered that was in Newcastle, and today I received an email telling that it's on it's way to Cardiff, and nobody knows why. To top it off, the seller of the flat has since died, and his brother is now having to apply for probate in order to sell the flat to me. I realise that the probate office is under a lot of pressure, they claim to have in excess of 500 extra applications a week, but this level of incompetence seems criminal to me. Does anyone know what my options are?