A roofer comes to call…

We had a chap call at our door, saying he was working on a house nearby, could see our roof, and that it had an obvious problem which needed fixing. As he and his crew were in the area, he could quote on the spot for a repair to be made in the next few days.
He was a bit pushy, although one doesn’t want to ignore potential house problems, so I wonder… was this just a prelude to a classic scam? I think I’ve heard of roofing work based scams before.
Anyone else encountered similar?

Scam make sure they don’t put a ladder up and try break something!! Someone I know mentioned this a year ago they was rude Scammers are call police and tell neighbours to to keep a look out!!

Not recently but it is a standard ploy to get business. I have had various people do it in the past and watch them go down the street knocking on everyone else’s door! I suspect there is nowt wrong with your roof but if there is I figure it would be best not to get an anonymous stranger off the street to look at it!

What did he claim was wrong with the roof, out of interest?

Bona fide scam.

If you are concerned get a quote from a legitimate roofer for whatever he described the issue as.

Don’t do it !

This is scam older than thatched roofs.

I was on my way to Tesco one day when a car pulled up beside me. The driver said that he was working on my neighbour’s roof and there was a problem with my roof. I said I would meet him back at my house . When I got back to my house with my shopping he was not there. He had no idea where I lived!

Yes, scam. At best, they’ll take your money and not do anything to your roof. At worst, they’ll take your money and bodge up your roof. And try to fleece you for more work if they think you’re gullible.

Also be wary of anyone offering to clean your guttering (we had one knock last week). A friend got taken in by one of those. The guy became aggressive when she questioned the payment after he basically just climbed the ladder and came straight down. She reported him to Trading Standards and there were so many similar complaints that TS took out a prosecution against him.

Sounds like a scam. But you could also ask where the work they are doing is located and a contact for who hired them there.

A rocket should of shot him up to space whilst up the ladder. I like many can’t stand scammers and by the way I don’t condone to act on it not into violence. Makes me angry that happened and still is!!

I’ve blanked it out to be honest. Not a simple “tile missing” though that’s for sure. I figured we’d use someone local to check it out.

I also got a call at work a few years ago from the property below asking me if I’d arranged to have the rather large tree in the garden cut down as there were some men with tree pruning equipment at the door. I had not. They were just chancing their luck going up and down our road basically knocking on doors where they could see a tree somewhere at the back of the house. Silly really as most people probably know you need council permission for tree work. It was a few years ago though so imagine they’ve long moved on!