HELP ! IS THIS A SCAM ?

[Danglar]

I have given  the work of refurbishing the bathroom to a chap recommended by a reputable professional plumber (who will also do his part by replacing bath thub, taps, basin etc etc).

On my return to UK today I  have done a search on  the net against the siret  number quoted on the devis of that chap and the search has come up negative.  The siret number is not recognised.

Cannot find its address on the telephone directory either !!!

Would you say this is a scam or  am I over reacting ?  What steps should I take ?  Should I contact the mairie of that village ? Report him to SIRET (whoever they may be ?), let him finish the job first ?

Help please.

Regards

Nino

[LesFlamands]

Who have you quoted to - the house owner or the plumber?

[Polly]

First, don't panic, the SIRET search facilities are not infallible.

If he's a one-man band the phone line might be in his partner's name, have you done a reverse number check? It might of course be ex-directory.

You can't "report him to SIRET", there's no such body, it's just the name given to a business registration number.

If he's an artisan he'll be registered at the local Chambre de Métiers, but if he's newly set up under the auto-entrepreneur scheme he's not obliged to be registered there, so non-registration doesn't mean he's not legit.

Why are you worrying, have you sent him a lot of money up front? If you're in doubt about the quality of his work you'll have to either get back over and check it, or get someone else to do so on your behalf.

[Will]

There are several sites for checking Siret/Siren numbers, including one that just says whether the number is valid or not (sorry, can't remember its details), and seems rather more comprehensive and reliable than the others. The fact that the number doesn't show up on one or two of the sites, as Polly says, doesn't necessarily mean it is false, not all of the sites are infallible, although all supposedly use the same database. I had a registered business in France for several years, and my number was never recognised by the best-known of the checking sites.

I'd be more worried about not being able to find a phone number. An ex-directory business number sounds a bit strange, to say the least. Is the number you have a fixed line or a mobile (starts with 06)?

Even if the registration is under the autoentrepreneur scheme, the Chambre de Métiers should be able to tell you if it is valid. Although AE registration is not directly carried out with the Chambre, it still has to go through them to allow the necessary checks on qualifications or experience.

Did you ask the tradesman for his insurance details? That's always a good way to ensure that the registration is valid, because you can't get insurance unless you are a legitimate business, and even the simpler AE scheme doesn't absolve you from the insurance requirements.

[WJT]

I found this thread very interesting because I was having the same problem with finding the artisan by using the siret he has on his devis. Thanks to Will, I just did a search on the Chambre de Métiers site and found this site for my area: ttp://artisanat24.com/recherche_artisan/index.php

I was able to locate him by his name and for the proposed work. I was worried because he was the first artisan I have not been able to find and I had searched on all of the sites. Worth a try. Thank you Will. [:)]