Renovations progress: Everything is going bad again: help?

(I'm writing this in English so other ppl can answer if they want to) It seems like the other Patreons folks already gave you better advices than I could, but about the "diplomatic" field... : The main problem seems to have an explanation and a calm conversation. So in an ideal world, you could ask him to clarify things, but in practice, not without protecting yourself. It seems like the biggest threat is the attitude of the guy. It's almost sure at 100% that he knows he's intimidating, and plays with it (not just in your case) : ppl who get mad really quickly usually have this kind of attitude, they can't interiorize anything, and usually have a bunch of other toxic attitudes (like, probably, trying to "take control" of things pretty quickly by being agressive or dominant as soon as they can). If the main problem is that you don't understand everything they're doing, it's probably because... they're taking advantage of the blurr in the first place. It seems like the only missing key... Like, I mean, it's OBVIOUS that what they're doing is fucked up, they're not trying to hide it physically ! So what is the only thing missing, if I'm not mistaking ? Official and clear explanations. And to avoid that, they can play on intimidation. In fact, if they never gave you an official bill, or the name of any company, it's probably because they were too incompetent to have an actual one in the first place, but I mean not only on the pragmatical level, but also on the human level: they're probably not like you on Patreon, having your own business but being responsible and feeding it with your skill & seriousness. They're potentially *trying* to pretend to have a company, while they can't. So how are they going to hide that ? Not by hiding what they fail, apparently... But by intimidating. If you're that much frightened that he destroys anything, it's probably that he did things to make it happen (to make you being frightened happen). He could attack you whatever happens, but according to my experience with this kind of toxic people, this kind of persons only rarely attack others physically directly, they would be too much revealing themselves if they were doing so (except if hidden, don't be alone with him !!!...). So if you can ask them explanations with your boyfriend and step-dad in the room, it would be good, since they wouldn't be able to do or say anything really bad without them witnessing it and being able to testify in court, and he wouldn't be able to do or say anything too sneaky since it would be more difficult to him to pretend he didn't do it in front of 3 persons instead of 1. A good pretext could be that they are your main/secondary financial supports and close ones, who could have to deal with your situation in the future if they help you (whatever if it's true or not), "so it would be a good thing that they are with you to know what has been done and how much it would cost, what is possible to do or not today and how much it would cost, how much they could invest, depending on what it is, etc." (even if the real conversation would be more like: "WTF DID YOU DO MOFOS, DONT ASK ME MONEY FOR THAT SH**" ) It might seem childish or paranoid advices, but it would secure the background of all of this and *might* release you of some stress... ALSO: take pictures of everything ? Everything. Any detail, if you can. With the date.Maybe the date on the photos would be enough if any problem (whatever if it's to testify in court or just pressure the guys). Or sending yourself the pictures via physical mail but with the special mails that seal the envelope (genre accusé de réception, pardon my french x) ). Ideally, it would be good to do it with someone official who can testify, but it would cost money hiring them. I hope this could help you if you really fear bad things from it, I don't want to frighten you (especially for nothing...), but since your entire house, awaited for so long, is in the balance, and that they really did a bad job, while scamming you anyway...

SGTim

It might well be worth making a call to the Police, you should be able to tell them the situation and more than likely they will give you some advice, this way by having it noted on record if anything does happen you will have some prior evidence to use against them. Otherwise there must be an equivalent of "citizens advice" for you guys that will give you a breakdown of your legal options going forwards. I am not sure if any of this carries weight on the mainland, but that would be the two best options over here in the UK.

Charlie Harris

Woah thank you! The electricity is almost done in the house but I'm missing the end of the circuits (plugs on the wall, lamps) and I don't know how much that might cost!

Mikomi Hokina

I don't :/

Mikomi Hokina

hey miko, I can help you with any questions about electricity and little bit of pluming. Just fire away! As for dealing with paperwork, I'm no help sadly.

Question: Do you have a Contract of Work(this is a document saying what you want done to your place and How much they will charge you for the work)?

pay for objectives, usually it works better cuz they have to hurry up with deadlines and hurry with payroll over the others workers!. it could be a little more expensive but it avoid the issue of overtime which you have to pay

I wish I could provide you with some more direct assistance. Having read some of the other comments there is a lot of good advice. One thing I would suggest is always get things in writing, and never pay cash without a receipt. You can insist that they provide you with bills to pay. Also a bill should itemise what it covers, both parts and labour. Best of luck. 🤞

Do not pay in Cash thats a big warning sign that things are maybe not legit, always do a credit/debt card or bank transfer, as this also help any legal issues be clear to a judge/law enforcement of how much you have payed(cash is a big problem as it's not traceable and can not be proven you have payed it)

Hey! For the materials, I paid everything myself: they took what they needed at the local shop and I got the detailed bills sent at home with VAT included! So on that side, it's very clean The unclean thing is that I don't know if they have a company; probably, but I can't tell which one. I never received any bill and mostly paid in cash, sometimes bank transfers but rarely I also paid the amount of hours he told me he did (with my step dad checking if they were really here everyday as he's my direct neighbor), it seemed to be concording okaish, he surely billed me a few hours extra, but I didn't mind much since they were the cheapest in the region Looking at it from now, nothing is really legally done and I don't know why he wants to make an invoice at all, when he never did any for montha

Mikomi Hokina

Take what I'm about to say with a pinch of salt as I don't deal with the paper work side of my job often (the boss hires other people for that stuff) and I haven't read any of your terms and conditions, contract or you country's law (trust me I would rather not have to) But some of the things can be explained too easily for them like extra hours/higher costs can be passed off as it was a harder/longer job than what they first thought. But this also has to be within reason for example that entry door bill being 4 times more sounds a bit dodgy to me VAT is often not included when buying building materials (so you should have to work this out yourself). But on the other hand they should included this when they first billed you, as I have never heard of anyone collect the VAT separately In terms of builders not doing a job properly, I can't give any solid advice as I have not seen exactly what. But every place I've worked had a either a partial refund policy or they send a team to fix the problems(may have to pay for man hours) Also if he is getting angry with you quickly and is making you feel intimidated you should be able to ask for someone else and hopefully ask them about all the additional costs that you are unaware of. If he is notablly intimidating and your worried about doing this, you should be able to phone the company directly and have them help you. But be prepared to be on the phone for a while if you do this. A doubt they would break anything in your house, but if these people are like their uk equivalent then they might of already stole something (this is a big problem in the uk to the point where people are advised to hide and lock any valuables away in a room that they are not working in or actually be around when they are working) In short I think you should try phoning the company directly and ask them to slowly take you through everything. P. S I'm writing this while walking home in heavy rain so sorry if some of it does make sense

The first team seems the most trustworthy one. Lol, I’m actually at work and asking my boss right now on what he would do in the situation you are in. Ttyl. Don’t stress out too much on this Miko.

Herkzfeldt

There is no company, I never got a single bill :(

Mikomi Hokina

I have zero papers :(

Mikomi Hokina

Is the second team a private contractor or are they workers for a company? It would be nice to call there costumer service department or HR and file your complaint about how bad they did of a job. Other than that I’m not sure how bad they did but looking at your post it seems they did fuck up hard. Can you not get the first team to do the job for your kitchen??? Or i can give you some advice on how you can fix your kitchen since I’m just an apprentice mechanic.

Herkzfeldt

Hmmm, I would advise to check every paper, contract and all details. If things doesn't correct at all and out of hand contact the police / martialcourts

hmm, the only advise i can give you is to check every paper, contract and invoice you have to look if something about VAT is mentioned. i hope this situation gets resolved quick! take care and i hope you have fun shootings^^

a good Doge

that is a problem.

I never thought what would happen in EU countries. I think you should denounce them if it is not the first time that they do this and you have the proof that you are paying the workers and the group leader.

I never got a bill, this is gold ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mikomi Hokina

It could be legit, but as I said it should be noted somewhere on the bills or the initial offer. If there's no word about that VAT is excluded, you should not pay - he has to prove that he told you in written form.

Dr Ace

I see, so it's legit that he wants me to pay the VAT? (I thought it was included but if not, I might not have paid it) Tbh I have no idea if this dude is really being controlled and need his shit together or if he still wants to get money from me :(

Mikomi Hokina

For construction-work the price is usually calculated without VAT but it should be told or written that VAT is excluded. Electrics and Service guy here, I have some experience with stuff like that, because I write offers for our costumers every now and then. Located in EU too.

Dr Ace

Yeah idk, it seems this profession is literally 50% scammers D: I can't believe it's even possible to let that happen

Mikomi Hokina

Wow and I thought that never happened in countries like Belgium. I hope you can get a solution to all this real soon.

Poor Mikooo that horrible that you’re getting taken advantage of. I hope your day gets better ASAP 😢💕💕

Mr.Relish