AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrBump]

This is the most FRUSTRATING THING EVER!!!

At Christmas, we had new double glazing, sofits, guttering etc fitted to our house and garage.  Not cheap, about 12 grand all told.

The surveyor came round and talked the talk, documenting everything that would be done very carefully.

Doors and windows were fine.  Not a single problem.  We're very happy.

But while the idiots were fitting the sofits and guttering they knocked a load of cement down from the roofline.

We noticed the damage to the garage first - we called them, they came over and fixed it.  No drama.

Later in the week, we noticed the same with the roofline of the house. 

But they won't come and put this right...

We've financed this through a "name" bank - a finance deal through the glazing company where a very well known high street bank provides interest free finance for a year.  We have the money sitting in an account just waiting to pay them.  But we can't until the glazers have fixed the problem...

The finance company are nice enough, they're written letters to the glazers, but nothing has come of it.

Then they eventually decide to turn up at my house today to "assess" the damage - basically they're now telling us that our cement is at fault, and that they are going to provide an "independent cement expert" to attest to this.

WHAT THE F*CK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

My wife was left in tears - I'm so angry now I could quite happily drive over there and do serious damage to these guys...

This is just a farce.  I guess I'm getting to the point where I have to think more seriously about going through County Court/Small Claims, but I'm amazed that the system is failing so badly...  We haven't actually paid any money, but the finance company has, and will expect payment from us in a couple of months time.

Faulty cement.  Incredible.

[Davey]

there's nothing those $%&#ups will stop at.
we had our bathroom redone, due to a faulty pipe.. and because we rent, the builders .. all of them, from the electricians, pipe-layers and the other lot.. dont care about the damage they do to the rest of the house, nor do they consult with us, as to what to put in, or where to put it in.. it's basically they come, do their stuff and then leave, leaving the house in shambles. i had my wall half torn open, cos they've been .. 'a bit too vigorous' witht he hammer..
and the 'repair' was such a botched job, i thought i'm going to explode. and i had my room completely redone 5 months ago, with my own money.
we had to physically remove them from the house, call the rent supervisor and he had to get over, to actually tell them that we live there and they should listen to us.. they stood in awe, like it's not even possible such a thing could exist.
the electrician even wanted to rip the whole house apart and when i told him, yeah, so when you do that, where are we going to live? amidst the rubble and dust you're never going to clean up? and what about the hardwood floors you're $%&#ing up right now cos you refuse to take your shoes off?
you know what he said?

that .. is .. not .. my .. business ..
i thought i'm gonna rip him in half.

if at all possible, do it yourself. it's the only way things are gonna be done properly. if not, photodcoument EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF RUBBLE, WOOD, CABLE .. EVERYTHING! it's the only way you're going to save yourself a LOT of grief. i had to learn the hard way

[Dazza1004]

have you spoken to whoever provides your house insurance ?

Maybe you have the right to claim legal fees in the same way you can with car insurance ?

[38thBeatle]

Yeah I agree with Dazza, I'd have  a look at your household contents policy.Many of them come with added insurance for legal expenses which  is handy if you have a consumer dispute. If so, do nothing until you have spoken to them and explained the position.

[blue]

ah, workmen these days really don't care about what they're doing, and are rarely willing to take responsibility for what they've done.  we've had an electrician that used a glass cooker top to stand on, and seemed bewildered at the suggestion that this was a bad idea, even when the large crack he'd caused was pointed out to him.

also, my girlfriend's car was damaged by painters, cracking a tail light and damaging the paint.  the damage even had smears of paint the same colour that they were painting the house!  but they said they were never anywhere near it, and their boss said "my boys would never lie to me".  they stood laughing at us as we got ever more frustrated!

i agree with Davey, wherever possible do things yourself, because these days concientious, trustworthy workmen are few and far between.

of course, that doesn't help Mr Bump.  i hope it works out for you

[dave_mc]

that sucks. I can't really advise anything, except probably look into what dazza is saying.

[Philly Q]

Sorry to hear these horror stories, I hope everything works out.

I hate having work done by third parties. 
I don't like trusting them with keys (it's a London thing)
I don't trust  them not to $%&# up other things they shouldn't even be touching (it's a paranoia thing)
I don't like the etiquette of: are you supposed to chat with them or offer cups of tea? (it's a Phil thing  :oops: )
On top of all that, it costs more too (it's a Scrooge thing)

Trouble is, I'm much too lazy to do things myself.  Hence I live in squalor.