Wrecked home! (Safestyle UK)

Member Name: smeke

Product:	Safestyle UK
Date:	24/05/03 (2234 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Total incompetence

I was SO relieved, in a way, to read of other people's disastrous experiences with these cowboys. A brief summary of my experience is as follows:-

1. Safestyle's surveyor stood me up on three different days by missing agreed appointments. This was at considerable personal cost in terms of leave taken from work. On trying to cancel after the third occasion, the "installation manager" called and said he was going to come out personally. In the event, it was a ruse - they took a surveyor off another job and sent him. First time (not the last) SS lied to me.

2. The installers were total planks. One was practically only a boy who was incapable of doing any sort of hard physical work. They spent only about 5 hrs at my home on the first couple of days, saying they needed to "miss the traffic". I had been promised the full job - 7 new windows, new front door - would take 1.5-2 days max.

3. I left them working unsupervised on the 3rd day. When I got home, I was absolutely shocked at what had happened to my home. The garden was full of broken glass, building detritus, and they had mixed plaster ON the garden path. All my carpets were covered in plaster boot prints, the vacuum cleaner was left ruined (I needed new pipes, brushes and filters for it), but worst of all, everything in two rooms was splattered in plaster. My television, computer, furniture, carpets, CDs, plants - absolutely everything. The carpets in my lounge, as well as the skirting boards, were ruined. There were dollops of silicone everywhere.

4. The quality of work is lousy. The seals have come away from the new front door. No attempt was made to fill in underneath the front door, instead two lumps of wood were shoved underneath to try to seal it. I can pass my hand underneath the door. The plasterboard boxes around the old sash windows are not symmetrical and need replacing. The new window sills are of uneven lengths. The "browning" i


s unlevel, uneven and they splattered both the new window sills and the surrounding walls in it. There is a huge gap underneath the whole of the new window in my master bedroom.

5. I telephoned Safestyle immediately, and was spoken to in an arrogant and extremely impolite way by the installation manager, Paul Flowers. We agreed on a time and day for him to come and visit, but he did not turn up or telephone me to warn me he could not keep the appointment. Another (4th) day of leave from work taken pointlessly.

6. Since then, I have emailed John Ross, SS's MD, three times, and written six times, demanding the work is put right and that a discussion of compensation for the ruined fixtures and furnishings is begun. He has not had the courtesy to respond. SS has totally ignored me for 6 weeks.

7. I have approached a number of local companies and contractors, but they will not touch the work because the legal issue of ownership is unresolved. I have not paid a penny for the windows/doors, and have not been asked for payment by SS. This effectively means I am in a legal limbo.

8. At the time of writing, I have asked my solicitor to begin proceedings to sue SS under the 1982 Goods & Services Act. I have also passed on details of my case to the BBC's Watchdog programme. I have asked my solicitor that any summons be issued directly in John Ross's name - he is aware of all the details of my serious complaint, but has chosen to ignore me.

And if you don't believe it's all as bad as I describe, I took loads of digital photos of my home after that fateful, 3rd day. Pix are at www.smeke.net/home

So my advice is - don't even go anywhere near this company. They are arrogant, totally disinterested in their customers, have no respect for their property and cause endless distress.

UPDATED 7 JUNE

My solicitor is beginning to clarify matters for me now. One consolation is that S
S ign
ore his correspondence too..! I'm going ahead with having the carpets/skirting boards replaced and the work corrected by a local builder. I then need to have the furniture professionally cleaned (does anyone know how you get plaster off leather?). The solicitor says that by missing 4 appointments, repeatedly lying to me, and then ignoring my correspondence, SS have breached their obligations, and that the added negligence towards my property makes the original contract "null and void". When it comes to court, he says I will probably have to pay 10-15% of the cost of the windows, but will "almost certainly" be awarded the cost of the new carpets, building work, 4 days leave from work, and the court fee. Obviously, I'll have to pay his fees myself. So far, it's been a very distressing 3-month saga. But justice should prevail in the end..! His advice, which I repeat to everyone else who's having similarly awful problems, is to get as many photos as possible of the problems, keep all your receipts, copies of correspondence/records of phone calls etc etc.

UPDATED 19 SEPTEMBER

The nightmare continues.. The repair/replacement work(s) cost me nearly £3,000. Safestyle have written to my solicitor, having ignored 13 (!) pieces of correspondence from me, offering to deduct my costs from the installation fee agreed at the beginning of the year, but still admit "no liability" for the damage done by their installers. So, it looks like this WILL come to court. For heaven's sake, think long and hard before you use this company.

Summary: