Home improvements

The flaming builders were supposed to be starting at my home on Jan 31st, as arranged by YCH (my landlords), myself & the project manager at Mears( The firm doing the job).

This is week 5 of the programme where the workmen are on our estate. They still have not completed the very first house they went into!!!

Just living & working & moving around the village, lots of people stop & ask about the progress of the work, there are many bad reports of bad experiences going around.

One guy I spoke to, told me that each tenant receives a booklet with a step by step guide as to how this work will be carried out efficiently.

He says it's not to believed, in fact he called it a fairy story.
Another family were left with no cooker all weekend, when the workmen left on the Friday without re-connecting it.

At least 3 folks I know of, had the workmen in on day 1 knocking out walls etc, then no one turned up for the next 4 days.


Anyway, back to my place. I decided on Monday morning to phone Mears to confirm that work would commence as planned on Thursday, having got boxes & packed up a load of stuff etc etc.

The receptionist took my name & she already had my phone number on record & said she'd get the customer liaison officer to call me back.

She did!!!

Now I have to admit, she wasn't rude, but she was quite abrasive & strident in her tone. She inforrmed me that the start date for my property was March 10th.

I informed her that the project manager had given me Jan 31st as a date to fit in with me not actually living in the property for several days at that time. She claimed to know nothing about it & kept saying she'd have to verify what I was saying with the project manager. In other words, she didn't believe me.

So, I said That it had been a complete waste of my time trying to co-ordinate this work well in adavnce, not just on my own, but with YCH too.

She quite obviously didn't care that her company had made a promise to a customer & then completely let the customer down.

I commented about the remarks other tenants are making, saying that there is quite a degree of unhappiness about how things are going & she rounded on me very swiftly, by saying that there are a lot of happy tenants.

I asked further questions but she answered every one with " That will be dealt with at your pre work visit"

When I asked why I'd not been informed of the delays they were experiencing, she said I had no need to know because I didn't have my start date. But I said I did have it because the project manager had given me the date verbally on the phone. Again, I got the "I'll have to verify that" answer.

So, then I asked why on earth the firm had not sent out a blanket mail shot to all the tenants, explaining that they were up against unforseen problems & that delays would be inevitable. Again, she said all tenants who had start dates were informed of the delay, but again, I said I had not been told. By this time we were going around in circles, so I said that they had me over a barrel & there was no point in continuing the conversation.

So, I've had to resign myself to the fact that the work will now start Mid March.

About 5 minutes later, she called back & said she had verified that the project manager HAD indeed given me a start date, but there was nothing that could be done & March 10th is the best I can expect.

I said I thought it was poor organisation & commented that I could have booked a holiday for March on the styrength of the belief that my work would be complete in the house long before then.

She also told me at that point that a letter would be going out to all tenants to inform them of the delays.



End of part one.............

Part two.....


So, today after lunch, I went into town & made my way to the YCH housing office. I waited my turn in reception & in due time asked to speak to Mrs T( I'll preserve a bit of anonymity), only to be advised she was on holiday just now, so it was suggested I speak to Mrs F, which was fine, as this was someone I'd dealt with before on the phone & had found her very polite & helpful.

Today was no different.

She listened very carefully to my account, took notes & above all sympathised.

Although I stressed that the CLO from Mears had not been rude, but was quite abrupt, she felt that needed bringing up with Mears.

When I toild her that I knew from another tenant, that just yesterday someone from YCH had actually been on the ground & I believe trying very hard to get things done, she did agree & named the guy who was out there troubleshooting.

This guy Mr S, has been to my home re a query over a partition wall, & I found him to be a very nice person, polite etc etc etc.

So, Mrs F, is going to contact Mr S & ask him to give me a call to see what we can expect to happen next.

I did stress absolutely though that in no way shape or form, do I expect workment to be pulled out of another tenant's home to start mine, but I want some guarantees that once it does start, the work will be done efficiently with men working on the task in hand daily & not coming in one day & then vanishing for three or four days.

In fact, when this work evetually starts, I think I'll keep a diary of everything that happens.


End of part two....

Part three....



Now, I'd hate for any of you guys on here to get the opinion that I'm a miserable cow who does nothing but complain, so please let me assure you that where praise is due, I give it unstintingly.


While I was talking to Mrs F today, I commented on work which had been done in the house previously, ( Double glazing, followed by central heating). I told her that the teams of guys who did those jobs were fabulous & that I would recommend them to anyone.

At the time those jobs were done, I had to fill out a tenants comment sheet & believe me, those papers glowed bercause the guys deserved the praise.


I also told Mrs F, that last year when YCH sent out our annual report, I filled in the tenants comments slip & praised both her & Mrs T for the way they had dealt with some things for me on the phone.

so I'm not all bad, but I really did feel that as YCH would no doubt be paying Mears a considerable sum for this work, if the tenants are unhappy in any way, they need to know & they will only know by us, the tenants telling them.


So I did.



Before I left the interview room, I thanked Mrs F for her time & for listening to all I had to say, & said I did actually feel much better just for having sat in that room & talked to her.

Ever felt like you are talking to yourself?










I know no one is really THAT interested, but tomorrow I'm due the pre-work visit. Wonder how that will go!!

Hunni, some people on our estate were put through the same torture as you. Dates missed, appointments ignored, work left undone or done badly. It does seem sometimes that mere tenants are treated badly simply because they are tenants. I heard of one houseproud neighbour who came home to find planks laid all over her flowerbeds and tool bags on the bonnet of her sons car. The ignorant surly so and so responsible couldn't care less.

I hope your work is done to a good standard cos I dread to think what you would go through if your double glazing came apart and the contractors had gone!

Good luck!

Well Blue, is there a slim hope the work will be completed by Easter? I do hope all goes well.

Fancy's fool wrote:Well Blue, is there a slim hope the work will be completed by Easter? I do hope all goes well.

No hope at all of it being complete by Easter FF. They allow 20 working days to complete the work, so we will 'lose' Good Friday & Easter Monday. The work is not due to commence until March 10th. Today was a pre-work visit, lasting about 1 hour.

Well never mind, just dwell on Spring Banks hol then.

In case anyone is interested, my house was signed back over to me last wednesday, just into the 11th week of work!!!!