New bathroom fitted but shower leaking into kitchen

sunshune

Me again quick update

had a few people come round to have a look at the leak. Most of them have said it just requires sealant to fix it but are reluctant to do it in case it is a plumbing problem. THey have advised that I call the original fitter but he hasn't returned out calls. The plasterer has said he will seal the shower again, re plaster and re fit the cupboards but he would want us to sign a contract regarding the shower if the problem continue.

southcoastrgi

i'm sorry to say it sunshune but a B&Q fitter that really says it all, i've seen some really bad jobs done by them

KateLiana27

He's already shown himself to be incompetent by not fitting/checking/sealing it correctly in the first place. I wouldn't trust him to know what he's doing now. And in the meantime, your house is being damaged further while he doesn't return your calls.

I'd pay for someone else to fix the problem. That's the priority right now and someone will be prepared to do it. I wouldn't even consider letting him touch anything in my house again. Once that is done and your house is protected, then you can go after him for his negligence if you choose to.

ListysDad

Hi Sunshune.

Firstly, please do not start taking anything down or opening things up to investigate quite yet.

I do understand how frustrating this is. I design and install bathrooms and often get called in to resolve issues. Before starting down the small claims route, and as frustrating as it may be, you must be seen to be doing things properly and following a procedure. The first thing is to call Trading Standards. They will point you in the direction of a std letter where you set out the problems (in a NON emotional and purely factual way) and gives him a formal time in which to reply. This will have to be sent recorded delivery etc so you have evidence of its delivery. Once that is ignored you'll have to send another and only when that is ignored will it be worth going to the small claims court. However by that time the decision will be almost a rubber stamp job. After the first letter deadline has passed I'd employ a professional to, carefully and minimally, investigate the situation and write a detailed report setting out what is wrong and its remedies. This can be sent with your second letter. If he then doesn't respond it's at that point you can get someone in to put it all right. Now BEWARE here. The remedial works MUST NOT include any 'improvements' whatsoever. So, if it's plasterboard behind the tiles then it's plasterboard that goes back. Everything must be replaced like for like. If ANY improvement is made then he can successfully argue that he is not responsible for those costs. That is, of course, unjust but is our (rubbish) law. It must be demonstrable that every endeavour has been made, by you or your representatives, to reuse what exists too as that's another get out to be had.

I would def ask him about his own public liability insurance too. My own has an excess of £500 but that's a lot better than a cr*p reputation. Most of the time it's about trying to keep him onside and not being overly confrontational about things and, in my experience, that is the reason he's not answering messages etc. The simply fact is that if you are not talking then it's failed.

Lastly, be aware that as a small business then he can simply go 'bump' and start up tomorrow as the Mk 2 version so all of this may or may not work. That too is our cr*p law!

Finally, be careful about what you say to others about him. By all means tell others of your experience, but keep it factual and (try really hard) to keep emotion out of it. I've has a lady successfully counter-sued for slagging a plumber off generally in public and he got to hear of it.

Good luck.

southcoastrgi

ListysDad wrote: »

Hi Sunshune.

Firstly, please do not start taking anything down or opening things up to investigate quite yet.

I do understand how frustrating this is. I design and install bathrooms and often get called in to resolve issues. Before starting down the small claims route, and as frustrating as it may be, you must be seen to be doing things properly and following a procedure. The first thing is to call Trading Standards. They will point you in the direction of a std letter where you set out the problems (in a NON emotional and purely factual way) and gives him a formal time in which to reply. This will have to be sent recorded delivery etc so you have evidence of its delivery. Once that is ignored you'll have to send another and only when that is ignored will it be worth going to the small claims court. However by that time the decision will be almost a rubber stamp job. After the first letter deadline has passed I'd employ a professional to, carefully and minimally, investigate the situation and write a detailed report setting out what is wrong and its remedies. This can be sent with your second letter. If he then doesn't respond it's at that point you can get someone in to put it all right. Now BEWARE here. The remedial works MUST NOT include any 'improvements' whatsoever. So, if it's plasterboard behind the tiles then it's plasterboard that goes back. Everything must be replaced like for like. If ANY improvement is made then he can successfully argue that he is not responsible for those costs. That is, of course, unjust but is our (rubbish) law. It must be demonstrable that every endeavour has been made, by you or your representatives, to reuse what exists too as that's another get out to be had.

I would def ask him about his own public liability insurance too. My own has an excess of £500 but that's a lot better than a cr*p reputation. Most of the time it's about trying to keep him onside and not being overly confrontational about things and, in my experience, that is the reason he's not answering messages etc. The simply fact is that if you are not talking then it's failed.

Lastly, be aware that as a small business then he can simply go 'bump' and start up tomorrow as the Mk 2 version so all of this may or may not work. That too is our cr*p law!

Finally, be careful about what you say to others about him. By all means tell others of your experience, but keep it factual and (try really hard) to keep emotion out of it. I've has a lady successfully counter-sued for slagging a plumber off generally in public and he got to hear of it.

Good luck.

+1 some really good advice there :T

ListysDad

Thanks. Just trying to help.

daggy

sunshune wrote: »

Yes Keystone is quite right, we had someone else round to look at the leak and he told us and showed us exactly where it is coming from. The original bathroom fitter asked us for a copy of his invoice for some strange reason and keeps saying we should have told him where it was leaking from, even though we have had to call him out 3 times over the last few months to sort it out.

I just want him to seal the gap and the outer part of the shower, then we will source other contractors to rectify the damage. I doubt very much the bathfitter will offer any money towards damage or even admit it was his shoddy workmanship that has caused the problem in our kitchen. Is there any organisation I can report him to or at least threaten him with. He said that he is a contractor for B&Q and he fits all their suites around the country and in the showrooms, I am wondering whether we just caught him on a bad day then or he really is a poor workman.

What would you guys do? Just get someone else in to sort the gap and not bother to contact him again or pursue him to at least pay for some of the damage, or claim on our insurance who may try to claim on his?

Thanks

Well, it appears you've caught him on 3 bad days, as he's also been back to attempt repairs too.

It seems like you are trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here and he quite obviously doesn't deserve it.

RE him working for B&Q - Bulls**t Baffles Brains

I think it's important that you now keep it completely official - as someone mentioned, contact TS and they will give you guidance as to what should be done.

Make sure you get photos etc of the problem before you get it fixed (obvious, I know).

I hope you get it fixed.

keystone

At the risk of appearing pedantic:

ListysDad wrote: »

.............. only when that is ignored will it be worth going to the small claims court.

There is no such thing as the small claims court. Claims under £5000 are normally allocated to the small claims track in the County Court. Its the Court that does the allocation to whichever track is appropriate.

I would def ask him about his own public liability insurance too. My own has an excess of £500 but that's a lot better than a cr*p reputation

PLI is NOT there to cover incompetance and no claims resulting from incompetance will ever pay out. PLI is for the protection of the contractor NOT for the protection of the client and it is the Contractor that claims NOT the client. Indeed any incident that is covered by PLI and that results in costs amounting to less than the excess (as with all insurance) are not worth putting through for obvious reasons.

Cheers

[Deleted User]

KateLiana27 wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd be trusting him to fix the issue. He sounds like he doesn't have a clue.

In your position, I would think about getting someone else in, at least for an opinion on what needs to be done and a quote.

Exact thing happened to me last year. I opted to pay someone else to do the repairs. It turned out the first guy had done a terrible job and didn't even put a membrane under the walk-in shower, he just tiled over :eek: There are many cowboys around unfortunately.

sunshune

Hi

thank you all for the advice but I really do not think we have time to go down the trading standards route we just need it sorted asap. More cupboards are becoming damaged while we wait and we do not want it to get any worse. Also we are trying to find someone to fix it but like i say they are relectant to because they do not know what the real problem is and they do not want to move anything. We are going to seal it ourselves where we think the problem is and leave it for a while we don't have a choice no one seems to want to come and fix it unless Litsydad is free!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not know what else to do

What good would it do to go via a small claims court, will they actually recover the money for the damage done as we are having to go through our insurance to get it fixed. Or will small claims reimburse us for the money we paid him to do the original job?

Oh and we have taken a lot of photos