Revealed: Carpentry firm that switched names and pocketed deposits now under investigation

After reporting on a shadowy online firm that regularly changed names and owed multiple customers hundreds of pounds last year, the Cable has found evidence linking it to a new business that also keeps shifting its identity.

Illustration: Sophia Checkley

Investigations 31st March, 2023

Matty Edwards

In October 2022, customers of a Bristol carpentry business got the news they wanted. The firm – then called Everyday Carpentry Services – which owed multiple people hundreds of pounds in refunds would be closing down and reimbursing them. 

But the promise was an empty one. The Cable can reveal that ripped off customers are still waiting for their money – and the man behind the scam appears to have continued the same pattern of withholding deposits under a different business on Facebook. 

After exposing these shady business practices by Everyday Carpentry Services last year, reports began to swirl online a few months ago about another business, then called Ace Things Loft. 

The pattern was suspiciously similar: communicating with customers on Facebook Messenger, taking deposit payments for jobs such as installing loft ladders and insulation, requesting extra money for materials because of supply problems, then not turning up for jobs multiple times and not paying refunds when they are requested.

After speaking to more than a dozen customers who had their refunds withheld, on top of 20 customers who reported similar experiences on social media, the Cable can now reveal that the man behind these two businesses, Lewis Thomas, is being investigated by Bristol Trading Standards. 

I feel really mad… He’s making loads of money just sitting there taking deposits off people.

The majority of these customers – who were owed on average about £300 – have had experiences with the new company in the last three months. Many were reimbursed by their bank, while some have been refunded since the intervention of Trading Standards, but others are still out of pocket. 

In the last six months, the company’s name on Facebook has changed six times – from The Wood Loft Ladder Company to Ace Things Loft and most recently to SW Carpentry & Garden Services. This is exactly what the previous company did last year.

The Cable spoke to Denise Roberts last year, who was pregnant when she paid £580 to the first company, then called Home and Garden Services, for a deposit and materials in early 2022. The tradesman cancelled and rescheduled multiple times, until Denise gave up and demanded a refund. 

“They don’t seem to care,” she said at the time. “It’s a lot of money, I could really use it for the baby. It’s additional stress, you really need your energy on other things.”

The refund was promised again and again by Thomas, but it didn’t arrive. And now, more than a year since she paid the deposit, Denise is still £300 out of pocket. 

Amanda Coles is another customer still waiting for her money back. She paid £550 to a bank account in Lewis Thomas’ name in August 2022. His business was by now called Everyday Carpentry Services.

“It’s a continuing circle of him getting away with bloody murder,” she told the Cable. 

Amanda reported her case to Trading Standards, who told her they had invited Thomas for an interview but that he didn’t show up. 

Fed up, she has taken the case to small claims court, and as a result a County Court Judgment has been issued against Thomas, ordering him to pay up. If he doesn’t comply, bailiffs may be sent in. 

“As far as I’m concerned I gave him every opportunity to stop the process but he chose not to,” Amanda said. 

“For the people who have been ripped off, there’s no support anywhere, it’s ridiculous. He can change this name as many times as you like, he blocks you, sets up another page – happy days – and he continues ripping people off.” 

The Cable spoke to another customer who has been owed £700 for nearly a year, and is considering legal action.

More recent experiences with the second company follow a similar pattern. Edward Smith booked a job with Ace Things Loft for late December 2022 after seeing a Facebook ad, and paid a deposit of £180. The day before the job, the business contacted him asking for an extra £350 for materials after problems with the usual supplier, which Edward paid. 

The next day, the traders didn’t show up. When the offer was made to rebook the job in the new year, Edward said no and asked for a refund.

Over the next six weeks, Edward requested his money back multiple times, but to no avail. “I’m not a naturally aggressive person,” he said. “I notified Facebook and [national reporting centre] Action Fraud, and Trading Standards. But nothing positive has come of it.”

It was only when he reported this to the fraud team at his bank in February that he was refunded the £530. The investigation by the bank’s fraud team found he should be refunded, because he had been the victim of a scam. 

“With the numerous name changes, you’re just chasing shadows,” he said. “The bigger picture is people acting with impunity.”

Not only is the pattern between the two companies similar, but the Cable has uncovered evidence linking them. 

Vanessa Burchell had a loft ladder fitted in February 2022 by Everyday Carpentry Services – which at the time was called One Stop Loft Ladder Services.  She paid the deposit into an account with the name Lewis Thomas. She was happy with the job and asked if they also did under stair storage. So in November the traders got in contact to offer this second service. The difference was that this message came via a different Facebook page – Ace Things Loft. 

Vanessa and her husband paid the £250 deposit and the job was booked in for January 2023. When the trader asked for extra money for materials because they had changed suppliers, they refused. Then the trader said they had found another supplier and could manage, but then didn’t show up on the day of the job. 

In response, Vanessa asked for a refund. “Constantly for two weeks, I didn’t let it go,” she said. “Then we realised we’d been scammed.”

In communication over Facebook messenger, the trader responded to this allegation by saying: “Scammed you! No, we have done work for you before. I will check this refund for you with my boss and get back to you asap.”

“I feel really mad,” Vanessa said, who was only able to get a refund through her bank. “He’s making loads of money just sitting there taking deposits off people.” 

The Cable also spoke to another customer who had their refund withheld from Ace Things Loft, after making a payment to a bank account with a name associated with Everyday Carpentry Services. 

Multiple customers we spoke to felt frustration at the lack of response from the authorities, from Action Fraud to Trading Standards. However, the Cable understands that Bristol Trading Standards has now intervened in recent months. 

One customer, who was finally refunded in early 2023 after paying a deposit last summer, told the Cable that Trading Standards was looking into Thomas and had informed her that he was paying some customers back, but still owed a lot of money. 

There is precedent of similar investigations locally. In 2018, a different trader in Newport was sentenced to 10 months in jail after six offences of fraud. An investigation by National Trading Standards Wales found Mitchell Day had been advertising on Facebook, requesting deposits and material payments and never carrying out the work. The total financial loss incurred by the six victims in the case amounted to £7,300.

The Cable asked Bristol City Council whether they were looking into Everyday Carpentry Services and Ace Things Loft. A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the trader and are investigating complaints made to Trading Standards.”

We also asked for more information about their investigation, including how much money was still owed to customers, and what would happen if refunds are not paid. But a council spokesperson said they could not comment further at this time. 

The Cable approached both businesses for comment. A spokesperson for Ace Things Loft, which is now called SW Carpentry and Garden Services, said: “No comment apart from any issues related to the business are being sorted and in hand.”