| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Everest really let us down | |
| Posted by: | Jon Hardy | |
| Date/Time: | 21/01/11 09:46:00 |
| I've been reading this thread with interest: in 2008 I commissioned Everest to replace the windows in my bathroom and in my daughter's bedroom with new wooden units at a total cost of £5K. For this price I expected a Rolls Royce service but what I got was the guys who built the Trabant. While the factory built units were, in the main, well-built (there is a design flaw which prevents re-painting certain sections of the exterior frame unless you have a spray-gun)the installation was appalling. The men, described by Steve the Depot Manager as 'my best men' started off by clearing the rubble they made getting the original bathhroom window frame out straight into my new acrylic bath causing many scratches and a small number of chips. They then installed the bedroom window (wooden) directly on top of an original piece of wooden framing that had dry rot in it. The windows were also installed at a slight angle; they also used expanding foam and mastic as a structural material (!!!!!) to fill the considerable gap they had hacked out around the original frame in the main wall of the rear of the house. They failed to paint any wooden surface they cut or rectify damage to the decor: we were left with lumpy filler squirted out at the join between frame and ceiling. We witheld £1500 of the cost and Steve the depot manager paid us a visit the following day. Despite seeing the evidence for his own eyes and the photos I had taken during the installation his attitude was that I was being a pain. He did want to get the guys who had done the installation back to rectify the problems: I declined to have those particular cowboys back since they had shown a complete disregard for my home; after much huffing and puffing Steve agreed to send in 'my best team.' this did not happen immediately. The guys he sent proved little better: although they were instructed to remove the window, re-place the wooden-sill plateand re-install it to insure it was level this time. The video camera I put in my daughter's room showed that instead of this they levelled the frame by knocking in plastic wedges either side: when I took off the radiator to decorate the room immediately after I discovered: a) the frame was now perched on two stacks of plastic wedges with the gap underneath the sill filled with that universal structural material, expanding foam b) they had not been able to conceal the wedges within the body of the wall on the right hand side and had instead tried to build out the wall to bury them using coarse filler stuffed in between the top of the radiator and the sill. I took photographs every step of the way - bit like CSI! - and sent these to Everest as explanation as to why I was not paying the outstanding balance. Still they tried to threaten me with court action and every 6-9 months they try this tactic again. Bring it on I say. |