Warning issued over home improvement con artists targeting Portsmouth and Hampshire

The News consumer champion Richard Thomson is warning about a significant increase in cold calling home improvement complaints to the Streetwise column.
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Typically fliers are first posted through doors advertising driveway upgrades, roofing maintenance, patio cleaning, and garden makeovers.

Homeowners are then knocked up by rogue traders falsely claiming they are doing work in the area, pressurising them to have work done at attractive knockdown rates.

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People are regularly asked to pay up front cash deposits of 50 per cent or more, alternatively full payment in cash is demanded before any work starts.

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Frequently the work is of poor quality, and tradesmen regularly walk off the job without completing it.

Streetwise advises readers to shun cold calling traders, and only employ reputable firms listed in Trading Standards’ approved ‘Buy with Confidence’ and ‘Square deal’ schemes, or those recommended by Checkatrade.com.

Mr Thomson added: ‘Dodgy home improvement traders all have similar profiles. They can all start the work immediately, insist on hefty cash instead of stage payments, and never provide written contracts, or itemised receipts.

If anyone offers services that fit the profile, they should be avoided like the plague.’