Thanks very much

Thanks for your replies. What worries me is that the decorator may decide at a later date that he wants payment, after I have paid someone else to sort out the mess? I dont really want him back but am not suer if I have to give him the opportunity to to protect myself from comebacks from him? I wonder if he is in fact capable of sorting the issues to a professional standard. I am out of pocket for the materials but will take that on the chin I suppose as to recover the costs may be a bit problematic. The house was built about 5 years ago and the walls were last painted when it was built. There was no rubbing down and only a little bit of filling after he had put the main colour on and I pointed out where it was required. Thanks Sam

Strange as it may sound, yes..... the decorator took payment in advance for the materials and then left the job without any further payment, I didnt even refuse to pay him he just left without a word.

Hi, This is my first post here so I hope its in the appropriate place. This is a lengthy post so I apologise in advance! Last week me and my wife decided to have the hall stairs and landing painted in our house, we've never used a decorator before but due to the fact we live in a town house I was quite daunted by painting the high bits of the staircase. I found an advert in the local paper and contacted the decorator who came round that day to give me a quote. He quoted £480 plus materials at £150. A day or two later I called him and accepted and he called round to pick up the £150 for the materials. He started this Monday, the alarm bells started to ring when he went straight to the painting stage without doing any preparation which wasnt what I was expecting, but trusting he was an expert I let him crack on. On Wednesday my wife called me to say that he had finished and was leaving but that she wasnt happy with the job. Not wanting to confront the decorator on her own (although he was a nice enough guy) I phoned him and asked him to come back this morning when I would be there. I got home and had a look at the job and was frankly astounded at the poor quality of the work. The lack of preparation in both the walls and the woodwork really showed, the cutting in also was terrible. The guy came roun this morning and I pointed out the many bits I wasn't happy with. In fairness he went round and addressed each issue (not to my satisfaction but he did try). About lunchtime he told me that he was finished and I walked round again. I wasnt over joyed at the finished job but I thought we could live with it, I did however notice that the walls were patchy in lots of places (again i presume this was down to lack of preparation) I pointed this out and asked if he would give it another roller coat at which point he said he would but didn't look happy. He then packed his van without a word and left..... Im a bit confused as to where i stand now. I have only paid the materials and have been left with an awful painting job... Any advice would be most welcome. Kind Regards Sam