Getting money back from cowboy builders

psychopathbabble

Good idea, I guess then I can explain it to them. Our front door has a chubb that doesn't work and a yale, but yale isn't an option on the thing!! x

MatyMoo

psychopathbabble wrote: »

Good idea, I guess then I can explain it to them. Our front door has a chubb that doesn't work and a yale, but yale isn't an option on the thing!! x

I would also be asking the Landlord to get the Chubb fixed ASAP!

psychopathbabble

MatyMoo wrote: »

I would also be asking the Landlord to get the Chubb fixed ASAP!

I think it's because the door is warped. Should we still mention it to letting agent?

MatyMoo

psychopathbabble wrote: »

I think it's because the door is warped. Should we still mention it to letting agent?

Absolutely as it may make a difference to your insurance if you can use it - they prefer them to Yale locks

bigbobbob

Would any of you guys be wiling to join me in setting up a name and shame forum somewhere? i know the issues associated with it, such as competitors posting bogus stories etc. I think, despite this, there needs to be an outlet for such stories. Any takers?.

MatyMoo

bigbobbob wrote: »

Would any of you guys be wiling to join me in setting up a name and shame forum somewhere? i know the issues associated with it, such as competitors posting bogus stories etc. I think, despite this, there needs to be an outlet for such stories. Any takers?.

Hi BBB

As great an idea as this is we have looked in to it before and many people have been scared off by potential legal issues doing this. Someone (SB I think?) did suggest that we could name those that were already in the public domain such as Paul Bridle in this case as he was named on the One Show and some others from Cowboy Builders but I am not sure this ever got off the ground

The other issue is that if they are a Ltd company they just seem to close it down and start up again in a new name in the same area and so get to walk away from their responsibilities pocketing the cash :eek: We have looked in to lobbying MP's about this, Vince Cable seems to be interested in this sort of thing. Again, we haven't got too far with this either.

MatyMoo

BILLIE

miggy wrote: »

Neville lives on, evidently!

Has anyone seen this thread? It has a sadly familiar ring to it

This is just so very sad but yet familiar:eek:

donny-gal

Please be careful with the lock you tell on your contents insurance on flats or rented rooms. I think it is the one to your flat or room they want to know. I am sure I read an article on this and someone had lost out because of it. May be worth talking to a company or agent to get advice.
DG

Keiss_21

Hya all,

Back from my hols in Scotland - had a lovely time, despite the weather!

I am still catching up on all the threads I subscribe to...at least this one didn't have too many pages to read!!

Mike, hope you are managing to see a clearing in your forest of boxes...it does take time though.

I have at last worked through the huge pile of washing , though now there seems to be an even bigger pile of ironing (how come??!). Not looking forward to that! Thankfully DS1 did quite a bit earlier in the week, but I must get going tomorrow night.

Well, must get to bed, really tired tonight, did lots of baking and a bit of gardening, in between the showers today.

Will pop in again over the weekend to see how everyone is getting on.

Night, night.

skintdragon

lisawaters wrote: »

This is what I finally sent to the Beeb. Not sure it covers it really...


To all of the DIY SOS team members, on site and in Bristol.



I have been searching for the words to sum up how grateful the boys and I are for all you have done for us and the cottage. But I don't think they exist.

I realise now that the house was uninhabitable and I was hanging on to the belief that something would happen which would make it possible for my derelict cottage to become a wonderful home again. I was kept going by the image of a quaint and pretty 18th century cottage on the outside, yet gorgeous and contemporary inside.

The original builder I was recommended to use did not just take away the heart of the building and my money; he also took away my physical and mental health, my ability to work, my excitement in owning a house again and, briefly, my trust in anyone. I was progressively backed into a corner from which there was no escape. Nick summed it up when he said that I had become 'institutionalised'... I was in a groove doing the same things repeatedly and expecting the outcome to be different.

The past two years were the darkest of my life. I went from being a 'have' to being a 'have not'. It was frightening and uncontrollable. Everything I had taken for granted in life was stripped away week by week, month by month. Every time I thought I had touched the bottom, it moved further away.

I asked for help on the MSE forum in February. Reading back, I was clearly drowning, not waving. I can see how desperate my situation was now, but at the time I just kept on trying to find something that would reverse the descent. 'Asking for help' proved to be the turning point; I had thought I would find my own way out of the mess, and my self-respect would be intact… I thought I could make everything all right without having to ask anyone to help.

The people on the thread saw that I was in trouble, and they gave their support. They didn't know much about building but they seemed to know a lot about me. I felt that things could change if I accepted that asking for help was OK. They somehow gave me a break from banging my head against the wall, and showed me that accepting help doesn't diminish you. And that it's hurtful to people if you refuse them the chance to do something.

I was in a bad place when I wrote to you asking for help, and when Mark and Christine first visited me at the house, they were probably deeply shocked. Their kindness and matter-of-fact attitude helped me to think - yes, things ARE bad. But there's maybe a chance they could get better after all.

Being told I had been accepted for the programme was an indescribable feeling. A cloud began to lift immediately, and I began a journey back to normality which continues today. I started to feel happy (which I hadn't for a long time!)

From then on, it was a rollercoaster; and Christine and Beth might remember that I didn't believe you would all show up even the Friday before you were due to start! My recent experiences had included so many occasions when something good was dangled in front of me then snatched away, such as the four court cases I won, which never led to any change.

Meeting many of you on the start day was wonderful! You actually had turned up! (If this was a practical joke, it was a hell of a good one!) Being banished from the house just as things started to get interesting was awful! Not knowing what was happening was initially fun, but ultimately almost physically painful!

When you revealed my new home to me, I felt scared for the first time in many years. Standing there with my eyes shut, on the brink of having so many questions answered was terrifying. I suppose that moment was the turning point between what life had become, and what it might possibly be. I will never have a better experience. As I hope you now know, I loved it! Everything in it is beautiful and it feels secure and warm and solid. There had been so many worrying discoveries in the final days before the build started, I had mentally written the house off as unsavable - yet here it was, almost as I had imagined it, yet so much better!

At 3 am the next morning I came downstairs and had a walk round and saw so much I hadn't noticed. I realised how much work everyone had put in, what a clear belief and vision had driven it, and how lucky I was that this had been done for Jack, Sam and me. By the time I had switched the lights off and gone back to bed it was dawn, and I had fallen completely and utterly in love with the cottage again. I hope we will be together in it for a long time.

Thank you again for being such kind and friendly people, from the first phone call to today. Thank you for giving us a home, for taking on such a challenge, for being so generous and clever, and for never once making us feel you were doing us a favour. The programme will be fascinating and I hope you enjoyed making it.

Thank you for the day sailing, the morning at the primary school, for being so nice to my neighbours, and for giving us a hug when we were overwhelmed. Thank you for filming the whole thing, too! Do come back and see us again.

I don't think there actually is a phrase to describe how the boys and I feel now, which sums up our appreciation of everything you all did. Maybe this is the only thing I can say, but I hope it is enough:



Thank you.








Mike, Jack and Sam Purdie

The Dolls' House

Norfolk Place, Littlehampton.

Oh dear I have just read this letter and I am welling up!!!!



Hello peeps sorry I have been a bit quiet; been away working and my shift was hell, and with the bad weather I ended up stuck out an extra day. Thank goodness for time off now; got plenty to be catching up on here I see!

Hope everyone's well. Mike, how's the hoose? x