Lords Roofing Company in Bury - Job's a Good 'Un?

[Oli'sMum]

I needed studio roof fixed in 2014 and found a company that could do the work.

The salesman, named Jim, came to the property and confirmed that he had done work at my workplace, a school, a local company and at ca Salford Hospital.

These seemed good credentials. The team employed came out and did the work for me over as series of weeks and my husband made a total payment of £5500.00 to the  company in Cash in hand. 

 

I started to notice that the roof wasn't up to standard pretty quickly as it continued to leak after the job.

I contacted the suspect's company several times over the next 3 years so that they could come out and fix this for me.

The firm's employees and once, the owner, Fergus himself came out and advised me that the roof was now fixed but it never was.

 

The company reinvented itself at some point and Jim continued to contact me as he now worked for another company, suggesting he could fix the roof.

I ignored this.

I had a guarantee.

 

I continued to contact the company by email, including photographs taken of the state of the work at the beginning of 2019 but had no response or reply.

Another roofer was employed. and he found substandard workmanship and materials, even non galvanised nails.

 

I telephoned the company prior to the roof being repaired and spoke to a secretary, Rachel who was pleasant at first but in subsequent calls became dismissive and seemed to be making decisions on behalf of the management

At no time did the Fergus or anyone from his company respond to my request.

 

On leaving negative reviews on Google and Yell, I was contacted by email within HOURS and instructed to remove the reviews after Rachel had taken advice from CORC, as Lords was a member.

 

I sought advice and have made my own investigations.

I sought advice from Citizen's Advice and my friend encouraged me to go for small claims.

I asked if I would get anything if the company went bust and I was told to call Companies House.

I found that Lords Roofing (and 2 other companies run by Fergus) had been dissolved for malpractice.

I was advised to report this to Action Fraud by Companies House. 

 

I have since discovered that the addresses registered at CH are either not used or empty.

One of my letters of complaint has been signed for by Lords at a Unit in Bolton , which is occupied by a second hand business.

The address advertised by Google is not occupied by Lords and is to Let.

The 'home' address of Mr Parks is not his and another company is there according to google, the property is up for sale.

 

So, the guarantee I have is worth nothing and any legal papers cannot be served to an address.

YET, I see Lords vans working their way around the Bury area doing jobs for folk, probably giving them guarantees for work which will be of no value.

 

I am now in touch with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

If anyone has any information or complaint let me know.

 

If you know their whereabouts you can  pass the info on.

I am certain a number of reviews on Google and Yell are fake, maybe written by staff.

The people involved appear to be very pleasant guys but people are being ripped off.

 

 

[BankFodder]

Thank you for this. I'm very sorry that you have this problem.

I'm posting this reply mainly to flag up to other people who might get themselves into the same position:
Building Guarantees

one of the things that people look for when they start considering building work is whether the builder offers a guarantee. No guarantee and they're not happy to give them the work. If there is a guarantee then they feel confident that they can give the builder the work and if problems develop that they will have recourse to a guarantee.

Here's the reality
Building guarantees are pretty well worthless.
You may have a 10 year guarantee or a lifetime guarantee but all that means is that you are receiving a contractual commitment to sort out any problems in the work if they develop. If you have a contract with somebody, that means that you are assuming that they will still be in existence and not only that but you will be able to find them and force them to carry out their contractual obligations.

Many building companies have a reputation for "Phoenixing". This means that they regularly go into liquidation and then re-emerge under a new name every couple of years or so or if there is some serious trouble brewing on the horizon.

Once the company has gone into liquidation then you have no contracting partner. It's gone and your guarantee is now absolutely worthless.

If you want a building guarantee then it must be "insurance backed". However, that doesn't mean it's okay. We've heard of some companies which claim that they give an insurance backed guarantee – but actually there is no insurance.

We get people on this forum you say that they have checked the company out and there is an insurance backed guarantee. This makes them feel confident.

There is no reported instance of anyone asking to see the insurance policy – and if there is one, telephoning the insurer to see whether the cover is really in place and whether it will cover the building work that they have in mind.

If you don't do this then you're taking a big risk.

If you undertake building work then you must make sure that any building guarantee is backed by insurance. You must see the insurance certificate and get a copy of it. You must contact the insurer and get written confirmation from them that the insurance is valid and that it will cover the kind of work that you are carrying out.

Only then can you risk going forward.