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A cowboy builder is still ripping off vulnerable customers five years after he was exposed by MailOnline as a ‘repulsive parasite’ who pocketed homeowners’ money in return for shoddy, unfinished construction work, we can reveal.
Thomas Dorney fleeced pensioners in 2018 and absconded with the cash without completing the work he had been paid to do.
He left homes in ruins before doing a runner and even complained he couldn’t complete work because he had a headache.
Now MailOnline can reveal he is at it again – this time setting up a ‘bespoke furniture business’ – and has left at least one pensioner out of pocket to the tune of £3,500.
Nick Stewart, 63, ordered a polished concrete garden table and matching benches from Dorney’s Bespoke Table Company, which is just one of numerous companies the dubious builder has registered with Companies House.
Mr Stewart paid £2,576.55 in advance in January 2022 through crooked Dorney’s website.
But when he received the goods five months later, he discovered the table and benches fell well below the standard he expected.
Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Stewart said: ‘Thomas Dorney arrived with another chap to deliver the table and benches. It was night time, about eight at night, so it was dark.
‘The goods didn’t look right but he seemed sincere. I didn’t get a good look at them until the next day.
‘The benches didn’t fit under the table, the colour was not what I thought it should be and the finish was just s***e.’
When he complained that the work was shoddy, Manchester-based Dorsey uplifted the goods before demanding another £950 to make the necessary repairs.
‘I got him to agree to uplift the table and benches which he did a couple of weeks later, that May,’ Mr Stewart said.
‘There was a lot of talk between May and September when he told me it would cost me another £950 to fix it.
‘I thought, f*** me, I’ve paid for the goods that are not as described and are below standard.
‘I tried to meet him in the middle but he said, no, £950 or that’s it.
‘I was caught between a rock and a hard place.
‘At that point, I still thought the guy was on the up and up so, reluctantly, I paid £950 in September.’
But when Mr Stewart handed over the cash he found himself left high and dry and unable to reach Dorsey or his company.
He said: ‘I kept emailing him and the last email I got from him was in November 2022, saying he was waiting for delivery of new steelwork and that the tabletop and benches were nearly finished.
‘He said he hoped to install them within two weeks. I heard nothing. Since then, my emails to him have been bouncing back.’
Mr Stewart lodged complaints with Companies House, HMRC and the Insolvency Service.
He said: ‘I thought nothing’s happening. I’ve been duped. So, I submitted a court claim. And eventually a county court judgement in my favour came outdated the seventh of March. I just want my money back.’
MailOnline has since discovered that Dorsey’s website is still online despite failing to submit accounts to Companies House where The Bespoke Table Company Ltd is described as being engaged in the ‘Manufacture of other articles of concrete, plaster and cement’.
The Bespoke Table Company advertises tables and chairs from £639 to £2099.
He has also registered Unique Table Company NW Ltd and Mainstream Build Ltd under the name Thomas Dale Dorney with Companies House.
In January, Dorsey also set up another company, Cemtec Table Company Ltd, which according to his Companies House registration is also engaged in the ‘Manufacture of other articles of concrete, plaster and cement’ according to his Companies House records in the
In 2018, Mailonline told how pensioner Mary Doherty hired builder Thomas Dorney in January 2018. After fleecing her of £1,500 he complained he had a headache and left her high and dry.
Craig Wilson and his partner Rhys Evans almost lost their home after racking up costs trying to repair it when they forked out an eye-watering £9,705 before Dorney disappeared as his ‘baby was poorly’.
The couple racked up costs in excess of £60,000 trying to repair their home.
The Trust Pilot website for the Bespoke Table Company features a litany of one star reviews.
One stated: ‘Further to prior note the director has started a new company called Cemtec Table Company Ltd. One to chase once he starts advertising. All details are registered on Companies House.’
Another warned: ‘Crooks – now set up as Unique Table Company. Beware ….’
Another said: Not a legit company. Paid money. Never received table. Never heard from the guy after he took our money. Emails don’t work, phones don’t work, company name keeps changing. When I paid them, it was Bespoke Table Co.’
One reads: ‘Zero stars – fraudulent company who have now gone MIA! Stay well clear!’
Mr Stewart, who took Dorney to court and won a county court judgement in his favour in Dorney’s absence, but is yet to see any of his money.
He said: ‘I’m so incensed at the way this guy has behaved towards me and incensed by what he is doing.
‘I just get the sense that this guy will just carry on doing what he’s doing, being able to flip and flop from one venture to the next.
‘I’d like to try to do anything I want to get my money back and, secondly, I want other folk not to lose out the way I have.
‘According to his company details, he was born in March 1995 and aged 28 so he still has a few good years ahead of him to wreak misery and despair on others.’
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