“The professional takes advances and doesn’t show up or starts some work, takes most of the money and goes underground. There are also people whose job he ruined by bungling. He also cheats his employees, he does not pay them money. He steals photos of work done by other companies and uses them as his own” – describes Mrs. Kinga from the Leszno area in Wielkopolska on one of the Facebook groups.
The rest of the article under the video
See also: The great wave of building modernization is coming. What to look for?
Renovation fraud. Poles warn
There are hundreds of similar relationships, only on this particular group. Poles fall into renovation traps set by dishonest contractors or house building companies. They exchange experiences online, warn, and seek legal help. They are fighting to get their money back, and the amounts are in the tens of thousands of zlotys.
Fraud practices can surprise you. Companies operate in an increasingly better organized and thoughtful way, which is confirmed in the next part of Mrs. Kinga’s entry. “Every few months (contractor – editor’s note) changes the company’s name and address. Threats, insults are the order of the day for this man” – he describes.
Posts are posted by customers from all over Poland. Monika decided to notify the prosecutor’s office. After the client completed the work, she found only a pile of rubble in her apartment.
(The contractor) did not fulfill the signed contract, extorted money for materials, stole the materials I purchased. Comments like ‘it was supposed to be cheap’ make no sense, ‘professional’ valued his work personally, signed a contract with the scope of work to be done. He was clearly predetermining the deception the victim believes.
First: the contract
“First, he calls and arrives supposedly to evaluate the work. He puts on a completely clean outfit and working shoes. He proposes ‘interesting’ construction solutions and that he will buy all the materials, because he has arrangements and layouts everywhere, so it will be cheaper. In addition, he offers a favorable price for the renovation , short execution time and immediate start. Everything is fine until you give him an advance on the purchase of materials – then it’s over. He does not arrive on the agreed date, but he deceives you for a few days before you realize that it is a scam and extortion of money ” – this is in turn a description of the activities of the company whose services were used by Mr. Kamil from Tychy.
What follows is even more interesting. “He gives fat excuses to buy time. First he said that the foreman’s wife died the night before my renovation, so they didn’t come. I started to get nervous on the second day, but he managed to stop me from reporting the fraud to the police for three days” – reports Mr. Kamil.
– I thought, that such stories are rare, that they concern what happened 20 years ago, that today the quality of services is a different story – says money.pl Mrs. Maria from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, who has been living with her husband for over 30 years in a flat of less than 50 meters in a four-story building made of a prefabricated panel. A year ago, the couple decided to Bathroom renovation.
The rest of the article under the video
See also: Many would die for such a view. They renovated a 200-year-old house by the river
Fact, we haven’t signed any contract. It was a mistake. The contractor, a one-man company, had only to lay the tiles, install the ceiling moldings and paint the walls. It went smoothly, we were surprised – he says.
The problems started after a few days. – There were cracks in the moldings, there were stains on the walls. We contacted the contractor with a request for corrections. He didn’t answer the phone for a long time. After a few days, he announced that he had already completed his task with us and was now busy with other assignments Maria adds.
Lawyers have their hands full
Lawyers confirm – this is also a serious problem of our time. Alicja Gradowska from the law firm GC Adwokaci says that cases concerning dishonest contractors are dealt with 2-3 times a week. – I would say that this is the main type of cases in my practice – says money.pl. He explains that most of them are considered under civil law – the victims demand payment of the appropriate amount.
However, in some cases we encounter crimes. The contractor contacts his client on advertising portals and offers services at an attractive price. Then there is a meeting between the contractor and the client, when the terms of cooperation are agreed. Often the contract is concluded only orally. The contractor demands an advance payment in cash for the materials and agrees on the date of completion of the works. At this point, contact with him breaks off – says Alicja Gradowska.
– In such situations, the contractor is usually a natural person who does not run a business. It is not uncommon for a contractor to hide his real name from the client. In such cases, we can, for example, speak of a crime of fraud,’ he explains.
However, it happens that the allegations turn against customers. – We also encountered situations where the client believed that the work was performed incorrectly by several subsequent contractors, and then it turned out that the expert stated that all contractors performed the work correctly – the lawyer points out.
How to protect yourself against dishonest contractors? A well-drafted contract is essential. It should contain a detailed description of the subject, terms of performance and solution, substitute performance, settlements, acceptance, removal of defects, guarantees and warranties, and rules for commissioning additional works. Lawyers advise you to also take care of the following elements:
The person ordering renovation or construction works should avoid people who do not run a company (they have unregistered business activity). When concluding a contract with a company, check with CEIDG or KRS whether such a company exists and whether the person signing the contract on its behalf is authorized to do so. check whether the bank account indicated by the employee of the company actually belongs to it. This can be done under the so-called White list of VAT taxpayers. It is worth checking opinions about the contractor on the Internet. It happens that previous customers warn against it. Lawyers indicate that it is not worth lowering the price entered in the contract. Because in the event of withdrawal from the contract, we are entitled to a refund of the remuneration resulting from its content. The contractor’s remuneration should be transferred in the form of transfers with the appropriate title of the transfer.It is worth dividing them into smaller tranches settled with the progress of work (the last tranche, payable after removing all defects, should be slightly larger).Advance payments for materials should be transferred in smaller batches as part of the progress of work after the previous advance payment has been settled. It is worth requiring the contractor to show invoices for the materials he has purchased.All additional work should be ordered in the form of written annexes to the contract. It must be taken into account that few small contractors have insurance. Rather, it is the domain of larger companies. For larger investments, it is worth requesting from the contractor, e.g. CAR insurance (insurance of construction works) or a guarantee of proper performance of the subject of the contract.
Often, clients sign contracts prepared by the contractor without delving into the content of the documents. – In the event of a service that is inconsistent with the contract, we act in accordance with the contractual provisions regarding such a situation – explains Alicja Gradowska. What if the contract does not provide for such situations?
If we are at the stage of contract performance, the contractor should be called on to properly perform its subject matter, setting an additional deadline under pain of withdrawing from the contract or using substitute performance at the contractor’s cost and risk. we are dealing with defects that prevent the proper use of the subject of the contract. If the contract provides for fault-free acceptance, acceptance of the works should be refused.If defects are revealed after receipt, you should use the rights under the guarantee and warranty.
Paweł Gospodarczyk, money.pl journalist
Rate the quality of our article:
Your feedback helps us create better content.
2023-08-06 04:40:36
#Poles #renovation #trap #real #plague
