Had a fitter who belonged to Guild of Master Craftsmen (or master cowboys as some of the safe trader register lads refer to them), start our quoted full bathroom refurb 2/2/15. Had to endure late shows, no shows, "forgetting" of tools, using my gear, cutting stuff upstairs without laying dustsheets and making a right mess, telling assorted lies, damaging the materials etc.
When his supposed last day was weds 6/3/15 he still had a toilet flush, shelf and snag list to do but had not brought his cutter for the hole for the flush so would be back again the friday. As he had made such a song and dance about leaving all his drills over the previous weekend so we knew he would return and had cleared everything but still reckoned he would come back the friday, alarm bells rang.
I sent him a polite email asking what time to expect him as I had an appointment at 1pm and couldnt afford to wait around til he decided to arrive so could he be there by 10am.
What came back was from his wife and company secretary, demanding we pay 8 of the remaining 10% withheld until completion or they would not be returning to complete the job. Just to show you the stupidity, the outstanding amount was £217.50 and their figure was a magical £200.10, not the £174 my calculator said.
I contacted a litigation solicitor, consumer advice who eventually referred me to trading standards and also the conciliation service with the guild of mc, providing photos of shoddy work, damage etc and email conversations of various tales and lies (like we have a 15 year guarantee backed by the guild but they know of no such thing) and texts.
The guild have now come back 2 weeks later and stunned my wife and I, basically not taking a single complaint point of ours into account and letting the fitter(actually his wife) write 4 pages of one or two truths, many half truths and as many outright lies, suddenly claiming for £140 worth materials they reckon we weren't charged for despite showing us no evidence and the guild inflating their demands up from £200 to £805!
Trading standards are no use now, basically saying to make an offer around the original £200 fee and pay them off to get rid of them. I am amazed that this lying two faced hand to mouth "tradesman" can get away with this and even more so the Guild, who I since find out are nothing more of a sales company and no real organisation at all, certainly not on quality.
As my mrs is pregnant I am reluctantly going to give in and pay this pr**k £204 to get lost rather than stress her out at such an important stage of pregnancy. But to say it leaves a sour taste is an understatement.
Oh and one of the best tales in his 4 page letter concerned the bodged drill holes in the tiles from fitting the curtain rail wrong first time round. It said "We did not install the rail so we cant be held accountable". Laughable response from a jack of all trades but master of none. If you live in the Bolton area, then message me for their name to avoid at all costs as I wont post it in case I break any rules but the jackass deserves naming and shaming!
When his supposed last day was weds 6/3/15 he still had a toilet flush, shelf and snag list to do but had not brought his cutter for the hole for the flush so would be back again the friday. As he had made such a song and dance about leaving all his drills over the previous weekend so we knew he would return and had cleared everything but still reckoned he would come back the friday, alarm bells rang.
I sent him a polite email asking what time to expect him as I had an appointment at 1pm and couldnt afford to wait around til he decided to arrive so could he be there by 10am.
What came back was from his wife and company secretary, demanding we pay 8 of the remaining 10% withheld until completion or they would not be returning to complete the job. Just to show you the stupidity, the outstanding amount was £217.50 and their figure was a magical £200.10, not the £174 my calculator said.
I contacted a litigation solicitor, consumer advice who eventually referred me to trading standards and also the conciliation service with the guild of mc, providing photos of shoddy work, damage etc and email conversations of various tales and lies (like we have a 15 year guarantee backed by the guild but they know of no such thing) and texts.
The guild have now come back 2 weeks later and stunned my wife and I, basically not taking a single complaint point of ours into account and letting the fitter(actually his wife) write 4 pages of one or two truths, many half truths and as many outright lies, suddenly claiming for £140 worth materials they reckon we weren't charged for despite showing us no evidence and the guild inflating their demands up from £200 to £805!
Trading standards are no use now, basically saying to make an offer around the original £200 fee and pay them off to get rid of them. I am amazed that this lying two faced hand to mouth "tradesman" can get away with this and even more so the Guild, who I since find out are nothing more of a sales company and no real organisation at all, certainly not on quality.
As my mrs is pregnant I am reluctantly going to give in and pay this pr**k £204 to get lost rather than stress her out at such an important stage of pregnancy. But to say it leaves a sour taste is an understatement.
Oh and one of the best tales in his 4 page letter concerned the bodged drill holes in the tiles from fitting the curtain rail wrong first time round. It said "We did not install the rail so we cant be held accountable". Laughable response from a jack of all trades but master of none. If you live in the Bolton area, then message me for their name to avoid at all costs as I wont post it in case I break any rules but the jackass deserves naming and shaming!
A superb joiner I knew was a member so I made an assumption - but then looking into it - I made a realisation 
