UK's rogue trading hotspots revealed - is your city on the list?

dailystar.co.uk:

The UK's rogue trade hotspots have been revealed with residents from Newcastle, Belfast and London falling victim the most.More than a third (37 per cent) of homeowners have endured a rogue tradesperson at some point, including 31 per cent in Newcastle, 23 per cent in Belfast and 23 per cent in London.But almost half the amount have experienced this in Glasgow (11 per cent), Cardiff (15 per cent) and Norwich (16 per cent).Plumbing (20 per cent), closely followed by bathroom installation (18 per cent), painting/decorating (18 per cent) and kitchen fitting (16 per cent) are the most prevalent sectors where consumers are being left with disappointing work.A fifth of the 2,880 homeowners polled have experienced a financial loss due to disappointing work carried out by a rogue trader.And seven in 10 have had to fork out additional money to finish off or fix disappointing work.Financially, respondents from Oxford have been hardest hit - experiencing a loss of £4,990 on average.The research was carried out by Checkatrade, whose CEO Mike Fairman, said: “As household finances continue to be stretched, it’s more important than ever to do due diligence before parting with your hard-earned cash when hiring a trade.“As many as a fifth of homeowners are still not reading online reviews before they hire a trade leaving them exposed to being targeted by a rogue trade.“And while rogue trades can be found everywhere, my advice is to be wary of high availability, be careful of cheap quotes, beware of being asked for full payment up front, never accept work from trades who doorstep and always source a minimum of three competitive quotes.”When it comes to being quoted for a job, 60 per cent said they do not know how much things are supposed.