EVEREST HOME `IMPROVEMENTS` PART FOUR

Four

“I introduce to you…”

So we left the last “chapter” with this guy….

SIMON GOBLE, the so called Operations Manager, realising that he is out of his depth dealing with me and has handed it to another equally useless individual whose position in the circus is “Head of Legal”, I introduce to you….

“Head of legal” Mr Nick Flanagan.

MR NICK FLANAGAN.

So the letter I sent to SIMON GOBLE was handed to NICK FLANAGAN and so began the communication with possibly the biggest clown of the circus…

15th February 2018 “Dear Mr Pas, If you have been advised by any source that you are entitled to disregard the terms of the agreed contract, and that you are entitled to make time the essence of the contract expressly providing 20 days with which to complete the contract and in default of which that you shall be entitled to consider the contract cancelled, I am afraid that they have advised you incorrectly. The target delivery period on your contract is expressly a target, and not a term of the contract.  The delivery period is further qualified by the terms of the contract and once the target period has expired and if the works are not complete.  You may make time the essence of the contract, you must however in line with the terms of the contract provide a further period of six weeks.  Additionally, the penalty for failure is not the immediate repudiation of the contract, but the reduction of the balance payable, by 1% of the cost of the incomplete works. I am aware of your suggestion that we address your claims for compensation and I am content to do so, however not until the works are complete and we may address the entire installation. Therefore, in order to progress matters, I would confirm that we have the parts and materials on order, at present, and subject to no additional objections on your part, we are able to attend on the 7th 8th and 9th of March to complete these works.   Once the works are complete, I shall be more than pleased to assess your claim for losses and compensation in full taking all factors into account. I would therefore be grateful if you would confirm that this is in order, upon receipt of which I shall advise our Conservatories division to proceed without further delay. I look forward to hearing from you shortly. Yours sincerely,”

A couple of emails went back and forth between us, the first informing NICK FLANAGAN that I would revisit the solicitor in the morning for further legal advice and also many emails including one sent to DEAN WANT in November of 2017 stating that the farce had gone on for long enough. In reply to this, NICK FLANAGAN told me that the dates in March would not be available indefinitely. This was clearly a threat to me that the works would be prolonged even further if I did not back down immediately BAD IDEA. There are many things I don’t like or appreciate in this world and two of them are being threatened and bullies. It is immediately clear to me that this FLANAGAN bloke is a bully and will happily make threats on a keyboard. A true keyboard warrior if you like. I warned him right away not to threaten me with prolonged timescales and that after treating me the way they have thus far, they should be doing all they can to put things right, NOT agitating the situation. Obviously he replied with the whole “I am not threatening” line and then followed it up with, and this is VERY important and also will become VERY clear, is a standard bullshit line from this clown, “I assure you we are fully committed to completing these works…” I had during the conversation suggesting he visit the site so he could see why I was so pissed off and so he could see what needed doing to rectify the problems but I ended the conversation by telling him that I assumed neither him or GOBLE would be attending.

On the 16th of February 2018 An email from FLANAGAN and the first line isThank you for your email. I am perfectly happy to attend site at any time if you think it will assist matters” I replied informing him that I was on my way to the solicitors to give the communications thus far so as to know how to proceed from that point. I also expressed my disbelief that almost a year after the process originally started, with the designing and contracts signed, they STILL had items for the build ON ORDER! This in itself shows how incompetent EVEREST HOME IMPROVEMENTS are. On the 23rd of February 2017 I sent a letter to FLANAGAN whereby I told him that in the interests of finally getting the bloody thing finished, they could return to get it done but as they had refused my 21 day deadline and instead they gave their own date of 22nd of March, the works must be completed by that time or they would be in breach of their contract and as such the contract would be treated as terminated and further action would be taken. I also stated that I wanted DEAN WANT, SIMON GOBLE and himself to visit the site so they knew exactly what was needed to be done. Don’t forget, FLANAGAN said he was happy to attend site at any time if I thought it would assist matters, well clearly knowing what needed to be done would be assisting matters don’t you think????

Dear Mr Pas, Thank you for your email.  Thank you also for your invitation to attend during this week.  Unfortunately, I am not available this week.  I would suggest however that the requirement for a meeting prior to progression of the works appears to be unnecessary, we are aware of what is required and are simply awaiting your permission to proceed.   I repeat my offer to meet with you and discuss your claims for compensation once the works are completed but do not agree that such a meeting is necessary at this stage. I am afraid that your notice making time the essence on February the 8th, therefore requiring the works to be completed by 22nd of March, cannot be considered to be effective.  Initially because the notice, dated 8th of February is not almost three weeks old, and in the three weeks since its service you have expressly refused access whilst you obtained legal advice.  I am sorry but the deadline of 22nd March must be extended to compensate for the period during which you refused access.  Indeed, I am not convinced that you are, even now, providing access as required.  You are placing a pre-conditions of a meeting ahead of access, and even now, you state that “before the works are completed I want you to have sorted out the VAT relief on my build” We are happy to address the issue of VAT but not as a pre-condition to the works, we are happy to meet with you, but again not as a pre-condition to our attending to the works. I therefore repeat my request that you permit access to attend, once the works are done I shall be pleased to meet with you and address any remaining concerns regarding the value of the contract, both in terms of VAT and compensation.  For the purposes of clarity, the six week period will commence only once you have provided access, and cannot run whilst entry is refused or conditional. Yours sincerely,

So you can see immediately that he is not actually prepared to visit the site. He is also going back on the completion date and finding any way possible to prolong the completion of the build. Like I said, the head clown at the circus. This served another purpose for me though, I knew that there was NO WAY that EVEREST HOME IMPROVEMENTS had any intention of sorting their mess out and that I would be in for a long haul of constant bullshit from someone who probably didn’t have any legal qualifications. It also showed me that after a six year legal battle with my accident, the likely hood of actually having the expected quiet life in our new house which was supposed to be the start of a new life was clearly just a pipe dream that had already been blown to bits by the head clown of the circus that is EVEREST HOME IMPROVEMENTS.

There were letters and emails back and forth from this. I wrote pointing out that it was he who had said he would visit but very quickly refused. I pointed out that they must be finished by the date they had given which was the 22nd of March 2018 and that saying that I had to give them extra was bullshit. They had already told me that they were unable to attend until the 7th of March and so the deadline stood. Other things were pointed and stated but it would make no difference as FLANAGAN simply does what he wants knowing that the company has your money and effectively there is F*** all you can do about it. I want to share the next two emails with you so you can see what I have had to be dealing with…

“Dear Mr Pas, Thank you for your email. I take it from your comments that you will now allow access.  I will ask Mr Want to arrange as soon as possible, as advised however I cannot guarantee that the dates previously offered in March can be accommodated, and my comments in respect of your position since 8th of Feb remain. Kind regards”

“Oh Mr Flanagan. 
My solicitor was VERY CLEAR on the Time of essence and you stated that you could not come sooner as the parts are not ready.
You have not commented on the fact that you have taken over 15 thousand pounds more from me than you should have. No mention of a sorry we will refund it to you pending completion. Your company and how it is run is ridiculously unprofessional and your consumer reviews show as such. 
In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m not one of your customers who will simply bend over and take it from you. 
You have until the 22nd of March to get this finished. 
Mr Pas”

“Dear Mr Pas, Thank you for your email, I have this moment spoken to Dean Want, and we shall do all we can to install in advance of your deadline.  Irrespective of your advice, or the fact that we were unable to attend prior to March, this does not extend the period during which you were refusing access.  We shall contact you shortly in order to appoint.  I would also draw your attention to the VAT guidelines in respect of exemption copied below for ease of reference. 6.2 Ramps, doorways and passages You may zero rate the service of constructing a ramp or widening an existing doorway or passage but not the construction of a new doorway or passage, provided the work is done to help a disabled person gain access to, or move about within the building and in the case of a:

  • supply to a disabled person, the building is his or her private residence – a private residence includes the garden, yard, outbuildings, detached garages and even an orchard as well as the home
  • charity, the building may be any building

Construction of a ramp doesn’t include the lowering of a doorway threshold or the construction of a vehicle driveway. Widening a passage includes the widening of an existing:

  • room through which a disabled person passes to gain access to another room, for example a bedroom which has an en suite facility
  • path across a disabled person’s garden but not the construction of a new path

Widening a doorway doesn’t include replacing a window with a new doorway.

Mr Flanagan. Thank you for your amusing reply.
I will forward it to my solicitor as I will be requesting a refund as they have clearly given me false advice. 
With regards to your frankly hilarious comments regarding my “refusal to allow access”. Are you taking the p***??? You have had 37 WEEKS access that YOU HAVE REFUSED TO USE. There has been NO LOGICAL EXCUSE as to why you could not have sorted the outside if you had no parts for the inside. The ONLY REASON that there is any talk of completion or recommencement of works is because I finally had enough and gave you a time of essence letter. 
On the subject of advice. It seems that your salesman/designer also gave us false advice as the only reason we went for a larger build was because we were told that it was eligible for the VAT relief. We would certainly not have had anything except for the covered walkway that we originally asked for had we had known that the advice given was also BS, something that you all seem to be exceptionally good at. 
All you had to do was do what you had been paid to do and build my walkway but instead you have taken full advantage of my gentlemanly manor and patience. I request that you refund the money that has been incorrectly paid to you due to the request from you, which was not in line with the contract, in the next five days. 
I am a patient and reasonable man but due to how I have been and continue to be treated by Everest and seeing that it is common place and standard practice, I am sending the file I have compiled to BBC Watchdog and the Trading Standards agency for their consideration along with the numerous print outs taken from your website of testimonies from people who have also had the same problems from your company. 
Mr Pas”

Now most companies I would have thought would be concerned at the prospect of being bought to the attention of TS and Watchdog but not one ounce of shit was given by the “head of legal”, this I found peculiar and could only put it down to one of two things. 1. He thought I was bluffing. (Big mistake) 2. It had been threatened and/or had been done before. Well, one thing I do not do…

To the BBC Watchdog programme.
To the Trading Standards.

IS BLUFF.

The emails continued back and forth with FLANAGAN where I asked him why he had not commented on my query regarding the amount of money I had paid which was far in excess of that stated in the contract. The contract clearly states that any purchase over £20,000 will be paid with 50% upon being told it is ready for manufacture and the remaining 50% upon completion of all trades. NICK FLANAGAN said that he would discuss this upon the completion of the conservatory, This was confusing in itself as once the conservatory was complete the money would be due to be paid. I simply asked for an explanation as to why is was in liner with the wording in the contract. The reply I got again showed that the contract I had entered in to was utter bollocks….

“Mr Pas. I am afraid that you have lost me, the value of the contract and therefore any perceived overcharging, is nothing to do with the stage payments that are due under the terms of the contract.  The part payments made can perfectly reasonably be requested, at levels both higher and lower than those defined in the terms of the contract. You have not been overcharged in my view – however as advised, I am, happy to discuss this with you generally once the works are all completed.”

So essentially, they can ignore the wording of the contract and charge whatever they like and demand it whenever they like. Something to be aware of if you are stupid enough to get in to business with these clowns. On the 26th of February 2018, which I did not know at the time, NICK FLANAGAN wrote an internal email to SIMON GOBLE and DEAN WANT which read as follows; “Why would we need to visit and inspect again to establish the works. I thought we were set to go. Just needed access.” So it is clear from this that NICK FLANAGAN has no idea what problems there are at the build, furthermore he has no interest in what they are either. I wrote again to NICK FLANAGAN

“Mr Flanagan. It has become clear from communicating with you that Everest simply do as they want. The contract is ignored and adapted to suit yourselves leaving the customer with presumably no rights to question, request or demand anything in their favour.
Despite my solicitor reading through your contract and advising me of my rights, you tell me that my solicitor is wrong. I hope with all sincerity that trading standards do indeed take the time to look over this file and deep down I hope that they ensure you as a company sort your s*** out.
I wish with all my heart that I had never got in touch with Everest. I will be writing my customer review, when you eventually finish and with luck people will use local tradesmen who have to actually think of their reputation. Everest is an embarrassment. It is unprofessional. It is shoddy. It lacks integrity, honesty and any form of moral decency and I WILL make sure that people know. 
The Internet is a wonderful tool for advertisement Mr Flanagan, but unfortunately for company’s and traders such as yourselves,  that works both ways.
I very much look forward to our eventual meeting Mr Flanagan, I have a feeling that you will be meeting my solicitor at the same time. 
Yours even more disgusted than before. 
Mr Pas

I decided also to return to my solicitor. She wrote a long and detailed letter to NICK FLANAGAN pointing out our consumer rights and the wording of their contract, she pointed out the amount of times we had complained about the shoddy workmanship and the amount of times the builders and workmen had simply not shown up. The fact that it was THIRTY EIGHT WEEKS since the physical works had commenced and it was not only unfinished but was not built to a standard of a company who profess to “Fit the best”. The letter was as I said, long and detailed. This is what the solicitor does for a living and the things she was saying was the same as the advice I had been given by the Citizens Advice Bureau so you would think it was good sound advice, especially as I was paying my solicitor good money to know her stuff. Apparently though…

“Dear Sirs, Thank you for your letter of March 1st.   I do not agree with your analysis and do not propose to debate matters with you, save to say that the notice making time the essence provided a period less than that prescribed in the contract, we were able at that time to attend in March as indicated following the order and delivery of materials.   However, the fact that we were not able to attend prior to that date does nothing to affect the notice or period permitted by virtue of the contract.  Your clients’ express refusal to permit access following our query however does affect the notice period – the duty of mitigation applies following advice from your client that access was refused, we were under a duty to cease all activity where possible, this would include the order and delivery of materials and this could affect our ability to attend in March as previously advised.  Had we failed to do so and your client had not changed his mind and continued to refuse access, we could not recover the costs incurred after his refusal, these would be avoidable losses [Thai Airways International Public Company Ltd v KI Holdings Co Ltd & Anor [2015] EWHC 1250 (Comm) (11 May 2015)] and therefore irrecoverable, so we were entirely correct to cease activity in the light of your clients’ refusal to permit access.  The effect of this is that the service of the notice making time the essence cannot stand at the originally served date.  To suggest otherwise is entirely simplistic and wrong. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 and your references to same are equally incorrect.  This contract is not silent upon the delivery period and so the imposition of a reasonable period as mentioned in the Act is inappropriate. Equally there is no suggestion that your clients’ rights are being fettered by the contract and the rights that extend in the event of a breach of the agreed terms regarding delivery.  Your clients’ rights are defined.  If it is the case that failure in terms of the agreed contract represents a complete failure and repudiates the contract then of course your clients’ rights to terminate exists, however that is not the case here. All of this aside, the fact is that we are set to attend as requested, are likely to be able to complete the works, access permitted, in advance of the imposed deadline irrespective of whether we are under a duty to do so or not. We will, in the absence of advice to the contrary, continue to deal with matters via your client direct and hope to complete the works shortly. Yours faithfully,”

As I said, apparently, according to the all knowing “Head of Legal” NICK FLANAGAN, none of the consumer laws, trading laws, contract laws, or indeed any rights that a consumer has, apply to EVEREST HOME IMPROVEMENTS. He must know, he is head of legal. What a shame I had wasted money on a solicitor, and the time on the telephone with the CAB, it appears that they don’t know what they are on about. I spoke to my solicitor and authorised her to reply to the email from NICK FLANAGAN as I felt it was important, I will share the letter with you now…

“Dear Sirs
Works at ************ , **********, Devon
Our Clients : Mr. and Mrs. Pas
We acknowledge safe receipt of your e-mail dated 3rd March 2018.
It appears that we have very different interpretations of the law in relation to Consumer Rights, and furthermore that we have different interpretations of the communications which have passed between you and our Clients. We cannot see that our Clients have refused access in a way that would have restricted your ability to complete the project within the time frame requested, and instead note that they were very sensibly asking for you to attend site first in order to clarify the issues that required remedy. In any event, we are unclear as to why these materials had not already been purchased.
In the circumstances, however, we maintain our view that our Clients have the right for services to be performed within a reasonable time frame in accordance with the Consumer Rights Act. To suggest otherwise and to suggest that your Contract does not allow for that, would, in our opinion, be something that a Court would take a very dim view on, and if such an interpretation of your Contract were correct and you could allow the Contract to continue indefinitely with minimal compensation being due, we would anticipate that a Court would consider that to be an unfair Contract term.
In any event, we note that you have conveniently failed to comment upon your Company’s failure to complete the works to a satisfactory standard, which, as you will be aware, is a term which is to be
treated as being included in every Contract for the supply of services. We therefore have no concerns about our Clients’ ability to treat your continuing breaches as Repudiatory Breaches of the Contract in the event that you fail to remedy them as set out in our previous correspondence.
We note that you say that you are “likely to be able to complete the works, access permitted, in advance of the imposed deadline” which obviously helps to establish the reasonableness of that
deadline in the first place. In the circumstances, therefore, as access has quite clearly been granted by virtue of numerous letters and e-mails from our Clients, and our confirmation of the same, our Clients
look forward to hearing from you with confirmation as to when you will be attending on site to complete the work to a satisfactory standard.
We further note that you have refused to comment upon our Clients’ request for you to attend site in order to clarify what works are required in order to complete the project to a satisfactory standard with all reasonable care and skill, and in the circumstances, therefore, our Clients will provide you with their list of outstanding works that need rectification so that you can be clear as to what they are expecting within the time frame discussed. Had you agreed to meet with our Clients before now, then this would be have been discussed at that meeting.
We can confirm that you are able to liaise with our Clients direct in order to arrange the attendance on site to complete the works, and our Clients very much hope that everything will now proceed as
discussed and that the project will be completed to a satisfactory standard within the discussed deadline.
Yours faithfully”

So we are over 38 weeks in to a 14 week build with a company who profess to be “The Best” and it resembles something that would have been built by Frank Spencer from Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em fame (a bit old for some of you!)

I’m sure he could not have done worse!

There has been a great deal to take on board there, moreover, a great deal to try to believe is real but I can assure you it all absolutely is. We are only just in to the start of March 2018 so there is much more to show and tell you all yet but for now, I will close so you can ponder over what you have read. Shortly will be Part Five (told you I had to do it in chapters!) Until then, if you are contemplating having home improvements done. Stay with local firms, they have much more to loose!

Next time, “DEAN WANT gets things moving again…”

Uncategorized

EVEREST HOME `IMPROVEMENTS` PART THREE

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.

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…

Rather than cut window sill to the correct depth, just stick some trim under it.
Dry lining not put up level caused crack from door to window sill.
The crack on closer inspection.
This is the door opening from the garage side. We had to buy a door to fill the hole so it is a temporary fit but look at the finish to the opening. Board and plaster left side and top (which was falling down) and NOTHING on the right side. This was the finished opening awaiting a door.
This is supposed to be a ZERO threshold door for a wheelchair user. This is inside to go outside.
This is the door from the outside. Nice ramp that leads to a large sill. Perfect for a wheelchair user.
My ZERO threshold door courtesy of EVEREST HOME IMPROVEMENTS.
This is a tie bar for the roof (the thing that holds the roof up) that is screwed in to a thin tin box gutter with self tapping screws and silicone loaded over it. No strength. Impossible to clean mould off.
This is what is deemed to be “Professionally fitted” by Everest Home Improvements. Great finish to a corner on the box gutter eh! This by the way is INSIDE the conservatory.
The lower corner of the same piece of box gutter.
The gutter has a 90 degree bend to try to get the rest of the gutter away from the wall. This traps ANY and ALL leaves and debris and as the gutter has been rendered IN TO THE WALL, it is IMPOSSIBLE to clear. Note also and more importantly that there is a big hole behind the the gutter where water pours in to, you’ll see where that ends up in a while!
If only I had employed a professional, long standing company to supply and build my conservatory…Oh hang on a minute.
So if they cut the gutter, would it not be a good idea to fit end caps or is it best to just let the crap run on to the roof of the conservatory, very lazy.
This is how the outside was left, this is the front of my house.

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.

Mr Simon Goble. If only he put as much effort in to being a manager as he does catching fish the problems with the disgusting build at my house could have been sorted.

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.

Note that they are stating the works will have to finished by the 22nd of March 2018.

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….”

Uncategorized