DMTB Plumbing and Heating
Daniel,
I’ve created a webpage for this letter since I know that you have a problem with emails.
The work that you have done for us is below the expected level of quality.
To be clear: the plumbing and installation of the bathroom suite is fine but we are extremely disappointed with the standard of the tiling. You already know this and in fact you have sent the tiler back several times to rectify the problems but it is still a mess.
Connor has installed £743.42 of tiles in a sloppy and slipshod manner. The work was done with minimal effort leading to poor results.
Frankly: the only solution is to start all over again. We told you this when you came to see us. Now, unfortunately you can’t remove and replace the tiles without damaging the bathroom suite and the £750 carpet in the bedroom. In addition we have absolutely no confidence that the final work would be of any higher standard.
We are prepared to pay you something but we suggest that you think about a more realistic amount of money, taking into consideration the standard of the work you have supplied and the losses that we have incurred.
• Lost £650 deposit for a holiday booked for 21 July. We had to cancel it because the bathroom and bedroom needed to be finished in time for visitors who were staying with us.
You told us that the job would take a week and maybe a couple more days to finish off. You started this job on Monday 24 June so even if you took two weeks it should have been finished by Friday 5 July which would have given us plenty of time to tidy up, decorate and carpet the adjoining bedroom. Nobody arrived on Wednesday 26 June. Instead, what happened was that Connor arrived late on Sunday 28 June without all his tools and without the materials that I had paid him for.
• Wasted £740 on tiles that have been applied in a shoddy and inferior manner.
Below are some of the photos that you requested, if you want any more just say.
Broken floor tile after being replaced. | Broken wall tile. |
Tile on the window ledge that has dropped even after it was replaced. | Tiles not flush. |
Grout applied in a sloppy fashion. | Floor grout not applied properly. |
Floor tiles uneven. |
These images are AFTER Connor was supposed to have put the job right.
Below is a list that we gave you a month or so ago.
Wed 5 June | Connor came to look at the bathroom and said we would need to give him a deposit to cover the cost of the materials. He listed the things he would need to buy and told us he would give us the receipts, James gave him cash but we haven't had any receipts. | £370.00 | |
Thursday 27 June | Connor phoned to say he was coming the following day to start the work. | ||
Friday 28 June | 1:32 pm Connor phoned to say he wasn't coming and he would come on Saturday instead because he didn't have a car. | ||
7:25 pm Connor text to say he'd be there on Sunday at 10:00 am | |||
Sunday 30 June | 8:47 am Connor text to say he would be arriving at 10:30 am. He had no transport so James offered to go to Topps Tiles to get some materials because Janet asked for 1mm spacing between the floor tiles and Connor also needed levelling clips. | £35.19 | |
3:15 pm Connor left saying that he couldn't do anymore work because the shower tray hadn't been fitted and there was no architrave on. To help Connor out so he could continue tiling the following day James agreed to fit the architrave before the following morning. He made arrangements to come on the following two days Monday and Tuesday, starting at 8:00 and finishing at 6:00 | |||
Monday 1 July | Connor didn't arrive. | ||
Tuesday 2 July | Connor was due to arrive at 8:00 am as planned. | ||
10:40 am Connor text to say that he was 10 minutes away. | |||
6:01 pm Connor left saying he would be back in the morning with another tiler at 7:45am. | |||
Wednesday 3 July | 7:45 am Connor and tiler arrived as planned. | ||
8:30 am Connor announced that he needed 2 more boxes of wall tiles, 4 backerboards, 2 Wedi Boards and 1 8mm trim. Connor and James had independently calculated the number of tiles required - 10 Boxes = 70 tiles. There are 66 tiles on the walls (allowing for cuts and waste) there shouldn't have been any need to order extra boxes. Connor has used 78 wall tiles altogether, that is 12 extra tiles equivalent to one shower wall! | |||
9:00 am when the store opened James ordered 2 more boxes of wall tiles from Porcelenosa. | |||
9:15 am To save Connor time and to get the job done James offered to go to Topps Tiles to get the other materials needed. | £78.96 | ||
9:23 am Connor and tiler announced that they were going for a sandwich. | |||
10:02 am James returned with the materials. | |||
11:36 am Connor and tiler returned (2hr 13min to get a sandwich!) | |||
Connor realised that he'd asked for the wrong thickness of board so James went back to Topps Tiles to change them and to buy some more 8mm trim as the trim that Connor had brought was a different colour to that from Topps Tiles. James also collected the tiles from Porcelenosa. | £11.76 | ||
3:10 Connor and tiler had packed everything into the van. They had prepared, boarded, tiled, trimmed and grouted the walls and floor in 3½ hours, during which time Connor had spent a very considerable amount of time talking in an agitated manner on his phone. | |||
3:31 James returned home, Janet and James were told they couldn't go into the bathroom because the grout was too wet. James went to move the cardboard on top of the shower tray and was told not to touch it in case it disturbed the wall tiles. He asked Connor to fill a gap in front of the shower tray with grout but Connor refused to do it saying it wasn't needed. Janet insisted he did it and so he deliberately smeared grout on to the top of the shower tray. | |||
He was very cross that he wasn't able to leave and became very rude and dismissive. Janet left the room. | |||
4:30 pm Daniel arrived. James and Janet were happy that the tiling was finished. The atmosphere in the bathroom was becoming heated and so James left the bathroom making the decision to look at the work properly when it was all completely dry. | |||
4:40 pm Connor and tiler left without speaking. | |||
Total to Connor | £495.91 | ||
Porcelenosa 70 tiles | £525.12 | ||
Porcelenosa 14 tiles | £105.02 | ||
Topps Tiles floor tiles | £113.28 | ||
Total tiles | £743.42 | ||
We feel that we have given Connor every chance possible, yet he behaved in a very unprofessional manner on Wednesday. With that in mind along with the mess he and his tiler mate have made in the bathroom he is no longer welcome at our home. We have spent today tidying up and it took James an hour to clean the grout and adhesive from the shower tray. Our choice is to have all the tiling removed and the process started from scratch as we don't want a patched up job. It needs to be done as soon as possible as we go on holiday on Sunday 21 June and our son and family are arriving from Australia for a month when we get back. On Wednesday afternoon Janet agreed to Connor leaving a DeWalt battery and a Bosch laser level whilst he was in Benidorm. We no longer feel comfortable having them in our house so we would like to give them to you. | |||
Total spent | £1,239.33 | ||
City Plumbing's invoice | £3,787.38 | ||
Paid to Connor in cash | £370.00 | ||
Topps Tiles - Bag of leveling clips and 1mm spacers | £35.19 | ||
Topps Tiles - Backer board + WD board + 8mm trim | £78.96 | ||
Topps Tiles - Exchange Backer Board for 10mm and more 8mm trim | £11.76 | ||
Total to Connor | £495.91 | A | |
Porcelenosa 70 tiles | £525.12 | ||
Porcelenosa 14 tiles | £105.02 | ||
Topps Tiles floor tiles | £113.28 | ||
Total tiles | £743.42 | B | |
Total spent | £1,239.33 | =A+B | |
City Plumbing's invoice | £3,787.38 | C | |
Total so far | £5,026.71 | =A+B+C |
