con artists

[notalwaysright]

I don't understand how that can work.

I don't know, either. I only worked at the roofing company for a couple years, but I saw companies pop up and die within months, and suddenly pop up again. It was a small town, and our company was actually pretty friendly with the other legitimate roofing companies in town, so we all gossiped and warned each other about customers and rip-off outfits.

I think a big part is being only legal on the surface. Like companies that say they only have 1-5 employees, to keep their L & I costs down, but claim that their 25 workers are "owners." I assume there are many other shady practices that make it possible.

[RealUnimportant]

...so is there a thread about this somewhere?

Oh goodness no, this happened ... 25 years back?

It was the first time I tried buying a car by myself; I learned many lessons! I went to a small used car dealership & browsed around, the one I most wanted turned out to be sold but the next choice was nice, newer than my old car, and had even just had a new MoT (yearly roadworthiness inspection) just a couple of days previously. They did advise me that the brakes had been adjusted & it might need the fluid topping up, but i wasn't going very far or on fast roads so I decided I could get it home then deal with it. This was a mistake on my part.

As I drove, I did indeed notice the brakes were very poor, so I stopped at a petrol station & bought a bottle of fluid to top up the reservoir, which was surprisingly low. I thought it had been higher when I set off; surely I was mistaken, as I couldn't see any signs of a leak... I decided to press on.

Immediate improvement was noted, so I considered it solved, but my route took me through a section of stop-start junctions and the brakes quickly deteriorated again. Now concerned, I pulled into the next repair shop I passed & asked for assistance. The mechanic drove it into the shop while I took a seat in the waiting room, wondering what could have happened between the MoT & my purchase.

In short order, the mechanic came in, looking quite pale. "I think you need to see this," he said, and with my heart in my throat I followed him to the front near side wheel - and the large pile of rust & filler that sat beneath the ramp. It transpired that the brake bleed nipple on that calliper had sheared off, the resulting hole "blocked" with a self tapping screw that had been holding the fluid back enough to prevent standing leaks, but could not handle the pressure when the brakes were applied. When the mechanic had tried to wipe excess fluid from the inner wheel well, it had collapsed as if it was constructed of so much cigarette ash. This implied that the leak had been present for a long time rather than being due to a recent mishap, and that meant that the chances of it having honestly passed inspection were somewhere between slim and none!

Now a common trick for small car yards was to mark all receipts "sold for spares or repair" to try and avoid any comeback regarding merchantability of cheap second-hand cars. Lucky for me, they'd omitted this from my paperwork, so after some strong words I got my money back. However, TS were contacted by myself and the mechanic and sicced onto both the car yard and the MoT tester; both ceased trading soon after.

I got my next car professionally inspected before purchase!

[AdvancedFlea]

AdvancedFlea,

*puts on some Foo Fighters and rocks on*

Oh goodness no, this happened ... 25 years back?

It was the first time I tried buying a car by myself...

That is just plain SCARY. There is a huge difference between some twatbags trying to stiff me out of £40 on a set of tyres and someone selling you a car that, I am assuming, if you had been in a situation where you needed to pound the breaks hard, would have simply got you killed.

Dealerships like that deserve to get their trading license revoked. That's why I always tell people to buy from a main dealer. One that has a manufacturer's name to it. They are more expensive but they have to maintain a standard.

[Valentinian]

Egad. RealUnimportant, may I just say that I'm really glad those twerps didn't get you killed?!