Now in the hands of Trading Standards

Not entirely to our surprise, Fitters4 reneged on their promise (made on 2 separate occasions) to realign the fridge/freezer base units and fit a new wall end panel, so that the 'V' gap would disappear.

We just got a snot-a-gram from the IM referring us to the Furniture Ombudsman, as she did feel that there would ever be a 'satisfactory conclusion'. Well, that's entirely down to them. It's not rocket science to realign the fridge/freezer this time using a spirit level. It is, however, a long way for their "star" (the IM's words, not ours) fitters to come - an hour each way.

So, the matter is now referred to Trading Standards with whom the case was first reported some time back.

This means that we are still unable to tile the walls, since there's no point getting tiling done until we know for sure that those tiles will not be at risk.

MFI - No Response

The installations manager has not had the common decency to return the voicemail. We've given her a week - but then haven't we just been giving them break after break for the past 5 months.

SINK
We have now discovered a hairline crack running through the sink 2 inches out from the tap base - this would not have been immediately apparent due to it being pristine, but over the past few weeks I guess dirt has got in the crack so it is now visible.

FRIDGE/FREEZER alignment
Fitters4 spent a long time messing about with the alignment of these units. And now they turn round and say that it's the fault of Fitter1 who should have noticed the warp in the worktop so it could have been replaced, and who fitted the whole base structure seemingly without the use of a spirit level.
The doors are not operating smoothly, open the doors and it's blatantly obvious they're not straight, plus there's that awful inverted V gap at the wall end panel.

- - -

Happy birthday - not - to the Remedial Work
... now 5 months old!!!

I've done a quick search on the internet and apparently we are supposed to be noticing some things...

Development Milestones at 5 Months :

* Sit, if supported, to view the world. - yeah it sure needs support
* Start to connect eyes and fingers, co-operate in reaching and grasping. - connection & co-operation never seem to have been a strongpoint
* Make sounds and interrupt conversations when wanting attention. - it certainly sneaks into conversations
* Display an awareness and wariness with strangers. - yesss, how many fitters have we had now
* Babble double consonants such as baba, dada, mama. - certainly leaves us babbling incoherent wrecks

Remedial Work: Fri 10-Oct-08 ... AAGGGHHHHH

1. End panel on the wall units has finally got replaced satisfactorily.

This was what it looked like when it was replaced the first time - Fitters4 said they just never noticed...

2. Fridge/Freezer fitting

Then Himself asked Fitters4 what they were going to do about the inverted 'V' on the f/f fitting. (Bear in mind this is the one I'd discussed with them on previous occasions, and they'd said they'd not got the wood to do it, fair enough, but they'd get hold of it and put the wall end right.)

The first guy flatly replies that he didn't know about it and has never discussed it! Yeah right, the words "Pants on Fire" spring to mind.

So I go into the kitchen & look the guy squarely in the face (maybe he didn't realise I was in the house) and ask the same question. He cannot look me in eye as he replies that yes, maybe it was mentioned* but he doesn't recall all that well.

* [see post: Remedial Work 03-Sep-08]

After a subsequent protracted investigation, Fitters4 found that ...

(a) Fitters1 had fitted a worktop which was ever so slightly warped; they should have checked it with the spirit level before fitting so that it could have been replaced at the time.

(b) Fitters1 had also seemingly lost the use of their spirit level when fitting the left side of the cabinet. It is not vertical, and Fitters4 went on to determine that in fact the whole cabinet is not fitted correctly; consequently both fridge and freezer are out of kilter. It is impossible to get them right as a result because you're always going to have a 'V' gap somewhere along the line. And because of the worktop you're always going to have the top not right.

Solution?

Well, technically that's not our problem is it, because these people are supposed to be the fitters, the ones with the Solution.

Apart from, in reality, it is very much our problem because we're the ones stuck with it - and they couldn't give a fetid rat's kidney.

Ideally, what should happen is this:

MFI take responsibility for Fitter1 being incompetent, and replace the WHOLE corner - worktop and cabinet structure, and refit the appliances correctly.

Bets are currently being taken for what MFI actually propose.

Surprisingly (not) the installations manager's mobile phone rang out to voicemail this morning. Hmm.

We await a call back.

- - -

At the top of this blog is a fair assessment of how we hoped this would go - they messed up, we gave them the opportunity to put it right. And we hoped, and believed, that they WOULD put it right, and that this blog would be a TESTAMENT to that resolution. They still could.

We have given them ...

TIME

OPPORTUNITY

UNDERSTANDING

... even though we have had to put up with FIVE MONTHS now of remedial work and personal stress, and as a result the house has not been ready to receive guests.

Remedial Work : Fri 15-Aug-08

Dawn breaks over the silver birch, a lonesome magpie surveys a silent field from a high branch. Not me, I was fast asleep. Thank feck.

Fitters4 came back without any alternative sink clips. As far as we can see they've fitted just two of the ones they gave up on last time - one at each end of the sink. And that shallot.


The sealant round the sink looks GREAT ! ! ... Pity it's only on 3 sides. Yup, they've not done the back. FFS.


Here's the best bit. Fitting the shelf in the sink base unit. Tell this story to your children at night for endless fun and amusement.
And this is the reason that YOU NEED TO WATCH OVER THEM...

Fitter4 holds shelf at an angle in the base unit, weighs up where the randomly placed filter cartridge bracket comes to on said shelf (roughly) and puts a dodgy pencil line on the shelf.
He then hands shelf to his apprentice with the instruction to cut a square into it so it will go onto the brackets.
I enquire, just out of interest, with Fitter4 whether the filter cartridge bracket could have just been moved 2 inches to the left - thus negating the need to saw a square out of the shelf.
Fitter4 does a good impression of sucking on a lemon.
In the background the sound of manic sawing fills the air outside.
Fitter4 smugly remarks that it's too late now anyway.
I helpfully remind Fitter4 that the piece of wood his apprentice has is not the only spare shelving in the house. There is a full size piece, for example, under the stairs out of which he could have not 1 but 2 more bites at the apple.
Fitter4 gives an encore performance of the fruit impression.
In a fit of pique, he takes his cordless drill and unscrews the filter cartridge bracket (one small screw so no biggie), totally fails to measure 2 inches, shoves it back in again at a 30 degree angle using a combination of unprofessionalism and random guesswork and then finds the shelf still won't go in because the new location is still too close.
He then repeats above step another inch to the left.
Shelf then fits in perfectly with no need to hack it to pieces.

I guess that now makes me a qualified fitter.
What say you.


The sink base units are still misaligned. The end wall panel still needs replacing. There's an inverted 'V' gap on the endfill next to the freezer now that those appliances have been moved around. Rods in the drawers are adrift. The electrics are still not done.

Etc Etc. It just goes on and on. Plus we now have an additional 2 wrong holes in the back of our sink unit.

After the fitters leave, I open the sink base cupboard to find a steady leak is slowly creating a little froggy paddling pool.

By the way, kind regards to all my new readers.
:-P ;-)
Love and hugs, guys.

TeleCommunications

On Monday this week, the IM rang about our list of concerns following Friday's work which I duly went through. We traded gritted teeth comments about the sink fitting; she said that moving the sink an inch to the right wasn't on the original list. Of course it wasn't - (a) it was a Solution that Fitters 2 & 3 came up with, and (b) it's common sense that you work out how much room you need for the plumbing tackle you're going to use and then ensure that you put the sink in at the appropriate place for it!!! Jees. And I'm only in the next room for feck's sake, is it really that much effort for them to ask.


Anyway, 2 things were missing at the end of last Friday's session
- the Franke connector kit, and
- the Duropal sealant tube.

The IM said that Fitters4 had probably taken the connector kit to match up with an appropriate fitting to replace what they'd used.

As for the sealant...
...I told her that if the reason for it missing was that they'd used it all up then I'd have to know asap because it would mean ordering another tube for them to do the sink edging. She said she'd ask them.
...I now have a voice message from her today to "confirm that the sealant is not required". What? Eh? Of course they need it! To do the sink! - and does that mean they did use it all or not? !

FFS.

She didn't mention the Franke kit on the voice message, so I'm taking that to mean that her original answer stands on that one.


Footnote
That makes a running total of 4 things going for a walk now: the kit, the tube, the bag of bits, and the Gorgeous Blue Mug.

6 Reasons why the Wall Units are Still Not Right

1. Fuse box hanging out (pic in previous post)
2. Gap at back of unit (pic in previous post)
3. Big gap between units as shown below - you can also see how the wall sockets were left in this pic. The cornices also have slight gaps. There is a plastic seal left unused from the cornice boxing.

4. Door does not close properly

5. Handle on ill-fitting door is loose; this is down to a faulty product and Fitters4 have said they have added the item to the reorder list.
6. Internally, the units are slightly misaligned to the frames so the bottom shelf looks out of skew.

Sitrep
Email: IM is waiting on delivery info for panel, then we will get dates for Fitters4 to come back.
No mention of delivery of replacement handle.
It's now 2 and a half months since the kitchen install began.

Reinstatement of wall units

The wall units were put back up on Thursday. They look smart but then again the wall itself is a better backdrop now anyway.

BUT...

when I climbed up to see on top of the cupboard, I found that the fuse switchbox for the extractor, although now out of sight, was just left lying on top of the cupboard with about 10 inches of wiring trailing out of the wall like the entrails of a ritual sacrifice. And the wiring for the extractor which now has a decent socket on it behind the extractor, had been fastened to the fusebox wire with a bit of yellow tape. I'm not a leccy but that just doesn't look right.

The Fire Officer who did the home safety inspection today (Monday) basically said that if the electrics had been left like that in his home he'd play merry hell. Natch.

There is also a gap between the back of the end wall unit and the wall - I can fit my fingers in behind it. The wall just isn't flat. Fitter4 said they'd order in a wider end panel and tailor it so it does give a smooth finish... They wouldn't have said anything if I'd not mentioned it. This is my point. None of these fitters has been proactive in resolving snags before we've mentioned them. That could be down to either laziness/apathy, policy or pressured adherence to work schedules, who knows. The plasterer who last week assured me that the wall was now flat is himself an ex- MFI fitter's apprentice (Fitter3 to be precise) who had decided to specialise in plastering rather than fitting.

We are waiting to find out when the fitters will return to put right the base units. If indeed they ever will. I suspect they may have changed their minds: they expressed concern last week at how exactly they are going to do the worktop jointing. This is a good example of the gap in MFI between design and capability. If it is not possible to effectively joint a worktop where a sink has been designed in, then the designers should not be designing plans that have sinks at integral joints.

As the customer, we were promised a sink in that corner and that is what we expect. With a professionally finished joint. We have, after all, already been missold on the wall units which do not meet our brief.

Arrangements to put it back together

And now the FOURTH set of Fitters is about to descend.

As predicted, we were backed into a corner over the sink problem. The IM rang early this week to say that Fitter3 would not be coming back as he did not have another slot until end of August. She had a couple more guys (hereafter referred to as "Fitters4") though who could come in Weds & Thurs this week. However, I was not going to be available during Wednesday and although she did offer to 'house sit' for us, we were both reluctant to allow tradespeople in without us being here.
Especially given the history up to now!
So we negotiated for one day only - Thursday (yesterday, more on that later) - in order to at least get the wall units back up so we could put stuff away.
We will then have to sit and wait for a slot to get the base units done. A very on-the-hoof way of doing it, and I'm resigned to the irony that if we'd waited for September when Fitter2 was available then it probably would have been sorted quicker. Ho hum.

On top of that, everything now has to be reiterated AGAIN to more fitters.

It's also not escaped our attention that the IM has finally accepted that the work can be split up into bite-sized pieces. There was no need to insist on everything being done in one slot with all the kit having to be here.