advice about washing machine man

[skybluee]

hi,
will try to make this quick.
mumsnet have given me really good advice in the past.

today i am having a washing machine delivered and fitted.

i removed the skirting board by the washing machine myself in advance.
when the man got here he was grumpy.

he said he neeeded to remove the other panel and pulled it hard and ripped it out before i realised what he was doing.

he has broken the other skirting panel in half vertically.
there is a hidden screw that you need to unscrew not just pull it.

i have lived here for 10 years, it is my home, i don't have much money, i am incredibly houseproud. i have not damaged my home.

every time someone comes in they vandalise or do something shit to my home.

i am really upset.

i was scared to raise it in case he did a shoddy job of installing the washing machine.

ok so this is what i have done:

i have pushed all of the legs so they are in straight lines.
i jammed a piece of wood between the washing machine and the plinth and i have screwed the plinth into that so it stays still.
the plinth the second one is now straight, it is not attached to the brackets, does that matter? they are behind it and it is not moving now.

i have covered where all the sealant has ripped with the lino the mat and a little blue rug i have.

from where i sit, i cannot see the area in question as i have put the little rug right by it.

the rest is covered where i have put the yoga mat so it runs straight to it.

i am going to go out as i do not feel very well.

thank you for all of the support on here. it has helped me more than you all will ever know.

The plinth is cosmetic so, apart from the way it looks, it doesn't matter too much if things aren't secured. However, when you use your washing machine you may find that the vibrations cause the unsecured plinth to move. You should take photos and notify the company today that the installer damaged things.

Sounds to me you ought to have installed it yourself you look as if you know what your doing!

As they say if you want a job done right then do it yourself;!.

I'd still like to see a pictuire or two if and when you get a moment?.

I've always found AO to be really good. Please do get in touch with them.

Here are the photos

The first plinth is to the left. It is below the washing machine which is behind the door.

The second plinth is the one that runs the whole way from there to the end. It is all hidden now by the yoga mat and the rug.

The issues are behind it now as I have hoovered and pushed the lino as close as it will go. To me, it visibly looks acceptable. My only concern now is if it is not secured as the previous poster said about.

OP, are you OK?

You've every right to be upset at the damage and it's up to AO to compensate for it.

But your other answers and reactions aren't quite proportional to the issue at hand. Mentioning your IQ is a bit odd.

I mentioned that because I thought people were saying I was basically stupid (as I have been told repeatedly away from here, that I am thick and this is why stuff keeps going wrong) and I was trying to explain that I did everything I thought i could to prepare and i wasn't being stupid, it was the only way i could think to explain it because every time i try to say to people i'm not stupid they say that is the issue. Maybe i shouldn't have put it in, it doesn't really matter ultimately.

Tbh I can't see an issue in the pics. Our plinths have hooks to go round the legs of the units, although they don't stay put since we had to remove to replace dw as they were screwed together.

I agree my reaction probably isn't proportional, it was that I was scared it wasn't fixable, but now I understand more about it I get that it can be fixed and (hopefully) it is fixed and the fact it isn't attached to the brackets inside there doesn't matter.

Thank you :). If it looks normal I'm happy with that. Where the plinth split had jagged edges (it is made of wood, like mdf I think), when I pushed it together really hard the bits fit together and it looks like one solid piece from here anyway. It is jammed in fairly hard with the new screw I managed to put in so I am hoping it is OK.

You are right the brackets aren't important as long as the plinth stays up, looks ok and you're happy with it.
He should have put it all back and made sure you were happy, I wouldn't be happy either.

AO used to be good but I refuse to use them any more. Their engineers failed to install an appliance correctly which resulted in flooding of the kitchen and soaking the electrics.

Made the mistake of using them again and they couldn't be bothered to change the fittings to install the item and I sent them away.

They have become too busy and don't give a shit really. I use Euronics now, if possible.

Gorilla glue is great for fixing split wood.

When I worked for Tesco a delivery driver spilled a bottle of wine on the carpet and quite rightly Tesco replaced the downstairs carpets.
My dad had a dishwasher installed and they broke something so they replaced all the panels in the kitchen. It's the company's job to rectify it. Just let them know and see if they'll help you!

Thank you for your replies.

To provide a bit of background which might explain this a bit more.

In the run up to Christmas I was unwell. There was a leak in the ceiling from the roof and I had to take six days off work with a succession of different people coming to investigate. As in, about 6-7 different people/groups of people coming over and in my flat. They tried to pass responsibility from person to person. As a result of taking days off like that i almost lost my job and it never really recovered. I went from being one of the top people to getting really shitty call lists etc ayway you don't need to know about that but undernreath all of this really odd (yeah I agree) reaction is a fear of homelessness and if things go wrong I dont have the cash any more. When I moved in here I was in a 100% different situation. Now Im not. I will be fine, I am not looking for sympathy or anything really, I am looking for solutions! Which i found on here. it scared me because he seemed angry at me. they could not find my flat, i dont know if that is why. i had provided really detailed instructions but they went down the wrong side. so id ont know.

On the outside it looks fine now. I will look into that glue, in case it splits or something. I jammed it so hard together I think (hope) it is OK.

Spring I am sorry to hear about your kitchen, that is way worse and I hope it's OK now and all sorted out. I will also look into Euronics. And I will also try not to over-react. I guess it was never really about the plinth.

Almost exactly the same thing happened to me with a washing machine from curry's. The man said 'well you can complain about that but it will come out of my wages' while the other man was standing in the kitchen reading out loud letters stuck to my fridge! Later on they rang to say they'd left a drill behind and one of them came back in their own car at 9pm to pick it up! The whole thing was horrible, I felt really vulnerable in my own house and uncomfortable as one of them had obviously written my address down to come and get his drill back! The broken kickboard really took the shine off the pleasure of my lovely new washing machine so I did complain to curry's and they handled it brilliantly to be fair to them. The delivery guys boss rang me and compensated me for the kickboard and curry's gave me another £100 and refunded the installation costs. Do raise it, it doesn't matter if people think you are being ridiculous, you shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable in your own house

That panel to the left of the cooker is that meant to be canted at an angle or is it the way the pictures taken can you say?.