Hi all,
I’m a newish house owner, in that I bought a little house with a garden last year after owning a flat for a while. Obviously owning a house comes with a few extra repairs and things so I just wanted to probe the Mumsnet hive mind before hitting the roof.
My house is a bit of a cosmetic fixer upper, nothing very big but does need some bits a pieces done. One of these things is that there isn’t a Ramsey ladder into the loft yet (I promise that becomes relevant later).
Back at the end of January there was a huge storm where I live, so much so that we were issued a “stay at home” style warning. One of these glass panes from the little loft window blew out, I didn’t know until the next morning, when my neighbour saw it from the bottom of his garden.
My insurance company instructed me that they didn’t have enough emergency glaziers to meet demand after the storm, and to organise someone independently. I phoned an emergency glazier, who quoted me £320 to board the window. Ok, that’s steep, but I was so worried about water ingress (and also squirrels getting into the loft) that I agreed. They took my bank details on the day, and a man attended the next day. He was in and out in 20mins top, and left without reporting any concerns.
A few days later £390 left my account - apparently VAT wasn’t included. Ok, I didn’t ask, lesson learned.
This weekend I had another glazier come and give me a quote for a repair. He went up into the loft, and when he came down stated he was shocked that the first company would charge me so much, and that there is a three inch gap at the bottom of the board, where it’s just been left to the elements.
I’m pretty upset. The new glazier says they should have used plastic from the outside the seal the hole, that it’s just a bad job, and in his opinion I should be refunded for the whole job. The original glaziers have refuted all responsibility stating
a) I’ve left it too late to raise any objection (well, how could I know. I also suspect it’s easier to do a shoddy job when you know somebody can’t see what you’ve done) and
b) they just “made it safe” (no, they didn’t. The hole is too small for anybody to crawl through, plus it’s right up on the roof. The man concern would be water ingress, and they’ve failed to stop that).
Sorry this is so long, I’m so sure the original glaziers is in the wrong but am not really sure how to proceed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.