Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Glass cowboys who left victims broken
Courts punish rogues for bullying vulnerable and elderly
CASES like these could give the double glazing industry a bad name.
First up is Zulkernan Mahmood, who raked in £1.2million a year with his intimidating sales tactics.
Despite boasting of a “seamless and problem-free installation every time” on his website, customers were left with shoddy doors and windows fitted by incompetent workers who sometimes left a trail of damage.
Mahmood’s reps got customers to pay in full before installation by removing existing windows and demanding the balance “with the implication that the replacement windows would not be installed unless payment was made”, as trading standards officers put it. Other nasty tactics included: Taking unauthorised payments from customers’ bank cards. When challenged the firm said this was to pay VAT – despite not being VAT registered.
Leaving jobs unfinished.
Ignoring complaints.
Failing to provide safety glass in locations where it was required by law.
Lying about belonging to an industry accreditation body.
Boxing fan Mahmood spent the money he made flying to Las Vegas to watch Floyd Mayweather, as well as on flights to Istanbul and Paris, private school fees and designer clothes.
The 30-year-old from Bradford admitted fraud and consumer protection offences following a joint operation by police, trading standards and adult social care workers in West Yorkshire.
He was given a suspended 15-month jail sentence and ordered to pay almost £65,000 in costs and compensation. Mike Walsh, prosecuting on behalf of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, told Leeds crown court that damning evidence found during raids on his home and business included a text message in which the shyster wrote: “We’ve become a complete cowboy outlet”.
After the trial Linda Davis, head of the West Yorkshire Financial Exploitation and Abuse Team, said: “This case highlights the unfair and fraudulent practices that rogue traders will use against unsuspecting, often vulnerable, consumers.”
Mahmood traded as UKHI Limited, UK Home Improvements and Energy Efficient Double Glazing. He had previously worked for double glazing giant Safestyle UK, which brings me to the second case. On Monday, in another prosecution brought by West Yorkshire trading standards, Safestyle was fined £120,000 in a trial that exposed a dreadful range of bullying, cheating ploys to get work.
In one of the most damning judgments I’ve heard in a consumer case, Judge Robert Moore told Sheffield crown court that for two years the firm did not control its staff.
“The offences were literally all over the country,” he said. “They frequently involved preying on the more vulnerable and often elderly.
“There were lies and forceful calls deliberately wearing customers down. Faulty work was left unrepaired and there was unpleasantness and perseverance.”
In one case the rep challenged a reluctant customer to a fight.
In another, when a homeowner objected to an unsolicited visit and pointed to her “No cold-callers” door sticker, the rep said that this did not apply to him “as it didn’t say no cold-calling from Safestyle UK”.
An 88-year-old woman was pressurised into giving her phone number by a rep who stood with “pen and paper repeating her dialling code”.
And an 84-year-old man was told there would be “trouble” if he cancelled after phoning to complain about the cost.
Safestyle UK, a trading name of HPAS Limited, admitted 13 unfair trading offences on day two of the trial. The court heard that new management is now in place at the company.
The judge said: “They have a lot to do.”