Any Twitter experts in?

I have a Twitter account, but have never really used it (suppose I am becoming a bit of a dinosaur ) - anyway, I am wondering if it might be a useful 'tool' to help deal with a bit of a problem that has arisen.

My lovely mum, a pensioner, and hundreds of miles away from where I am has been well and truly fleeced, and as you will imagine I am less than happy.

A few weeks ago, she was talking to a friend about getting a 'magic eye' installed so she could watch her Sky+ recordings when she was tucked up in bed, and be able to control the box downstairs. Her friend happened to be having some work done by a local man/company (and I use the term 'company' very loosely), having a flat screen TV put up on a wall, and the cables hidden. Whilst he was there, my mum's friend passed on my mum's number to him and told him that she was wanting some work done.

He called shortly after, went round to have a look and said that he would do the job there and then. He and his mate got cracking, and at one stage one of them was hanging out of the bedroom window (at the time my mum had no idea why), and then in about half an hour they were all done. Noticing that her Sky HD remote control was a bit knackered, he offered to get her a new one for fifteen quid - - all in, £100. A whole load of money for a pensioner.

Now, before I go any further, it is only fair to point out that my chosen 'trade' before buses and coaches was TV, Video, Hi-Fi, aerials and satellites; although I have been out of the trade for the thick end of 20 years, the fundamentals are still the same, so there is going to be very little wool pulled over my eyes.

Everything seemed fine, however the morning after, my mum got up and had no pictures on the TV upstairs, and no signals on Sky HD or even FreeSat on the TV downstairs. She called the guy who did the work the prior day, and he said that he would have to come back on the Monday with his van and ladders - not ideal, but fair enough. He never appeared.

Numerous phone calls since have gone unanswered (messages left on answering machine), and the promised Sky remote has not materialised either. In the end, my mum had to resort to getting another company out to try and get something going, which to their credit they have managed to get at least some pictures. They were appalled at the state of the 'work' and said that they would have to come back at some point and make a proper repair - this is going to happen in January once Christmas etc is all over. These guys were proper professionals, with the relevant signal meters, ladders and other required tools, even down to ensuring that they wore carpet protectors over their shoes in the house. Sadly, there was another £60 call out from them, so my mum is now £160 out of pocket with more cost to follow. If I were in a better financial position, I would try and help her, but I am stuffed at the moment which makes it feel all the worse.

I am livid, as I know full well that I could have done the work needed for next to nothing had I been there.

Oh, and the handy work:



Note the gaffa-taped bodge just under the LNB; pound to a penny that it is either shorted out, leaking or both. If I had done something like that even as an apprentice, I would have been hung, drawn and quartered.

I shall refrain from naming the company just yet, but I do have access to some key information

- landline telephone number
- mobile telephone number (although both never seem to be answered)
- email address
- Twitter name
- website address

Interestingly enough, although the area he comes from is noted on his website is shown, there is no postal or business address given; there is no VAT number shown, and given that he took £100 cash from a pensioner, I would like to bet that there is next to nil in the way of proper book-keeping going on.

Since all this happened, my mum has found out that this fellow has a bit of a reputation for this sort of behaviour - one story is that he ripped an OAP couple off to the tune of £270 to connect their bedroom TV to an existing loft aerial; nothing short of robbery.

So, I am intent on outing this blighter on Twitter for a start, but believe it or not I have never actually Tweeted anything, so any pointers how to hit as many people as possible to show him up would be great please.

Also, would this guys actions be classed as theft or fraud? Scottish law applies here by the way, but I am wondering if the police might be interested in him?

Or, do you think a local newspaper might be interested in picking up the story?

Any and all suggestions greatly received.

 

Could be worth a shot - thanks @Jiffy

Do you think they would be interested in a relatively small case (purely as I don't have names etc for any others who have been similarly scammed, merely here-say)

 

Superb, thank you @Dips - I have found a fraud action website, ran by the police, that gives advice etc and lets you chat with staff for advice during office hours so I will give that a shot early next week. It seems clear from the website that he has committed 'bogus tradesman' fraud - so maybe a wee visit from plod will focus his mind a bit

 

At the least, I would like to stop him doing it to someone else, or at least dent his reputation/income sufficiently enough to make him consider a different path in life.....

 

Send the boys round!

 

@clueless1 - I have tweeted him, but no response (not surprised), but no more than that so far. Inland revenue have been tipped off, and I am going to take it to Action Fraud and see what they can do. The only other thing I can do is to try and get a few days overtime in and send my mum a few bob to help

No receipt, cash in hand, so it is likely to be hard to take much further by way of small claims etc.

I must admit, when I was younger, I would have been likely to find him and 'persuade' him to above a refund... Must be getting sensible in my old age

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Aye, you are bang on the money @clueless1 - I was a proper hot headed so and so until I hit my mid to late twenties; I was one of those sort, if I was shouting the odds and giving you a verbal bashing, you would be OK. If I was quiet, really quiet - get out of my way.

At the end of the day, this is £100 we are talking about - well, that and some extra to repair the damage he has done, so it is not exactly the end of the world. It makes my blood boil though, and not just because it is my mum. I spent a good number of years in that trade, and on many occasions went that extra mile for pensioners or those in need; Christmas week, and Christmas Eve in particular was pretty mental every year - I would be bouncing all around the countryside sorting aerials, TV's, video recorders etc, as well as doing the Santa run at the same time; even Christmas Day wasn't sacred, and I had a few calls for people with problems - admittedly, I would simply put a loan set in and scarper back home, but they had something at least. Not once did I ever charge for a call out on Christmas Day - never. And at any time of year, if I was doing work for a pensioner or someone in need, the job was invariably discounted -- and oddly enough, I was never short of work, and never had to advertise.

It just isn't the done thing to rip anyone off, let alone those who are less fortunate.