Is this acceptable?

[smurfitt]

They are working out of hours at their volition. They were supposed to start on Fridays 3rd Sept and said it would be finished by Saturday afternoon. I arranged for a day off on the Friday but the day before they phoned and said they had other things to do at the weekend so wanted to start on the following Monday. As I had arranged for other work to start soon after, I had no option, either get the floor tiled 2 days later than planned or cancel all other planned work of fitting kitchen units, plumbing, sink, worktops and delivery of appliances. They said it would take 3 evenings.
However, on the 2nd evening they had to rectify overcut/chipped tiles, remove upstands because they had not left an expansion gap. This resulted in me having to buy an additional 4 boxes of tiles. I had already purchased an extra 3 boxes to allow for cutting waste. A total of 27 boxes to do 21 sqm so far and ther's more to lay.
The relationship has broken down because they have tried to coerce me into accepting upstands without an expansion gap and chipped/cracked/overcut tiles on my floor and have been verbally abusive and confrontational; having 3 men act like that can be quite intimidating and difficult for a woman to stand her ground. I am paying a lot to have a floor of my choosing and expect a satisfactory job.
I certainly won't be claiming my washing machine on my insurance when they damaged it and a claim would affect my no claims bonus but I intend to do as you say, deduct from the bill.
I'm not sure what you mean about the step being lifted. The only thing he did to it was to knock a chunk out of it when removing an uneven tile.
As they have not appeared tonight as proposed, nor contacted me or answered my calls, I get the impression they know if it's inspected, it will not be cost effective for them to rectify.
I will be getting someone to finish the job.

 

[Gazzer]

Before getting someone else in I would give them the option of putting it right otherwise it may all come back on you.

 

[Dan]

Stopping payment fully doesn't hold up in small claims. They will automatically take the tilers' side if you stop payment fully.

The correct process to go through is to pay in full, then take them to small claims with your evidence and if it's proven they are to blame/at fault/whatever then the costs will be told to them and they'll have to pay.

However as Sir Ramic says, you HAVE to allow them to rectify the problem, whether to a standard of an independent report (contact TTA to do that, and it isn't cheap) or to an agreed standard between you and the tiler's.

Though communication is the key here, you really need to get them on the phone and speak to them and explain everything.

 

[Dan]

I feel we've given all the advice we can give now on this one and I wish you all the best in rectifying the problems and getting what you expect.

I'll close this thread now.

 

[mikethetile]

sir ramic is right

we are not arguing with you or making things difficult, its just that withholding payment is a minefield and can be difficult to defend, I know its not what you want to hear but I would leave it another few days and if you hear nothing you can assume as he hasnt made contact he has no intention of coming back

that leaves you clear to get another tiler to finish and to rectify his works out of the money you would have paid him, if it runs over what you agreed as the hall floor needs lifting then you can seek advice from a legal professional regarding whether you can sue him for the difference a he has failed to complete the works