Well here we go ... Friday 16th March builder promised to turn up and didn't ..shock horror, and was unreachable on phone ..quell suprise, and not responding to texts ... OK now we turn up the heat ...
the following letter was dispatched today ...lets see if it provokes a response :)
Dear Sir,
Despite Several messages being left on your answerphone, you do not seem to be taking the promise of further action seriously so it is with regret that I write this letter which Serves as stage 1 of the Trading standards recommended procedure as outlined in the
Supply of Goods and services act (1982)
The Guidance states that I must describe clearly and precisely what I wish from you, so to avoid misunderstanding here it is …
All I require of you is to finish the build as you promised within a reasonable time frame again as you promised and to be reachable on the phone when you need to be elsewhere.
I am required by the law to specify a “reasonable and achievable” timeframe for you to achieve this and as such, given that you said the job would only require 7 -10 more days to complete I am willing to allow you One Calendar Month from the date of this letter (ie 19 May 2010) to complete this build to our satisfaction.
Should you feel this is an unreasonably short time frame I refer you to the fact that you have given us deadlines on more than one occasion for this job to be completed and not only have you missed those deadlines, but you have yet to do 2 days consecutive work on this build this YEAR , in fact as of the time of writing this letter you have done precisely 3 DAYS work on this build this calendar year.
Should you feel I am in error in this ..here is the timeline
Jan 10 2010 .. Clearance received from council to resume build
Jan 22 2010 .. You stated that work would resume on the 3rd of February with 7 days tops to complete the build
February 3 2010 .. You arrived, dropped off a cement mixer and vanished for the rest of the day
February 4 2010 .. you informed us you had to attend a funeral
February 8 2010 .. “my van needs taxing I will be there tomorrow”
February 12 2010 .. finally managed to get you on phone, you admitted you were doing another job that would take 2 weeks to complete
February 26 2010 .. you said “the job has overrun I will be with you end of next week I promise”
March 4-5 2010 .. unreachable on phone
March 6 2010 .. After a long phone conversation with you the following was agreed
1.Once the job you were doing in Shrewsbury was completed, you would complete our build
2.You would arrange for all the remaining building materials needed to complete the job to be delivered here the next week.
3.You would attend the following Saturday with a piece of paper detailing when you intended to resume work on the build and an estimated completion date of same.
March 13 2010 .. You did turn up with the paper as requested and gave us a restart date of 24 March and an estimated completion date of April 1 2010.
March 26 2010 .. Day 1 of actual work ... you arrived and laid a course of breeze block on the back.
April 8 2010 .. Day 2 of actual work ..Laid brick work at the back promised to return the next day
April 14 2010 .. Day 3 of actual work you laid the entrance ramp and informed me you had been let down by your supplier on the lintel , but that it had been promised for Friday 16 April 2010
April 16 2010 .. you informed me over the phone that you would be round in a little while
Since then you have been unreachable by phone, not responding to repeated calls and text messages and no additional materials have arrived as you agreed to on the 6th of March.
I take this action reluctantly as I had hoped to settle this with goodwill on both sides as we have been more than understanding with your problems as you have reported them to us, but as you have repeatedly broken your word to me and are now unreachable by phone AGAIN I am left with little choice in the matter.
Should you fail to reply or respond to this letter within 14 days then I must inform you that the next step must be to either pursue the matter through the small claims court or arrange for another builder to complete the work and bill you directly as is our right under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (as amended)
I am sorry that it has come to this but you have now proven that your verbal assurances can not be believed and your written assurances must be considered to be non binding as you have not kept them either, I urge you to take THIS letter seriously as it is your very LAST chance at settling this matter amicably.
Yours Faithfully
