When I mean ripped off - I actually meant sub-standard jobs which cost me a lot of money. Dining room was plastered and he left me with beautiful swirls and patterns all over the place from his trowel thinggy or whatever it's called.
I couldn't tell for sure at the time it was a mess - until it dried. He also plastered over a tongue and groove wall, can't remember if he plasterboarded it first, and left one edge near the door which is visible without any sort of beading. When he plastered the plasterboard, if that's what he did, he must have nailed it and left the nails protruding to the otherside of the wall, up the stairs, and I kept cutting my hand everytime I used the banister until I ripped them off.
I asked him to come back and rectify all the walls, needless to say he didn't return my call. He had a van with Guild of something or other on it - yeah I know that doesn't mean a hill of beans, but phoned the guild up and they told me he wasn't registered and it was illegal for him to display it on his van.
The other guy came into to screed a kitchen floor, before new lino was put down. It was still soaking wet a week later and the lino guy obviously couldn't fit the flooring. Think he said the mix was wrong, had too much water or milky stuff in it - so all of that had to be taken out and the floor screeded (?) again.
Both these guys were local - talk about messing on your own doorstep.