rough job (another) (shocking excuse) - TilersForums.com

[penno]

Got asked by a manager of a tile store to go and look at a job the other night, it was done by a lad they had heard good things about and passed the job to him as a "trial". The woman had phoned the store and complained he hadn't finished the job and she can no longer get in touch with him.
My jaw hit the floor when i went in the bathroom, utter disgrace. The lips were over 4mm, tiles are a 40 x 60 and you can see he has dabbed them on, the set out is a farce, some cuts are about 4 cm. Nothing is lined up, brand new jacuzzi bath has a huge chip in it, toilet also damaged. The grout for whatever reason looks as shiny as gloss paint, tons of it missing. He has dragged the shower pipe across so it sits in a grout line and he can grind a square out (presume he didnt have the bits to drill a hole), shower will no longer go on as it is so close to the wall. The woman basically has a bathroom her and her husband have saved hard for, she has half a wall untiled along with a floorboard floor.
The room in total is 23sqm, the lady bought 27sqm and she says there are no tiles left. she took me into the garden and the amount of waste is shocking, not going overboard but there must be 7-8 meters.
The lad has taken £700 labour charges plus £200 material costs off the poor woman.
Store manager finally got in touch with this lad over the phone wanting answers why he has taken this money and why the standard of work is so poor. The lad was actually shocked that the quality was being questioned. He was asked why he has not finished the job, says he was seriously ill, he has cancer and can no longer work. The worst part? He is not ill atall, happily working away on other jobs in fine health. It is a totally fabricated sick excuse, what kind of person says that?
Don't have any pictures, poor woman was in tears distraught showing me the bathroom, wasnt really the time to get a camera out.
Manager has told her he will get the room sorted for her, trying to find a tiler atm to do it. Have offered to sort it myself but working all next week then off on my hols. Manager is going to speak to her Monday, if she is happy to wait then i will do the room when i get back free of charge (store provides materials).
How anyone can do this to someone is staggering, the woman is so nice it's untrue.
She is now left with an unsafe bathroom for herself, husband and young son.
Some cruel people about.

 

[Dan]

You get 'em all over mate, people like that just exist. Nice to hear you're willing to sort it, though the store should pay IMO as they should have checked his references or chose a smaller job (kitchen perhaps which might be considered harder for the novice in some cases - more of a test maybe).

You shouldn't need to work for free on that job, you've done nothing wrong, and the store is more to blame that you (obviously the lad's fault mostly).

Shocked to hear about the pretend illness. I wouldn't put anything past that type of person. Outright con artist he is if he's doing that, and he should be reported to trading standards IMO.

Though as said, the store should have know better, though clearly is also the victim here. But they should stand the costs IMO as they recommended him sort of thing.

I can understand though if this shop is one that gets you a fair bit of work, I'd probably offer for free too in that sort of relationship, though makes you wonder why you didn't get offered the work in the first place maybe and this wouldn't have happened.

Most shops don't physically recommend somebody but say 'here are some cards we get left, check them out yourselves and take a few cards' type thing due to risks like this. Which I guess would be increasing a bit as more traders are in the domestic market now etc.

Though it's nice to find a shop who does recommend a guy or two, and only because he knows they're mint at their job. I'd always ask for a contact they knew personally and if they gave me cards without recommending anybody, they're as good as the numbers in the local rag IMO and wouldn't really be worth checking out unless I couldn't find somebody recommended.

 

[charlie1]

That's an extremely generous offer considering we all have bills to pay! I must say though, if I employed a tiler then I would watch his work from day 1! Maybe he gave the old "the grout will hide that" excuse? And pretending to have cancer! Wtf! Some people simply have no Morales and will con therevway through life with charm never backing up what they say, I think the guy is ill but ain't cancer, he sounds delusional

 

[White Room]

Why oh why did they let him loose on a bathroom of that stature, the "passed the job on as a "TRIAL" on someones hard earned cash beggers belief.....

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

what sort of tile shop does not have a list of the best tilers this manger must be mad or stupid i would never recomend a tiler unles i had seen his work i never have a come back only calls from custumers saying thanks and asking me to tell the tiler that they are realy happy

 

[charlie1]

In the 2 tile shops I go to there must be about 20 different cards, 90% of them are not recomended for various reasons, poor work or don't give bungs. God knows how this guy ever had someone vouch for his work, we ca. All have bad days but 4mm lippage Ffs!

 

[Rizzle from the Portizzle]

In the 2 tile shops I go to there must be about 20 different cards, 90% of them are not recomended for various reasons, poor work or don't give bungs. God knows how this guy ever had someone vouch for his work, we ca. All have bad days but 4mm lippage Ffs!

if there not recomended there cards should not be there cant trust a shop like this there only intressed in money

 

[Stef]

I went to price a job tonight & walked away from it, the guy wanted me to tile onto mosaics & the wall wasnt very flat either.

He asked me "Cant you just do it". it took me the best part of 10/15 mins to convince him why i couldnt tile his walls.

I told him i will go back & tile his floor once it is prepped, He is going to go with WetWall now.

I can imagine a few tilers round my way that would have tiled regardless.

 

[Tony73]

not easy with good tilers. I employed one "tiler " to do two shower rooms. He came with another tiler. I did 30sq.m of 600x600 porelain and 10sq.m of 150x75 ceramics in one week (with my labourer). they did 30,5 sq.m of 600x600 porcelain. Each of them did one shower room, one -realy good quality, i was happy with it. But other was realy bad, grout line from 1mm to 2,5-3mm some places. when i asked about it, he said-don't worry, grout will hide it :mad2:. Every day lots of adhesive went to rubbish, as he used keraquick, mixing full bucket and having only one tile ready. I video taped it. Vasted 3 boxes of tiles. I fitted 91 tiles (600x600) and not a single one was vasted. They fitted 98 tiles (600x600) and vasted 12 tiles + off cuts from full tiles. And he gave me invoice for 37,5 sq.m (they did only 30,5). should i pay for only one shower room where they did good job? How about 7 sq.m that dosn't exist? :mad2:. We agreed £40.00 per sq.m. Ithink it.s not bad

 

[Dan]

How come you're going German on us when you say Wasted Tony? :lol: (Vasted)

 

[Tony73]

yeh i'm foreigner :lol:, SORRY

 

[Dan]

Thought your W key was broke maybe but then clocked about 20 of them so perhaps not lol

 

[Tony73]

but i know how to spell MITRE WIZZ :hurray:

 

[Tony73]

Ido make mistakes, but i can speak 4 languages rrr:

 

[Dan]

I speak English, Spinglish, Frenglish and Italianglish, all quite badly, all with a Stoke accent.