Please Help Us Fix Our Roof After Being Scammed

Hello, my name is Joe, and I’m reaching out to ask for your help in a difficult time.

In 2023, we bought our home in Darwen, but unfortunately, the survey didn’t pick up on serious roof issues. A few months after moving in, we started noticing damp spots on the upstairs walls. Concerned, I reached out to Checkatrade to find a reliable roofer, and that’s when we were misled and scammed by a company called Storm Proof Roofing that claimed to be based in Ellesmere Port.

The company informed us that the roof was in dire disrepair, and after presenting what seemed like legitimate paperwork, they quoted £4,500 for an initial repair. Trusting Checkatrade’s platform, I didn’t think twice about going ahead with the repair.

However, halfway through the job, they told me that the rear of the roof also needed repairs, and that would cost another £4,500. At this point, I had already lost my father in 2023, and the small inheritance I received was all I had left. I ended up using that money to pay the full £9,000. My wife and I agreed that it was best to just pay and have peace of mind, so we did, thinking the job was finally taken care of.

But by November 2024, things started to go wrong. We noticed tiles slipping off the roof, so we hired a local handyman to make repairs for £300. The handyman quickly discovered that we had been scammed. He told us the roofers hadn’t secured the ridgework properly and hadn’t even hammered nails into the slates. Worse still, they had taken the original 50-year-old slates—still in good condition—and replaced them with subpar "Chinese" or "Spanish" slates. These slates began cracking at the slightest hint of hail, and it only got worse.

To make matters even worse, the ridge tiles had not been properly bedded down, and the handyman discovered that they were cracking underfoot. He managed to repair a couple of tiles, but it was clear that the whole roof was in bad shape.

Checkatrade only cover for £1000 and following their surveyor inspection they released those funds, but we lost the other £8000 and are still paying that back

This year, after seeing no other choice, I had to take out a further £18,000 loan from the bank for a full roof repair. Unfortunately, the financial strain has been overwhelming. We have two young children, and the added burden of loan repayments and other bills has made it incredibly hard to support our family.

I’m asking for help. If you can contribute anything to help us pay off the loan and get our finances back on track, it would mean the world to us. We’re struggling, and any support you can provide would make a massive difference.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and for any help you can offer.