Opinions please - plasterboard overhangs skirting - photos

misgrace

Keep your chin up H. cowell, Its not just you that getting nowhere fast with phonecalls.
It seems it happens everywhere, everyone justs want to pass you on, and you end up in the wrong dept.
This happened to me last week, I waited for a return call, in the end I rang back, they put me through to the wrong dept, (after going over it again) :rolleyes:, by the time I got thru to the right dept, no bu55er was answering, so I left a very vocal message.

Got a call back at the last knockings of the day, so armed with the info, I goes down the next morning, the stupid plank had given me the wrong info on the phone!!!!!, so now I am fuming, and of course the messenger got it, well, the it was the poor man on the counter.:o

I blew my top, as I took time off to sort this prob out, and they gave me the wrong info, so now I am telling the poor bloke they need to get thier customer service sorted out, a complaint will be on its way.

So I do sympathise with you.

I am willing you on, and with you a 100% of the way, you have lots of support on here, so you keep at em.:D

[Deleted User]

Thanks misgrace . It feels good to know it's not just me!

Generally I can stay calm - I think that usually works best - but unfortunately I can now feel a rant brewing . Especially since no-one who said they would get back to me has done so yet and my patience is wearing thin....

Sorry to hear you've had problems too, but hopefully you'll have improved that customer service dept you complained about!

never_enough

Putting things in writing does seem to have an effect in most instances. I suppose some people would just not bother complaining. I get like this :mad: when you have that being passed from one to another, having to go through the same story over & over. You feel like just giving up (or doing really really bad things to them....) At least with a letter you have a copy & proof of receipt. Am keeping my fingers crossed for you h cowell. Btw you should include photos with your letter as seeing them will drive the point home.
I have found that a copy to the office of the chief exec (or similar) &/or the governing body of whatever service you're complaining about will often spur things on if people are dragging their feet.
Good luck.

marmalize

i had same problem with a holiday company after spending two weeks in apalling accomodation(all i wanted refunded was the money i had paid for various 'extras'...none of whitch were available or offered on site)....letters photo's and emails were sent ..after the first one they refused all contact and responsibility..went on for about 6 months till the last letter that i copied to them showed that i had sent all info to the head of ABTA and also to BBC Watchdog programme!!...paid up within 7 days.....including money for phonecalls/stamps etc..
so...keep records of costs and add to claim and use a big stick(ombudsman/tv programmes seem to work well)
keep us posted ...you must be a very patient person cos if it was me i would have ripped it all off by now. i have never seen such shoddy haphazard work and would be worried about what was underneath all that plasterboard...
good luck

[Deleted User]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought it about time to write another update.

Basically our building work looks exactly the same as it did in the photos earlier in the thread, which were taken weeks ago.

After a month of getting no-where (during which time we expressed our growing list of concerns in writing to the builders, and the insurer/surveyor) we finally went to see a solicitor. She specialises in building disputes, and pointed us in the following direction:

1. to pursue a response from the surveyor, who has now acknowledged receipt of our letter + photos and is 'currently establishing the present positon'. That was six days ago. He's had a total of six weeks so far.

2. to put the builders 'on notice' in writing. They were pestering us (phone/e-emails) to come and finish the job, despite our complaints about shoddy work.

3. to obtain an estimate from a reliable builder for work needed in taking the job forward, including remedial works caused by the previous cowboys. The new builder came yesterday and is now putting a quote together.

4. to obtain the opinion of an independent surveyor about the adequacy of the
subsidence work originally proposed by the insurer. This is in progress.

The builder who came yesterday has good references and is already known to us for his reliability. He was appalled at the mess we've been left in and made several additional points;
- the lintel that was installed has no pad stones supporting it. It is resting on the original external brickwork, and will need to come out for the job to be done properly.
- the plasterboard, which should not even be there anyway, should have been foil backed for a job like this, and the edges should have been sealed (he called it a 'bug run' in it's current state!).
- he could see straightaway that the cement used to fix the plasterboard in place had been watered down.

So it's all going to be stripped back again at some point, and probably the insurance work will be brought into question too. This could go on for a while and we may get the solicitor involved if we receive no answer from the insurer/surveyor in the next week or two. In fact, it's looking like we need to give the surveyor a time frame in order to get a response.....

Hopefully our saga will help someone else who might find themselves in a similar position, not that I'd wish it on anyone!

rca779

Any update on this situation?