A temporary joiner recommended Howdens to me and said 'mention my name'. So I did and Howdens sent a quote to me with the joiners name on the account. I went to their kitchen showroom in Penrith to alter the design, choose doors and haggle the price. At this point Tom, the salesman, said I would be paying them direct. "So I can deal with Howdens directly?" I asked. 'Yes' was the simple reply. (Foolish boy - I had an independent witness with me). From that point on everything was direct, including the payment request. Unusually for me I didn't insist on an invoice - busy, distracted. Howdens then sent the joiner the VAT invoice even though he had not paid, he was not the customer. I now cannot reclaim the VAT or set against capital gains tax so it's costing me over £1,800 more on top of a £4,300 kitchen. The joiner of course can set this invoice against profits on his turnover and - this is clever - can stay below the VAT threshold by having the customer pay his bills for him (even though it was nothing to do with him he will have made a profit). HMRC and the VAT office are very interested and sadly it looks as though literally thousands of fitters, joiners etc will be investigated for a national multi million VAT and tax fraud. Howdens are disinterested but I suspect they will just have to get interested.