h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Monday 16th may.
Okay,now i'm annoyed.Why do i always believe these so nice voices on the other end of the 'phone when they say they'll get back to me?
On thursday last week we had the loft insulated.(It wasn't up to the required ten inch of insulation,so the nice man who surveyed it said.)
As i find it difficult to run up and down the stairs i left him to it,just going up once to take him a drink of tea.
Around four hours later he had finished,and brought a paper for me to sign,quote"just to say he hadn't put his feet through the ceiling,or anything as dramatic as that".
I had a friend visiting,so as soon as he had gone she went upstairs to use the bathroom.She shouted down to ask me if i'd like her to vac(most of my frinds are like that),but i said no......i'd sort it out later.I really think she was trying to tell me i should go have a look,but i'm a bit dense sometimes,
I couldn't believe my eyes when i finally went upstairs....
The lovely young man had left a trail of insulation,a bit like candy floss,on the landing,down the staircase,stuck to my curtains,in the hallway,and stuck to the coats that were hung there.My loft entrance,and the loft cover looked as though a chimney sweep had handled them before washing the soot of his hands...apart from the wood facing he had broken off,which was sat neatly against the bedroom door.My smoke alarm was on the window sill,and my dark wood bannister and hand rail were a sort of milky whitish dust colour!!There were also lumps of concrete on the carpet,and a sort of grit just everywhere.
Now,not been one to complain as a general rule i was pretty when i rung the office next day(friday the 13th,of course)I sent them pictures of the mess,and they duly rung me back to say they were sending someone out to look.Of course that meant i couldn't clean up ,so when i go to bed tonight,(which wil be early,seen as i was up early with hubby,waiting for the AA to come and start our car so he could go to work)i will yet again stride over all the grit,rubble and candy floss.
Tomorrow i will try to get hold of the firm again,in the hope that my house might resemble some form of normality by the time i go to bed tomorrow.
In the meantime ..thanks for listening..i feel lots better for the rant.

Bloody hell Sal, and the firm's still in business????
We've got workmen coming and going outside curtesy of the local council... Wednesday saw two young lads drilling and putting in new wall ties... Fine, and yeah you expect a bit of mess... An hour or so later they had finished, said they were cleaning up... Yeah right, the front, side and back of the house were a bloody disgrace, brick dust so deep and thick it looked like the soddin desert, stuck to everything, windowframes, sils, doorframes, steps and flags... Not to mention next door as well...
Hubby got straight onto phone to complain, within 15 mins someone came round to see said mess, another 20 mins later three other lads off another team came to clean up... It wasn't their mess but they cleared it anyway... They said they were going to bill the other team for doing their work.. Hope they did...
Sal, there are times luv when you just have to open your mouth otherwise the buggers'll walk all over you... Well not here they won't..
Hope it gets sorted for you luv...

That stinks and expecting you to live like that when you had photographic proof. First they mess up then they don't trust you. Workman

I hate that, when you pay someone good money to do a job, and they trash your whole house in the process. And then act like they're doing you a favor by cleaning/fixing/replacing it. I used to rent the top floor of a house, and the landlord had the roof replaced. The roofers knocked off for drinks in the middle of their shift pone day, during which time it rained and flooded my flat. It took me six months to get a replacement mattress out of them, not to mention reimbursement for my clothing and the irreplaceable items that were destroyed.

Sorry for digressing onto a rant of my own. I'd actually only meant to commiserate!

I hope they contact you and make a much more valiant effort to put things right.

I really hope they'll clean the mess up and apologise. My husband's a carpenter, he never goes to work anywhere without taking his own broom and hoover - and using it when he's finished

to hear about your problem Smurfles, I can imagine what the mess what like. Just thought I would let you know that not ALL wrokmen leave such a mess behind them
We had our new shower fitted recently (as everyone knows)any way they took only 2 days to do the job, and not the 4 days mentioned in the letter form O/Health! They were really good, and never made nearly as much mess as we thought they would!
In fact they were great, I think thats due to Mk2 feeding them, and kept the flowing
They did an excellent job as well, so there is hope out there for all us folk who cant get around as much as we would like to
Smudger,

The bloke that replastered my dining room left it absolutely spotless. However, the same cannot be said for the previous plasterer who did my bedroom (somebody recommended him too - somebody with very low standards it would seem). And as for the w****r who put up my kitchen ceiling, I don't think I've ever seen so much mess!

I hate dealing with tradesmen - it's hard work even getting anyone to come and then so many of them either don't do the job to my satisfaction or they leave a huge mess.

I hope you've been able to clean up now Sal - it's not good to be breathing in all that dust and little bits of fibre.

Liz
~

We told the contractors ahead of time there would be a cleaning charge if they did not do it.

We said (hubby) is willing to do it (after the fact) but his hourly wage for doing so will be shorted from the check.

It would hold up the next persons work or make it dirtier or sloppy so things had to be cleared each time.

It makes me mad because it IS part of their job.
Hope all was settled Sal.
You probably do not want to breath in that stuff when it flies around.

wednesdy.
Just a quick up date,i rang the firm yesterday afternoon,and the gentleman was quite abrupt,asked me what i wanted them to do,and siad the grit would be spoiling my carpet,i should clean it up.As far as he is concerned there is"just the broken bit of wood to put back".I put the phone down ,before i started using some long forgotten words from my days when i worked with a bunch of men!!!
So,today i will ring him again,and give him 48 hours get it sorted,or i shall be complaining to the trading standards.

That man sounds horrible Smurfles, so what happened in the 48 hours you gave them?

He was horrible kaz,so i asked to speak to someone else.
The outcome was that i had to vac the carpet myself,they said they couldn't get anyone here to repair the loft where they had broken the wood for appoximately ten days to two weeks,and it's still the same.
They really didn't seem that interested,but have told me that if i get my curtains cleaned they'll pay for that.I have to get a receipt,AND an invoice,don't ask me why they want both,and i have to post it to them.In the meantime i'm wading through the fleeces that have to be washed(they were at the bottom of the staircae)and i have to wait until one of the girls has time to vac the stair carpet for me,and polish the woodwork!!!
I don't like been nasty,but it seems that's the only way i'll get it sorted out.

Be nasty then, it seems to get results. Its tragic you have to descend to their level though.

Go to trading standards or their standards organisation if you can. Were they members of the master federation of buildres or something like that? You can also go to your council or even the paper.

Anything to make them learn some repect and care. Good luck.

hi sal, just to let you know we go to view house monday at 3pm xd

Friday..27th may.
Today i rung the firm again,they were apologetic,yet again,and told me someone will be coming next week to repair the damage they caused.Of course it won't be monday,as thats a bank holiday,and it wont be tuesday,as they'll have only gone back to work on that day,but they'll ring me to arrange which day.I think i'll just wait and se when they get round to it!

Good luck, I hope they come soon.

I got a call from someone or other interiors,telling me they'd ring again later in the week to arrange which day they were coming to do the /urgent/ repair to the loft!!Don't understand why they rung to tell me they were going to ring again..bit of a useless practise i would have thought.Still,now i know it's urgent!So......,we'll see!

So, how's it going now, Smurfles. I wish I could come up there and I WOULD use some of the words I hear here on a daily basis with 126 men working with me! 'Fraid the language rubs off, but I only use it here, never out of the office. And even then, I only use it to make my point - not like they do, every other word is f- this and f- that!

Hope you have got some results by now.

Take care UG

HI there UG.They DID ring bqck,and are coming on wednesday afternoon to do the repairs.I shall sit in the staircase and watch every move they make..i might even get a flask ready (just for me)
I got out of the habit of the f---word,since it's almost ten years since i stopped working,but this loft insulation thingy has brought it back to mind,and lots of others too,although i used them in much the same circumstances as you!!
Lovely to hear from you,hope things are back to normal for you now.salx

We had similar problems years ago when we lived up north. All we wanted was 2 radiators fitted to fully heat our large house (at the time) British gas promised to come on the first of Oct. (End od season for our B & B business) Anyway they turned up in August! busiest time for us, then they changed the contracter (they promised us)and sent in a team of cowboys!

They said they would be finished it 2 days, it took them 2 weeks!! which meant we lost a great deal of business. In the end we refused to pay them, they sued us! we counter sued them for all the destruction in the house, they caued, also for loss of business. Went ot court, in the end we had to pay one quarter of their final bill!
Smudger,