P.J PLUMBING & HEATING

Avoid at all costs!

1 06/06/2012 by Dave77

I contracted Paul and his recommended tiler, Steve Easter to retile and install a shower and basin in my bathroom.They both provided me with verbal quotes at the end of November for undertaking the work (£400 and £350 respectively) over the two weeks I was away on Holiday in December, and after talking to them about exactly what I want, purchased the tiles, sink and consumable products that they recommended at approximately £1500. I left them with my house keys, the supplies and went on holiday.Tow week later I return to find a shower basin that flexes over an inch, silicone sealant that was starting to peel away, a gap big enough to get my fingers past the side of the shower enclosure, crooked and chipped tiles over the entire room, shower door wouldn't close as the enclosure was crooked, a sink that was nowhere near level, tiles not grouted properly and had holes cut out without using a hole cutter but chipped out, tile trim coming away from tiles. The shower was unusable and I couldn't even take a shallow bath as they had poured a mix of grout and cement down the bath instead of disposing it at the tip, along with the rest of the old tiles which were dumped in my back yard.Upon removing the new £1000 Cooke and Lewis shower tray I found they had notched a joist over two thirds of the way through (instead of going through the wall as requested) for the flexible waste. This notch was three times the size needed for the waste and as left, was making the room unsafe. The waste was not secured correctly to the tray. They had cut and thrown away two floorboards and poured wet cement onto the top of the open joists then placed the tray on top without replacing floorboards or using a piece of hardboard to support the tray. They have ruined the shower base and I'm yet to see if the surround can be salvaged.Upon demands of Steve Easter who came to collect his money for tiling he inspected the work, admitted it was poor but argued that it was all the plumbers fault. He would not leave my house until he had some of his money, and took £200 from me. He phoned Paul who admitted he had not seen the work done as he got his "young lad" in to do the work, he was busy and couldn't find time to do it himself. He told me he wouldn't charge me and refused to speak to me any more.I spent four days asking for my keys back from Paul and got a curt reply once that he would drop them in. I visited his house in Southway on the 22nd and 23rd of December but with no luck myself went to the Police. They spoke to his wife and then visited the property but five minutes after the phone call there was no answer. Eventually the policeman managed to speak to someone at the property and was told that Paul would drop the keys in to the station tomorrow. With no keys the next evening and neither the house or mobile being answered (although sometimes engaged) I changed my locks on the advice of the police.Have now redone the bathroom. All the tiling needed to be replaced as it was of such poor quality, the shower base was ruined, the floorboards had to be replaced, the joist strengthened, two areas needed to be re plastered, the shower rail replaced and the only thing they hadn't broken was the surround which was salvageable. I needed to destroy the side of the bath to get to the waste that they had blocked with cement and adhesive and purchase a new drain for the bath.Neither Paul nor Steve are interested in talking to me. As neither produced an invoice (as stated they would) I'm going to struggle to take them to court, except for Steve who I can prove has been working and not declaring earnings. Overall I suspect that they have cost me approximately £1500, heavily reduced as I did much of the labour myself. If you were relying on a professional to repair all of the damage I believe it would be close to twice the cost.Avoid at all costs, they will cause you more problems than you thought possible...