A quick post containing photographic evidence of the state that Dyno-Rod left my house after a failed attempt to unblock my drains. I wouldn’t have put them in public view, except for the fact that Dyno-Rod’s customer services e-mail has a size limit that means I can’t e-mail them. Yes, that’s human waste on the rug.
It’s not often I bother to write a post describing my good experiences with a company – especially when it comes to my quite frankly abysmal experiences getting my roof sorted a while back – but I wanted to publicly thank Jackson Roofing for their sterling work recently.
Originally contacted to replace some broken guttering on the roof of my worryingly tall house, I had to call Jackson Roofing on the Bank Holiday Sunday just gone – très gauche, I know – after a neighbour across the road pointed out that a slate on my new shiny roof had become dislodged and was inches away from ruining someone’s day. As the slates are the modern, thick, heavy concrete type it would have really made an impact had it fallen.
Heh. Impact.
Jackson Roofing – in contrast with the pitiful Roofing Group UK, who should have repaired it under the terms of the twenty-year guarantee I was promised – quickly came round, ventured up a stupidly long ladder, and repaired the damage for a sum of money I wouldn’t even consider worth unpacking the ladder from the van.
Okay, so the money is in addition to that promised for the guttering work, but still – I certainly wouldn’t be clambering up a ladder to my crazy-high roof for such sums.
In short, if you’re looking for a roofing firm in or around Bradford, I can wholeheartedly and without reservation recommend Jackson Roofing.
I’ve just received a couple of e-mails from Jayne at Roofing Group UK. It seems that she’s finally noticed that my website ranks rather highly on a search for “Roofing Group UK” and isn’t best pleased about the rather scathing comments I made regarding the company’s customer service.
In her e-mails, she states that it is “unfair” that I haven’t posted to say that my roof has been repaired, and that it would be nice if I were to “rectify the situation by telling everyone that [my] problem has been sorted.”
Well, I’m not a vindictive man. It’s true, that – eventually – someone from Roofing Group UK did come to patch the leak in my roof. Well, I assume so, anyway: while the leak has gone, whoever repaired it visited during the day while no-one was here and left no sign of his attendance beyond not having closed the gates when he left. No note through the door, no apology for the wait, no explanation of exactly why a brand-new roof had started leaking – nothing. Nor was there any mention of recompense for the damage done to the room and its contents.
So, yes: Roofing Group UK did carry out the bare minimum required by law to put things right, and for that I give thanks.
Incidentally, Jayne would like it known that Roofing Group UK now trades under the name Roofing UK – despite having the same domain name as before, which still shows the same “monthly special offer” of a free Velux window with every re-roof that it showed back when I first found the site – and that the person who owned the company when my faulty roof was fitted, Barry Clay, is no longer in charge and has been replaced by the “original owner” Shaun Walsh.
My nice shiny new door!
Still no progress on the roof, but I’m pleased to say that this Monday saw the friendly chaps from Leading Edge Joinery fitting my shiny new door. A wonderful job they did too – they even transferred the old cat flap, and did such a good job cleaning it that I honestly thought they had replaced it with a new one! Who knew the centre part was supposed to be transparent?
The chaps even tidied up after themselves – to the extent that I don’t think our front step has ever looked so clean. It was almost a pleasure to hand the cheque over on completion of the job. Almost.
It’s heartening to see that some workmen still take pride in customer service, unlike certain other companies – naming no names.
Well, it’s now the 6th of September and my roof is still leaking. Considering that this is a problem I reported on the 18th of August, I’m ever-so-slightly incredulous – doubly so when you consider that Roofing Group UK’s website mentions “customer service” as a primary reason you should consider using their services.
What a joke.
Last night there was some pretty heavy rain, and the affected side of the room is once again soaked. Slightly more worrying were several grating noises – not dissimilar to the sound of slates shifting.
I’ve penned the following e-mail to [email protected], but to be honest I’m not expecting an easy resolution on this one.
I rang Roofing Group UK again during my precious lunch hour, and got through to the same receptionist who once more told me “it’s on the board, and waiting for Stuart to get back from Spain.”
I explained, for the third time, that this is unacceptable, and have been assured that what seems to be the only other employee of the company will be calling me tomorrow morning on my mobile. Well, we shall see.
I’ve just got off the ‘phone with Roofing Group UK, and just about managed to keep my cool – it would appear that the “boss” is on holiday in Spain, and won’t be back until the end of September. Only then will he deign to look at my leaking roof.
I’ve pointed out that this is completely unacceptable, and have been promised resolution soonest. We’ll see what happens, but for now if anyone’s looking for a roofing company I can only say avoid Roofing Group UK.
Today has most certainly not gone well. Aside from the roofers continued lack of communication, there’s another joy to add to my overflowing pot – and it concerns my door.
I got up this morning bright and early, eager to trundle off to work. Shower, dress, breakfast – all is going according to plan. I don my coat and shoes and set off out the door.
Wait – rewind. I try to set off out the door, but the door has other ideas. The multi-point lock has failed in the ‘lock’ position, and I’m trapped. Being, as it is, a back-to-back terrace, I’m really trapped – the front door is also my only door.
First things first – a quick e-mail to work to let them know I shan’t be in. I’m sure it went down well, being off for unscheduled absence in my first month of work, but these things can’t be helped. Next step was to contact someone who might be able to do something. They attended a scant half-hour later, and spent the majority of the morning trying to effect entry.
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Well, I just got a very rude awakening about an hour ago – a leak in my extremely expensive new roof causing water to drip down from the ceiling in my computer room, all over my not-inexpensive collection of crap. For joy.
The problem, as far as I can ascertain in the dark, is caused by a fault in the construction of the new roof – a U-shaped channel in the flashing where the dormer wall meets the roof, which isn’t covered by the ‘lip’ of the dormer. The water will collect here and enter the roof space.
Now I’ll need to get in touch with the company who fitted said roof – Roofing Group UK – and attempt to ‘encourage’ them to fix it ASAP under the terms of their guarantee. The difficult part will be convincing them it’s a problem in their workmanship – made harder by the fact that the very nice salesman who attended when we requested the new roof no longer works for the company.
All in all, not what I need when I’ve had a rather tiring second week at work.