Advice Needed over Rogue Trader

Miser_maz

I had some expensive tiles laid in my hallway and need advice on how to address the shoddy work done.
I went to a local tile outlet to see tiles, while there I spoke with a salesman who recommended a tiler whose business card (along with others) whose work was guaranteed by the store. When the tiler came to the house to quote for a job he also confirmed that his work was guaranteed. I was happy with his quote and asked him to do the work. The next day I went to the same store and bought tiles and told (a different) salesman that their recommended guy was doing the work, for which they gave me trade prices.
When the fitter came to do the job, he asked me to remove the skirtings for him which I duly did, while he ripped up the old wood flooring. When he had finished removing the old flooring he complained to me that the flooring should have been removed for him, I was surprised by this and told him that he asked me this in advance I would have had it up before he came to do the job. Anyway he got on with laying the tiles which took him a day and a half.
When he had finished laying the tiles he asked to be paid, but to my surprise the work quite obviously looked incomplete, with skirting boards still removed. On further inspection I noticed a number of tiles were uneven with some sticking up which a person could quite easily trip over. When I asked him to fix these things he began complaining that I was lucky he wasn’t charging me an extra £50 as he had had to remove the old floor, I protested he had never told me to remove the floor, even when he had come to do the work he could have told me that the floor should have been removed for him. He said if I wanted him to fix the things I’d mentioned then I’d have to pay him £50 more than quoted, I agreed to pay him that amount. However then he said he only wanted the quoted amount as that’s what I owed him, and that he would come the next day and fix the other stuff. I paid him his money. The next day he didn’t appear, I phoned him and he showered me with excuses and abuse about having forced him to remove the old floor and not paying him the extra £50. When I began answering him back he hung up on me and wouldn’t answer the phone.
After trying umpteen times to call him, I decide to call the store who had recommended him, to my surprise they said that for the work to be guaranteed I should have paid £20 to them and signed a certain document they would have supplied to me. This was new, neither the salesman nor the fitter had mentioned any such document or payment. The store therefore said it was between me and the fitter.
I’m now stuck with a hopeless job and unsure who to turn to, I really would appreciate any advice on this.

iamcornholio

Trading Standards if you get no joy from the store or fitter.

Or if you are upto it and certain of the poor quality, get an independant expert report, give the fitter one more chance to rectify ...... else employ another company and sue the fitter for your costs in the county court. You can include the store in the claim if there is proof of their part in the agreement

dander

I think you've got two seperate issues here, and the only one that really matters is the quality of his work. What happened over the old floor and the skirtings is irrelevant to the quality of the tiling - what matters is that he hasn't actually done a good job of the tiling.

I would start by calling Consumer Direct http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ and talking the situation through with them.

underlay_guru

hello,

it would be wise to get someone impartial and 'in the know' round to inspect and report on the quality of fitting. Google 'flooring inspectors' and you should find someone who can do this for you.

Miser_maz

When I last spoke with the tiler I threatened him with legal action.
I have since spoken to him again and he's now come up with a new excuse for the uneven tiles.
When he was laying the tiles he told me that there was a chance that the front door could scrape the tiles due to increased hight of tiles compared to old flooring. I had asked him what could be done about this, he first said not much as it needed the 9mm plywood base. I had asked him if it was possible to put down plywood of less thickness, and he said 6mm was also available, I asked him if he could lay down 6mm ply and he agreed and did so.
He's now claiming that the 6mm ply he laid on "my insistance" is responsible for the uneven floor, therefore not his responsibility.
So I contacted another tiler for advice on this who told me that he would have not recommended 6mm ply at all, however he said that laying 6mm ply would not have affected the tile level, they should still be level and not uneven, the uneveness he said was more to do with the amount of adhesive and lack of expertise.

I'll contact consumerdirect as mentioned above tomorrow.

Alan_M_2

You're going to struggle here unless there was a written quote. Next time you have any work undertaken obtain a full written quote of work to be completed. You then know where you stand.

There was a test case a few years back regarding recommendation of sub contractors which appeared to make the recommending company responsible for the quality fo the work the sub contractor undertakes. However, nothing really seems to have come of this.

I would be taking this issue up with the recommending supplier, it's unlikely to get you anywhere but it's worth a shot.

Next time get a fully written quote, this is the very reason why you need one.