John Lewis for tradespeople?

Furts

PhilE wrote: »

I had high content asbestos smashed, broken concret asbestos flue left in my loft. Installer changed his name and avoided any repercussions.

That's all a limited company has to do if they mess up your house. Now I avoid limited companies.

There is a "but" here. You have never explained why you had someone working on your asbestos, nor whether you had commissioned an asbestos survey, nor what mechanisms you had put in place for safe removal and disposal. Nor have you explained what due diligence you did with those you engaged, nor what you did with regards terms of engagement and payment.

Hence the jury is out on all this, but one thing is certain. Based on what you have declined to tell the forum, you are currently far from innocent in all this.

Today you are posting, yet again, about problems with trades people - albeit now the issue is re-fitting second hand carpet.

Your magic bullet may indeed be John Lewis supplying you with labour, but I wonder if John Lewis are selective on who they wish to work for.

PhilE

Well Furts it's a public forum you see. Your allowed under the law of England to answer questions and post what you want.

Sorry if that offends the law of Furts, maybe you should start the Furts forum in Furtsland. You can use your telepathy of someones situation there.

As is typical of the modern British who have replaced what were helpful, polite and much more succesful previous generations, you are quick to accuse and judge with absolute disrespect. No wonder the country is a pale shade of what it used to be.

Doozergirl

PhilE wrote: »

No wonder the country is a pale shade of what it used to be.

Oh, you're one of those. Funny.

dunroving

I'd pay a premium for a guarantee of reliability. Especially when new to an area, in a house that needs work immediately on entry, how do you identify reliable tradespeople? "Personal recommendations"? From where? Unless you make immediate friends with everyone in the neighbourhood, or post flyers in every door asking for recommendations, you don't have the social networks to get "personal recommendations".

As for social media, I see occasional posts on the local Facebook page (where I currently live). They go something like this:
OP: "Looking for a reliable decorator"
Sammy Smith: "Send me a description of the job and I'll give you a quote"
Lora Jones: "Lee Jones"
Sandy McKinnon: "Steve McKinnon"
Dougal Bain: "Steve Bain"
Fred Arnold: "Joey Arnold"

Spot a pattern?

I'm not saying I'd go with the John Lewis thing, but even in this age of information overload, I see evidence (locally, where I currently live) that the information is often not trustworthy. Having lived here for 11 years, there are some locals I wouldn't touch with a bargepole, but that doesn't stop them putting an ad in the local news bulletin, or stop their brother in law from posting biased recommendations on Facebook.

PhilE

Doozergirl wrote: »

Oh, you're one of those. Funny.

You mean your one of those. What a surprise. And your the one who was going on about how great your company was. Was going to ask and possible go on to recommend your services, I wont be now. Now you can laugh at losing money.

PhilE

dunroving wrote: »

I'd pay a premium for a guarantee of reliability. Especially when new to an area, in a house that needs work immediately on entry, how do you identify reliable tradespeople? "Personal recommendations"? From where? Unless you make immediate friends with everyone in the neighbourhood, or post flyers in every door asking for recommendations, you don't have the social networks to get "personal recommendations".

As for social media, I see occasional posts on the local Facebook page (where I currently live). They go something like this:
OP: "Looking for a reliable decorator"
Sammy Smith: "Send me a description of the job and I'll give you a quote"
Lora Jones: "Lee Jones"
Sandy McKinnon: "Steve McKinnon"
Dougal Bain: "Steve Bain"
Fred Arnold: "Joey Arnold"

Spot a pattern?

I'm not saying I'd go with the John Lewis thing, but even in this age of information overload, I see evidence (locally, where I currently live) that the information is often not trustworthy. Having lived here for 11 years, there are some locals I wouldn't touch with a bargepole, but that doesn't stop them putting an ad in the local news bulletin, or stop their brother in law from posting biased recommendations on Facebook.

Well, its a good point. The internet reviews I also do not find reliable, and checkatrade I wont be using again. Its a great shame for the small tradesmen who are reliable. But they are hard to find unless you have a trusted recommendation.

Of course, John Lewis have gone and capitalized off all of this by giving a guarantee a limited company cannot. Again, I feel for the small man trying to rise up in the world. More consumer protection would be helpful for them also.

AndyMc.....

PhilE wrote: »

You mean your one of those. What a surprise. And your the one who was going on about how great your company was. Was going to ask and recommend your services, I wont be now. Now you can laugh at losing money.

I’m sure they have enough work to survive without your recommendation.

Doozergirl

PhilE wrote: »

You mean your one of those. What a surprise. And your the one who was going on about how great your company was. Was going to ask and possible go on to recommend your services, I wont be now. Now you can laugh at losing money.

*you're

We get to vet and choose our clients. It wouldn't have been even a narrow escape. I have to turn down far more work than we take on. It's okay, I wouldn't have been moving any of my people from Chelsea to sort out your cheap and badly fitted carpet. Here's one of ours, with carpet that fits correctly.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53442723.html

ukjoel

The problem with checkatrade is its a victim of its own success.

The guys listed at the top get asked for so many quotes they cant handle the quotes let alone the work. To get 3 quotes on one job I think I mailed or phoned 15 -20 builders before I could get 3 estimates.

They have the same issue in that they can do 10 quotes in a row without getting the work and while they dont want to come off checkatrade they would prefer they were not on the first page.

Recently had my heating installed and offered to leave a positive review as was very impressed but he said he didnt want any more positives as meant more spurious quotes.

When you have work lined up for the next 12 months I can see why builders dont want to be booking much beyond that.

AndyMc.....

PhilE wrote: »

I couldn't give a rats backside about the work do, or the debt ridden chavette hovel you call home.

It appears you’ve now lost any credibility.