Problem with 'workman'. Help please!

I would just text him and say you no longer require his services.
Someone should have kept you informed about his health if they wanted to keep your business.
No one can expect you to wait indefinitely,his daughter could have gone through his business accounts to get all his customers information ,unless of course he isn’t declaring his business to tax man

Anyone deliberating about having the second COVID vaccination.

I had a really bad reaction to the first. I live alone so no-one could look after me. Just would like to know if I’m the only one thinking about this. Comments please.

Sorty but you need to stop the payment and email to say you have made your choice.
At the end of the day you choose who you want his covid woes are his affair not yours and badgering and talking over you is wrong.Stick to your guns.

You have paid him in advance for work that he has not done, or got this young woman to do on his behalf. He might just be using covid as an excuse and not have been ill at all.

The man may well have been ill with covid as he says, but that does not explain why the young woman stopped coming, or why she failed to notify you if she was unable to do the work.

Check whether you are legally entitled to tell him that the pay he has received for work he has not done is now to be considered payment in lieu of notice.

You have someone else doing the job and as neither he nor the young woman notified you that he was ill, you see no reason to ask Ben to stop now.

FannyCornforth
Re name change - I originally gave my username one which was very obvious, like you tried to change it myself but couldn’t. So I contacted Admin, explained reason for wanting change (ie too identifiable). I gave three options and they were kind enough to do it for me.
Worth a try.
Sorry about your predicament, I would agree that he had his chance to retain you as a customer, remind him he has been paid for a service you’ve not received and terminate his ‘contract’.
Good luck.

Sounds made up this?if its not get advice from citizens advice or get them to ring john- maybe they will get your money back too! NEVER jump in to pay a year upfront for anything like this- or window cleaning etc, just pay as you go.?

I agree withgrandtante I couldn’t have put it any better myself!
He actually owes you 6 months pay and yes, there seems to be an increase in the number of businesses and individuals blaming Covid for their incompetences
I’d keep with Ben.

FannyCornforth Sorry to sound dim but why do you need you bins cleaned? Council empty them once a week. Never known anyone clean their bins before.

Could you ask your husband to speak to John. He seems to be bullying you, but may not bully a man.

I think Ben seems a better bet.

Don't be bullied by John. He didn't run his business very well by not letting his customers know what was happening, how did they expect you to wait until they came back, if ever. The girl who helps could of even called or put a note in your door explaining what had happened. Stick with Ben and tell John that you don't need his services any longer, thankyou and goodbye.

Did the young woman drive the van and come round on her own?
if so I don’t see why John being ill would prevent her from continuing to do so. Of course they should have let you know what was going on regardless.It must have been a terrible time for John, but it sounds like he or the woman hadn’t been round for 9 months.Surely for some of that time he was well enough to make phone calls! You have paid for presumably a year in which no bin cleaning was done ( by them) anyway. As has been said good idea to get advice how to proceed.
Like a PP we had people in our area advertising to clean bins when we first had wheelie bins about seven years ago.We clean ours ourselves (occasionally) though, but I imagine it is a useful service for those unable to do it themselves.

You have a problem: you paid in advance! For jobs like this, pay at the time. A valuable lesson learnt, I think. You don't have to talk to the guy - he's lucky enough to have your money for work he hasn't done. Just tell him you will not answer the door to him any more. As for bin cleaning - they're bins, for goodness sake! If something nasty has left a residue after the bin lorry has been, get a bag of Fuller's Earth cat litter and tip it in. This will soak up and absorb all the nasty stuff. Leave it for a couple of hours or overnight, then get a spade in and loosen the layer at the bottom. Next time the bin is emptied it will all tip out. Job done at a fraction of the price!

When our window cleaner fell off a roof and broke both legs his father came to tell us. That's why we didn't get a new window cleaner. We were prepared to wait for him to get better. Your bin cleaner should have let you know. He still owes you as well.

Yes Whiff some people have their bins cleaned it’s not really a new thing, we don’t actually bother,

i would ask him to repay the money you paid in advance and in good faith. I am sure he will not do that. If he continues to be pushy and or unpleasant tellhim you will be obliged to ring the police. Hopefully he will then leave you alone. I sympathise with you as this situation is not of your making. Inthink it is better to pay whennsomeone has finished the job, not in advance.

If I'm right you've paid up till August 21 then I should contact him however you feel best either phone or text and say you've paid in advance till August your quite happy for him to keep the money however you won't be requiring his services. Thank him for his work in the past wish him well and draw a line under it. If your happy with the new guy then stick with him. The bullying technique would put me off straight away.

Nannan2

Sounds made up this?if its not get advice from citizens advice or get them to ring john- maybe they will get your money back too! NEVER jump in to pay a year upfront for anything like this- or window cleaning etc, just pay as you go.?

Sounds made up?!?!
I'm speechless for once!

Before you know it Nanna2 will be accusing MaryDoll of trolling!

nanna8

What is a bin cleaner? I am not joking, I am not familiar with them because I don’t think we have them here. We get plastic bins for rubbish and recycling and another one for garden waste but they don’t really get dirty. The main waste one you use plastic bin sacks so there is no dirt there. The others are for weeds, so no dirt and paper and bottles which we pre wash. You must have a different system.

Things do leak and smells transfer to the bin as well even when it’s all in plastic bags. My garden waste wheelie bin can smell pretty funky after the grass cuttings have been emptied. I do rinse some of the recycling but my son, who used to drive a bin lorry, told me it was a waste of time because most people don’t and when it is all in the lorry the clean stuff just ends up mucky again. So I definitely need my wheelie bin cleaner!

Thank you for all of your replies
I haven't read your answers properly yet, but will get back to you later.

Nanna2 trust me, if I was going to make something up, it would be a darn site more thrilling than this!

The house next door to mine is permanently rented and they have never heard of plastic bags so anything and everything is dumped in the bin. After bin emptying day, they choose the cleanest bin, usually mine. I clean the bins out as and when- the cost here for bin cleaning is something stupid like £4 a bin.

There is a bin cleaning service in my area but I do not use them I line my bin with a wheelie bin liner and replace it when the bin has been emptied I also use neutradol bin freshner to keep it smelling fresh.

Whoever you choose to stay with don't pay them in advance. Especially a year in advance

Quite a few people seem appalled/amazed at others paying for a bin cleaning service.
There are many different services offered by local authorities - for example, my area offers no food recycling. All non recycling goes into the same bin. Occasionally a bag within the bin bursts whilst being emptied. The resulting mess would get obnoxiously smelly during warm weather.
Not everyone has a garden, outside tap, hosepipe, pressure washer etc. Not everyone is fit enough to use any of those items, or has a family member who could oblige.
The bins are very tall , and when half filled with water, extremely heavy. Tipping them to remove the water requires some physical strength and dexterity.
In many areas, enterprising individuals set up bin cleaning businesses or added the service to their cleaning companies.
As with any service, there’s always a market for many and varied reasons.

Just to answer the 'why does anyone want their bins cleaning?' questions.

Just to clarify, I am very, very fastidious about my bins and always put my general waste in pedal bin liners.

Recycling gets washed and put straight into recycling bin.

Garden waste in another bin. This can go a bit 'interesting' in the hot weather.

Several bin cleaning companies cropped up over a decade ago.
It was when the council changed to multiple bins; recycling etc; and crucially only emptying bins once a fortnight.

The bin cleaners must have seen a gap in the market.
It's just something that I've got used to now. Lots of people do it around here.

I hope that this clears things up!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.