Help! Workmen from hell

spidermaaaan

I moved into a new build property on the 10th of this month. Needed carpets fitting. The builders had put flooring down in the kitchen and bathroom but everything else needed doing.
Got some carpet fitters who promised the job would be done and dusted on Saturday 12 th December. I paid a 50 percent deposit of £950. left a spare key with them on Friday afternoon.
Saturday morning I popped round to the new house and they had brought a ton of laminate flooring I had not ordered. I told them they were not to put this down and instead just do the carpet. Unfortunately they had brought laminate for the lounge so that meant the lounge could not be done.
I have a 300 litre fish tank that goes in the lounge and had organised the removals guys for the following day. so I had to leave the fish tank at the old property and pop round once a day to feed the fish. It would have harmed my fish to drain and move it twice so I asked the landlord at the old place to extend my rent until the carpet was down.
They came a few days later to lay the carpet so I took my son out as he is only 4 and I did not want him around the nails. job was promised to be done for 6 but when I arrived home it looked like a crime scene. mess everywhere my plant destroyed the Christmas tree looked like it had been laid on it sides and cracked baubles all over the lounge. Carpet fluff everywhere and tons of rolls of carpet left all over the show and even outside the property. Could not get my frozen food in freezer as piles of laminate still in the packets were blocking it and I cannot lift them due to a back injury. so had to throw all my frozen food away.
phoned them up and they said the saw to trim down yet doors was broke and they could do it Friday. Went out to work and returned to find brand new doors all damaged. looks like they trimmed them down with their teeth.
Now they still have my key. Asked for it back yesterday and was promised it today but no key.
also a lump of plaster has been koshed out the wall
I still owe them the other 950 but I do not think they deserve payment in full
please advise what my next move should be.

spidermaaaan

I want to be fair about this and do think they deserve some of the 950. However I wish to dock out the money the cost of my damaged property, wasted frozen food, cost of replastering the wall, cost of making the doors good (they have offered to do this but I do not want them back in the property) and cost of removals guys coming twice instead of once. They are telling me that due to their error the cost of the carpets is not 1900 but 2100 and as a goodwill gesture they will just take the 950 but I think this is BS

arcon5

Don't think your frozen food claim will stand up at all... get a neighbough to store your food? Or at the very least move the boxes? Or a relative or something? Throwing away frozen food seems a bit dramatic.

spidermaaaan

The boxes were very heavy and I could not move them. I have no relatives and did not want to approach the neighbours as I have Asperger's so I get nervous around people.

marliepanda

arcon5 wrote: »

Don't think your frozen food claim will stand up at all... get a neighbough to store your food? Or at the very least move the boxes? Or a relative or something? Throwing away frozen food seems a bit dramatic.

Agreed. You have to mitigate your losses. Surely you must have some
Friends or family, mother of your son, or anybody who could have moved some boxes to get into your freezer.

spidermaaaan

I just need advice on how to take thus forwards. The guys from the carpet shop are offering to repair the doors but I think it may be better at this point just to get someone else in and then dock it off the outstanding balance.

spidermaaaan

No I do not have any family. my dad lives in France and my mum is dead. The only relative I have in the local area has dementia.
I do not have friends as I am an autistic person and so I avoid people.
my sons dad is a safeguarding risk and I left him following domestic abuse.
so no I have nobody

hollydays

I hope some other mse users can come along tommorrow and give you some more help.

wealdroam

spidermaaaan wrote: »

The guys from the carpet shop are offering to repair the doors but I think it may be better at this point just to get someone else in and then dock it off the outstanding balance.

You should give those guys the opportunity to put right their mistake - if that's what it was.

arcon5

If you don't allow them the opportunity to right it you would likely loose in court.... If they pursued it.
The food issue was avoidable. You could have rung them to come back, phoned a handy man to mitigate your losses, asked a neighbour to help, put certain bits in the fridge to avoid total loss. Appreciate you have a condition but your not inviting them round for tea, just borrowing them for a minute, or they may have sent a son round or something.

paddyrg

'...from hell' seems to be overstating the case a little. Inconsiderate maybe. Underestimated the score of the job maybe. Sounds like a couple of misunderstandings combined with misplaced optimism around timings but no malice.

Carpet fluff everywhere... Carpet rolls all over the place... They are fitting new carpets, kinda goes with the territory. Frozen food inconvenient, I guess you made a choice for whatever reasons (which were outside fitters control or even knowledge or understanding) where there were mitigations available.

Smashed baubles everywhere? Tree may or may not have been laid on its side? So the rooms had stuff in that the fitters were trying to work around - might be why they didn't manage the whole job as fast as they'd hoped.

Doors - they want to make good.

As visions of hell go, I'll take yours over eternal damnation in fire pits of agony, despair and regret ;-)