Question 14516 — consumption

Summary

Mr. Stéphane Trompille alerts the Minister of the Economy and Finance about scams linked to home repairs. In 2017, 5,300 complaints were filed following scams during home interventions. The departmental director of population protection (DDPP) of Yvelines indicated to the editorial staff of Le Parisien that it was in reality “only the tip of the iceberg”. The vast majority of these scams are linked to locksmith work, plumbing, glazing, masonry and any other type of interior DIY. These scams are very expensive for their victims since the average cost of these fraudulent interventions is around 2,500 euros. These dishonest craftsmen proceed in a similar way: they leave leaflets in mailboxes on which important numbers appear (town hall, police, firefighters, SAMU) in addition to those of one or more “false craftsmen”. Once called by a person in need of this or that emergency service, the craftsman goes to the person's home to issue an invoice for an exorbitant amount since the diagnosis of the craftsman himself is often exaggerated in order to change as many parts as possible at an expensive price. However, there is nothing illegal about these practices. In fact, the pricing of the services of these professions not being regulated, scammers, taking advantage of the emergency situation and the lack of knowledge of their victims in the repair sector, do not hesitate to draw up invoices showing staggering sums. Victims, if they have the means to report these malicious acts to the general directorate for competition, consumption and fraud repression, they can only rarely obtain compensation for the damages suffered. And for good reason, the companies of these “fake craftsmen” are often fictitious: the address provided on the invoices corresponds to residential buildings, they often employ no employees and have almost zero capital. Thus, it is almost impossible to trace these scammers who do not hesitate to regularly change the address of their head office so that Victims' reports to the DGCRF are fading. He therefore asks what measures the Government intends to take to combat scams linked to home repairs.

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