Try your local Trading Standards but the lack of a written agreement is likely to really hamper things.
i think from the sounds of it you may have paid a 'cowboy' if that is the case it will be very hard for you to get your money back.
the first thing you should do is go to your council and look to see if this company has got any complaints next to its name. if not, register a complaint... you should be able to get advice from the relevent consumer department in the council.
if the company has got any trading names to it.. (eg.member of website designers uk) or something like that. you can check with them to see if the compay is actually registered with them. if they are using a members logo and dont belong to them, then the website design company has broken the law of contract and false representation and you can sue them for damages. if you choose to do this, you should go to your local magistrates court and find out more. this may cost alot though (however if you win you will get back all your costs of going to court)
Looks as if you've been stitched up like a kipper..if you have a contract..read it through, if not - be philosophical and write the ￡150 off
Had to be in cash would be the red flag. If you have anything in writing he signed, id take it to the police station. What ever plans you have for the website, use them also if you spot his having used them.
Hi there
I am having an issue with a website design company, which is run and owned by one person. I won’t give any details involving the company at this moment.
Basically, I went to visit a website design company on the 20th April this year. I met with the designer and owner of the company and discussed with him how I wanted the website to look. I was told this could be easily achieved and that it could be completed in a week.
The cost of building the website was ￡300, which he wanted in cash only and a deposit of ￡150 deducted from the overall price, thus leaving ￡150 to pay on completion of the website.
In the weeks that followed a rough template was made for the homepage but with the wrong menu titles and other bits that didn’t work just to give me an idea of how it was going to look.
More days followed and it seemed nothing was being done. I managed to talk with him on the phone a couple of times to find out what was happening and said he had fallen ill with a bug and promised me it will be completed by the end of the week. Well that was two weeks ago and still nothing has been done.
He’s turned off his mobile and hasn’t responded back to two voice messages I have left on his work phone either.
I am getting really frustrated by this as I have already given him ￡150 and am worried that he’s going to disappear and leave me with nothing.
What is the best course of action in this situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
