Efficient British workmen!

I live in Germany where workmen very often work to full satisfaction , but we spent some years in Manchester in the 90s. My husband's firm rented house in S. Manchester, an expensive district and an agency dealt with the house for the owners who were abroad.
I had a long string of workmen sent by them to deal with broken oven doors and fridges which were not cold.
Usually the single man sent by the agency, stood in the kitchen and had no idea what to do. He picked up the oven thermostat which had fallen on the oven floor and asked me what it was? Then he tried to fix a door which he had from another oven.
The next time he said my own fridge thermometer wasn't correct but I gave him a warm joghurt and made him eat it. That convinced him.
They mended the hand shower on the bath with a used shower and when I turned it on to clean the bath, water quirted back up my arm and I was drenched. I really lost my temper, threw down a towel and the front of the bath fell off revealing the dirt and dust underneath.

I have told these stories many times and they are good for a laugh, if you don't have to deal with these men anymore, but I wonder of the owners knew what kind of service the agency was providing.

Good outcome.

Well - the aforementioned guy with the unusual name arrived on Monday and has come up trumps! He looked all around and said that there might be some structural problem on the floor above where the balcony doors (which they fitted) are and that part of the leakage might be from there. He also looked at the leaking downstairs window and said that he was not happy with how it had been fitted. And we took the opportunity to point out some small leaks in the conservatory (which they also fitted 8 years ago).

Yesterday 2 men arrived and spent the whole day here. They:

- took out the balcony doors upstairs and worked on full waterproofing, with new mortar, sealants etc.
- put in a brand new downstairs window.
- dealt with the leaks in the conservatory.

And all at no cost!!!!

Maybe it pays to be a bit assertive sometimes.

We are keeping a close eye on it all, but so far so good, in spite of driving rain.

I was just wondering whether you had got any joy from your window company?

Tracked down your man's unusual name - unless he is ex directory you should be able to find out his landline number. Good luck.

The difficulty here is that this company have provided us with double glazing, patio doors and a conservatory over many years without a moment's problem. This is why I feel so shocked and disappointed at the poor service as soon as a problem is encountered. I pointed this out to them - they need local support and satisfaction to keep trading. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

It is a member of FENSA, and I will contact them to say what a poor service we have had.

Jess - I will pm you later when children gone!

Do you have a document (eg an estimate for the job) with this cowboy's details on it? If he is a member of a trade association such as FENSA, you should let them know what poor service he has provided.

Oops meant to post a link .

Recommended & Trusted Tradesmen at Checkatrade.com
www.checkatrade.com/
Directory of recommended and trusted tradesmen who have been vetted and monitored and meet our standards of trading. Search for local tradesman including; ...

This is a truly terrible way to treat a paying customer Mishap I very rarely use tradesmen as DH will have a go (in his own time mind you) at most things and I do all the decorating . On the very rare occasion I have had the need to "get a man in" I always use www.checkatrade.com this is an excellent website where you fill in a short form describing what work you require and hey presto a list of suitable tradespeople appears along with comments and reviews from previous happy (or indeed unhappy) customers. I have never been disappointed.

Would that cover shoddy new work ana?
Mishap maybe the combined resources of GN could track this so and so down via internet. Test our detective skills.
If you were prepared to reveal his name and trade and the area he works in, he must be out there somewhere. These answering services are like "rent a PA who will decide which calls to put through to me" - handy if you don't have an office and can't always answer the phone but also handy to hide behind sometimes.
Or I'm in to help try to track down his details, if you just want to PM the details. (it would really help if he is not called Dave Smith though)

Have you thought about contacting the company who insures your buildings?

I think it is just outrageous that they think it is OK to do a poor installation and calmly tell us to put towels out until they can get to us. In fact towels are insufficient and I have told them this. They do not seem to care!

When we had a problem with a builder who was supposed to be building our garage and failed to do anything - not even prepare the ground properly - the local Trading Standards man was excellent - kept on the case and got our money refunded from a very small company. Give them a call on Monday too and as has been suggested - take lots of photos. Good luck.

Take some photos as well.
Check Google. But it sounds like he is paying an answering service.

It looks as if he is a sole trader.

I have looked it up in company-check and it is not there!

It is called Weatherseal, and there are several national companies with the same name, but it seems this is a local enterprise and not a franchise.

Do all companies have to be registered? If so, I wonder why it is not appearing.
I will check facebook.

Mishap I would be making a list of the damage and how much it is going to cost to replace the water damage and present said owner of the Company with it when he eventually arrives.Disgraceful customer service.

If the company has a Facebook page I would upload photographs of the water streaming in.
It's a good idea to have photographic evidence anyway Mishap.

That is outrageous! Owner should be hot footing his way to your door.
yes if a registered company the directors should be listed.
Worth speaking to trading standards in your area. If this company is on their list of approved traders they will be keen to find out if they are not behaving well.

Mishap the company will be registered and the name and address of the director(s) will be available (free) online.
In fact here: I've just googled a link for you: companycheck.co.uk/director/index

He's coming on Monday now.

I have suggested that it may be more than a little difficult to contain this water over the course of the weekend, as it is not just a little drip - if the rain really gets up we will have to be down here overnight to change the trays that are catching the water.

She was adamant that Monday is the earliest the owner can come and she would not give me his phone number or ask him to ring us back - what can we do? - we can't grab him by the scruff of his neck and drag him here as we do not know where he is!

Update - they have rung back to say that the manager wants to come and try and resolve the issue and he can come on Wednesday!

I leave you to imagine my reply.

She is going to speak to him again.

Hmmm.