GLASGOW, October 18/PRNewswire/ -- GetClued.com, a new website where homeowners rate and review local tradesmen, is already achieving its aims of exposing cowboy traders, particularly builders, in areas throughout the UK. In one case a website member from Manchester tells of her shocking experience with a builder whom she asked to do a loft conversion. "We were left to sleep in our only reception room for approx. 20 weeks - 2 adults, 2 dogs and 2 children- because the whole of the 1st floor ceilings were removed without any protection to the rest of the house/furniture." She continues "they put a hole in a gas pipe and did not contact Transco - left us a note for when we came home from work in the evening! - it cost over GBP400 in gas and left us without heating in December." Another member, this time from Chelmsford, Essex warns others about using a builder that has left her home uninhabitable after doing a runner before completing an extension to her house. She set up a stage payment scheme but the builder bullied her into paying the stages early before the work had been completed. She states "when we questioned his need for the payments to be made early, he said he was in financial difficulty. Eventually, we stopped paying (with only GBP9000 of a GBP75000 build left to pay). His company never returned." Website founder, Kevin Anderson, who set-up the site after several bad experiences with tradespeople, says "the site is good news for the good firms and bad news for the rogues. People are being warned of the disreputable companies, while the reputable ones are recommended to other customers." So far over 3,000 people across the UK have joined the site and submitted over 1,000 reviews on everything from plumbers and roofers to IT support and childcare. "The growing popularity of the site reflects people's need to find out the recent performance of tradesmen before they decide to hire them. Many government schemes have simply failed to address this," Anderson says. As for people providing false reviews, Anderson says there are safeguards against this. "People must first register their name, address and contact details before submitting reviews and users cannot review the same business more than once. Firms are also given the opportunity to respond to reviews from their customers."
