Three
“A new guy brings new hope.”
On the 18th of September 2017 the builder again failed to attend to carry out the works to the base due to illness, although the builder was a lovely bloke he did seem to suffer with sickness quite a bit. This obviously didn’t help with either getting the works done or with my frustration. On the 19th of September 2017 I spoke with a gentleman called Dean Want. He was the Regional Conservatory Manager and had been assigned to the project to try to sort out the problems I was having. He took the time at the end of his day to email simply to say that he “… wishes we had speaking under better circumstances…“ but that “…as promised I will speak with you about 9 am tomorrow.” I did not receive a call from Mr Want but instead received an email which to be honest was much better for me as I had begun to realise how invaluable paper trails are, unfortunately though so now will Everest Home Improvements.
The email stated what he was doing and dates that jobs would be done. This finally gave some hope that things would actually be moving to being completed… “Good morning Mr Pas Thought it best to put my findings in an email. I will chase up the glass and the fire door are on order on our system I will chase up delivery of these today. Installer will be back on Tues 26th to put in the support brackets ( with solid timber pack off to take up the distance of plastering . Builder will be in on Weds 27th to do the knockthrough into the garage and all plastering and screeding we will need approx. 3 days. Installer will be in on Mon 2nd Oct to do the door lining and fire door and any associated items. I will keep chasing the glass and as soon as that is in will make sure its prioritised this should only be about a week so I am hoping it can coincide this with the installers visit. I will give you a call in a while to make sure that you have this email. Kind Regards Dean Want Regional Conservatory Manager”
A very encouraging email from a guy who really does seem to be wanting to ensure the victim, sorry customer, gets what they have been promised and have paid for. Now it just remained to be seen if he would be supported by Everest Home Improvements to ensure that the works were completed. So I get a text message from Anthony Rowe the `site agent/project manager` on the 25th of September 2017 to say that a contractor would be attending on the 26th to fit the box gutter brackets and that Wayne the builder would be back on site on the Thursday to block up a window and to do the plastering works which would be about a weeks work. On the 28th of September I call the customer services AGAIN, the entry in their records reads that I am not happy as the builder has failed to turn up on the 27th and the 28th and that I am fed up of having to chase the project manager to find out what is going on. It also says that I want an answer by 1pm on that day to tell me when Everest Home Improvements are going to finish the conservatory. At this point though, a new project manager/site agent, Tim Cook, has been assigned as for some reason, (I would guess he got sick of having to deal with upset victims but cannot state for certain that was the reason), Anthony Rowe had left the company with no warning (from what fitters told me) Needless to say, that call was not made.
It is the 24th of October 2017 and guess who I am on the phone to again? That’s right, victim services (or lack of). The record reads that I am not happy as I am STILL waiting for someone to fit a door to separate the garage from the conservatory (and the rest of the house) and that my frustration and anger has been made all the worse because I had found a mouse in the kitchen when I came down in the morning that had likely come in to the house from the garage to take advantage of the warmer house. I was waiting for a date for the 2nd fix of electrics and that again it is not my job to chase up these things. Obviously, nothing heard so a few days later I chase the works again. On the 30th of October 2017 I chase the electrical works once more to be told they cannot carry out the works as the electrician is unavailable. As you can imagine I told them that if they only had one electrician working for the company then I could not possibly believe it and that I would simply pay my own electrician to do the works. I also had to chase the door again. Despite ANOTHER request of a phone call both on the 30th and the 31st, you guessed it, NOTHING HEARD. So far then, Mr Want is being made to look very foolish by Everest Home Improvements Utterly ridiculous that a company who declare themselves to be the best were so bloody useless. Anyway, as Pete Tong would say…”We continue”
15th November 2017. AGAIN I am on the phone to victim lack of support. I request that a manager call me by 5pm on that day and NOT a project manager. I state that I have been waiting for long enough for the conservatory to be finished and that what I have is shabby and unfinished. I also tell them that I WILL take the file to Trading standards and Watchdog if they don’t call. At this point the details for the call are passed to someone else, let me introduce to you Mr Simon Goble.
So why does Mr Simon Goble get his picture up, what has he done to be awarded such fame, well let us see what position Mr Simon Goble held shall we. Now Mr Goble it turned out was the Operations Manager for Everest Home Improvements. I had not heard this guy mentioned before and indeed it was a little while before I did have any dealings with him but we will come back to him a bit later on. In the meantime it is arranged that Tim Cook would visit my house to see the state of the works or lack of, on the 16th of November 2017. I think that at this point it would be beneficial for you to see what a £40,000 plus conservatory built by the best, Everest Home Improvements, looks like. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…
There are more pictures but I think the ones I have shared with you show the state of it. That is not all though, as will become apparent later but for now, you get an idea. I conducted almost all of my complaints with Everest Home Improvements by email to ensure a “paper trail” and as you can imagine, this over the past nearly TWO YEARS has nearly filled two A4 ring binders, and I am talking about the big black office types. Anyway, back to the emails and the logged activity with Everest Home Improvements. On the 20th it is reported by Tim Cook that a replacement door is required as it is unsuitable for a wheelchair user. You would think that it would be ordered correctly but also, any fitter with an ounce of sense should have seen on the plans that it was the wrong door especially when they went to fit it. Bearing in mind they had put it all up once before when they discovered the base was too small. Again though I am back on the email to Dean Want to find out when he will be coming to the house as I was told he would be coming with Tim Cook. Turns out that it was going to actually be a conference call as Dean Want was in Cardiff that day, but that didn’t happen. Dean Want was very apologetic and was sincere in his apology, one thing I can say for Mr Want, he GENUINELY wanted to help but was repeatedly let down and later, as you will see, stonewalled by someone else who I will introduce you to.
My reply to Dean Want read as follows.
Thanks for your reply.
In response to what you have said, I was simply told that you were in Cardiff and that the project manager, (using the term loosely and with a sense of irony at the title), would be coming instead. He spoke nothing of any conference call and just essentially told me what he thought I wanted to hear. He then said he would write a report and he did say that you would be able to get down this week hence my email to you to arrange a day and time.
You do need to come down here and see the build. As I said to the “project manager” for something that has taken over five months to build it should be a show piece. Frankly I’m shocked that you have the brand EVEREST stamped on it. If it was my firm I’d be bloody embarrassed. You need to tell me when you can get down here and it needs to be soon. I’m unavailable Wednesday until the afternoon.
The bottom line just so you have it in writing is this;
It doesn’t take 5 months plus to build a conservatory.
I shouldn’t have had to get my electrician to do the second fix.
ZERO threshold doors are exactly that. You have supplied TWO doors that are not disabled friendly and they need changing yesterday.
I should not have had to have put heating in.
The workmanship is to be compared to a blindfolded 8 year old. It is shoddy, untidy, unprofessional and unacceptable and IT WILL be changed out.
I have decorators and tilers waiting to start. We were told this would be done ready for the summer, granted you didn’t say which year the summer would be but I know it was meant as 2017.
In my opinion, you can’t have a tag line of “Fit the best, Everest” when you can’t even cut window boards the right length.
I EXPECT to have the works we have paid for reimbursed. I EXPECT to have the money we have spent on logs to constantly fire the log burner to take the chill off as our house has been left open to the uninsulated and frankly baltic garage reimbursed. I EXPECT for the VAT relief to be sorted as it has been specifically built to allow level and dry access to the garage so I can get in to my car. As a matter of common decency I would EXPECT you to compensate me for the frankly disgusting way we’ve been treated.
I await your communication as to when you will be visiting this laughable structure.
Regards.
Dean Want replied the same day and the thing that most stands out that he says in his email is “Being perfectly honest I cannot argue with much that has been written below and you as the customer should have a conservatory fit for purpose and the brand name that is attached to it.” He went on to say that he would move work around and come and see the build on the Thursday of the following week, a meeting that sadly did not happen due to him being extremely unwell. He did however rearrange and upon seeing the conservatory was shocked. In an email sent upon his return to the office he said he was “…suitably embarrassed and this is certainly not the way I wish to meet our customers.” He went on to say, “I am arranging for an installation team that work for me in my area who I know will not let you down…” He really was trying to put things right and when he described the team he would send as “The A Team”, I was beginning to have some confidence that things would indeed get sorted. Furthermore, a guy was coming specifically to measure for the zero threshold doors to ensure that they were the correct size. Wow!.
26th of January 2018. Our 12 to 14 WEEK build has now been going on for over 6 MONTHS and it is looking like much of it needs to be stripped back and redone but the significance of this date is that I have to email Dean Want again, this time to tell him that with the rains we had endured over the period, the box gutter leaked! Probably something to do with the self tapping screws that were put in to the thing. So, I had previously said about how I conducted as much communication with Everest Home Improvements via email but by the 2nd of February 2018 I had had enough and found myself speaking with, which turned in to telling him what they should be doing, Simon Goble. In this conversation, having spoken with the Citizens Advice Bureau I told him that as it was not fit for purpose, was unfinished and was not built to a professional standard, I wanted it removed and refunded. This is where Simon Goble showed me how much of a manager he actually was and would also give me an early insight in to how Everest Home Improvements operated as a company. Needless to say, he did not disappoint and on the 5th of February, almost ONE YEAR after the initial measurements and plans were done at the house, he tells me via email that he has gone running to the legal department and has a meeting with them on the following day. Probably too much for him to think about, he would much rather be doing something else.
I again went back to the Citizens Advice Bureau and asked them what action I could take having explained all that had happened thus far and they gave me a few options. The option I took was to write them a letter giving them “Time of Essence”. I gave them a list of things that were wrong and that needed doing but did say that it was not the complete list. As they had already had 38 weeks to complete the works I gave them until the 28th of February 2018 to get it done. Furthermore I wanted to know the price reduction he would give as compensation. The reply I got was this letter.
So March the 22nd 2018 by their own calculations is when the build must be completed by. Obviously, the letter was replied to.
It has obviously become apparent to Simon Goble that I am not simply going to roll over and allow Everest Home Improvements to continue to screw me., especially as Dean Want is working so hard to try to resolve the issues and give me what I have paid for. Bear in mind that this was supposed to be completed for the summer of 2017 for me to relax in and to allow me to get in to my car, in the dry, in the shitty winter weather. Neither of which I had been able to do and after a six year legal battle after my motorcycle collision and having to learn to live as a paraplegic, the last thing I need is to be put under more stress. Well, Simon Goble clearly doesn’t want the aggravation of dealing with me and has figured out that I am more than happy to consult solicitors. As a so called Operations Manager, he should have been able to ensure the conservatory was built on time and to a professional standard. Verdict of my experience, I am shocked he manages to breathe without assistance from an audio device that tells him to breath in and out. He is out of his depth now, he doesn’t want to go to work and have to deal with someone like me, he wants to think about where he is going to catch his next big fish at, so what will Simon Goble do?
Next time, “I introduce to you….”