Shoddy trademan holding my radiators hostage and HPUD Guessing Contest
When I moved into my new place recently, I decided to change the radiators in my living room and kitchen from a horizontal to vertical ones. In addition I changed two small radiators in my toilets.
| The radiator was in the middle of my living room wall making that side pretty much unusable | And I wanted to maximise space in my kitchen so I can put my dining table by the wall |
|---|---|
 |  |
Week 1
Week 2
At the beginning of the second week he said he had to wait for the living room plaster to dry before he can paint it. On Wednesday he came for half an hour to plaster a small patch in the dining room again before he could paint. On Thursday, he said he had an ear infection. Friday and Saturday no show. By the end of the second week he said he would come the following Monday to paint the wall and hang the radiators on Tuesday. The two radiators in the toilets were completed during these two weeks.
Week 3
He turned up on Monday and spent two hours painting the walls. Now we just need it to dry before we can finally hang the new radiators up. Up to this point, I have advanced him £1650 for the materials and deposit, but have not seen the two vertical radiators which cost about £800.
When we started the radiator job in week one I asked him to tile my kitchen. Due to the delay in the past two weeks, I was hesitant to get him to tile my kitchen now. However, he assured me it was a simple job, with none of the complications of the radiator job. I specifically ask him if all was well at home, and he said yes. He said he would tile everything on Tuesday, grout the tiles, and hang the raditors on Wednesday. Tiling was in deed a lot simpler, so we agreed to go ahead.
On Tuesday he turned up as promised and sure enough by the afternoon the tiling job was 95% done. Only a few tiles on the left side of the window remained to be done the following day, and that was due to him needing a particular tool. I have to say it was looked good and I was very pleased with it. Light was finally at the end of the tunnel after three weeks chaos at home.
That evening, I messaged him about something, and at 8.30pm he confirmed he would be here on Wednesday. There was no sign of him the next morning. I waited till after 11am before I messaged him. He did not respond to my messages nor calls that day. There was not light at the end of the tunnel after all.
On Thursday morning he messaged me to say he had mental health issues. All was well when he left mine on Tuesday afternoon for a football in the evening. Not sure what happened in those 12 hours between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. I responded immediately saying we needed to sort things out. It's been two days now and I still have not heard from him.
My life has been put on hold for three weeks due to a shoddy tradesman sorting out his own life. Him turning up or not is unpredictable. I have pushed back having friends and family around as my house is in a mess. And he is holding my £800 radiators hostage. My kitchen is usable but far from ideal, particularly with the electrical sockets hanging out. Today we tried to screw them back in but the tiles weren't cut wide enough and the sockets won't fit in. Hubby is annoyed and angry, he might have a mental breakdown as well!!!!
The good thing is that we still have £900 unpaid but if I don't get my radiators back, I'm still going to lose out. Plus I have to find another tradesman to finish off the job and not everyone is willing to do it. I'm mentally drained over this madness. Today, I have decided put all my furniture back in my living room. Now I can sit comfortably and watch some TV with the non existing new radiator pipes sticking out like a sore thumb 😡 😡 😡
September HPUD Guessing Contest
Due to this madness, I haven't had any time to prepare for my HPUD Guessing contest this month. I have powered up though. In fact I did it twice as Keychain gave me an error message so I thought the transaction didn't go through, but it did, so I ended up powering 2 x 1000 HP. That's fine, because building your stake is good on Hive.
Back to the HPUD Guessing Contest. The other day I was at my sister's for dinner and she had some sweets lying around. Perfect for a guessing contest.
How many sticks of sweets are there?
Sorry no tips this month as I'm feeling mean 👿
The prize pool is 20 HBD and will go to the person who guessed the correct or nearest answer. If there is more than one person who guessed correctly or the nearest answer, you will share the prize pool. And if you HPUD at least 10 HP today, I will double your prize as a bonus. As usual, I will upvote your entry and the % will be based on your level of engagement as the whole reason I started this HPUD Guessing Contest was to drive up quality engagement on Hive. Good luck everyone!!
11 sticks
Good luck
I think these are 10 sticks.
By the way it's good that due to error you powered up twice so congratulations for that.
It's a good error that I don't mind making
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O.M.G.
You truly have the patience of an angel. I would caused him physical damage in addition to mental problems
I'll make sure not to mess with you in future 😄
🤣🤣
It looks like there are 11 sticks here! 🤔
Good luck with your guess
Yikes what a horrible transaction you had and the work is incomplete and no radiators, Wow. How can someone operate like this. It shows an independent person isn't always the best to hire. Sometimes a company is best but they can be more expensive and may not provide the best service. It's like a box of assorted chocolates you don't know what your going to get. So we can't blame ourselves sometimes we get unlucky choosing. I hope all of this is worked out soon for you..
Power Up, I had the same thing happen to me when I powered up someone else earlier. I did twice because of an error.
Guessing sticks, 12 maybe. Hoping things get better for your household so you can have that space back the way it should be. Take care.
He lives on the same site and I saw he had very good reviews from other residents from our FB group so I thought he would be a safe bet. I finally got a reply from him today, and he said he will call me tomorrow....
Well that's refreshing to hear. Hope he comes and the job gets done soon. I'm sure both your patience and husbands is wearing thin. Best wishes 🙏
11 sticks XD
Good luck!
Thanks. :D
Oh no what a mess… so sorry to hear.
I hope he brings your radiators so you at least can have them installed by somebody else.
I have dealt with situations like that before. Nowadays you never know what happens with builders. Sadly more than one would think.
I count 12 sticks 😁
Builders and tradesmen are a very hit and miss nowadays, finding a good one is like gold dust sometimes. I hope your experience wasn't so bad in the past Jackie
Yes… like gold dust
It has… but I learned from it. I try to do everything now myself.
Our next big adventure; I will build our own home myself. First find a plot in the right place 😁
Have a good night and enjoy your new week!
Oh no, I hope it will be sorted out soon... it is not really responsible of him...
James wouldn't deserve any of these twelve sticks of sweets ;)
He doesn't deserve even one stick of sweet!!!! 🙃
Nada! Zero 😁
Looks like shaky tradies are a very common occurrence. Last year my sister was renovating her place and went through a similar situation for months, with multiple tradies. She finally had to contract a tradie from outside Sunderland to get everything done. Silverlining? She learnt a lot of things herself...probably knows more about simple fixtures than anyone around her.
Hope James and his wife get help, but I also hope you get back your radiators and a better tradesman.
I am seriously thinking of finishing off the tiling job myself because that is not too difficult (I think I can manage it). And that is the reason I agreed to let him do the job last week because I figured not much could delay it. Let's see how it goes
The hard part of the tiling is done...or at least seems like that from the picture. I don't know if there's other ways of cutting tiles without a manual tile cutter or grinder....there should be much space for error since the socket covers up the edges. I think it'd be much easier to remove the levellers and apply white cement.
How sad what you are going through, your first weeks in your home full of anger and frustration because of an irresponsible third party, it is not for less how you feel and I imagine that everything gets worse because you have to deal with the mood of your husband that is also justified.
I hope those bad energies are released and go away from your home, do not give him more time, friend, if that man does not meet you quickly let him go and get a good one now.
My answer to the competition is: 11
I feel like there will be a lot of winners this month, we are all going to guess. hehehehehe I already feel like a winner.
This is one of the few things that has kept me awake at night in recent years. Normally, I'm pretty cool with things, but this has really been quite annoying as my life has been put on hold. Hopefully it will be resolved this week.
🥺😔🙏
OMG. Hiring tradespeople is THE worst, because it is a gamble EVERY TIME. Ugh. I hope he comes around or at least gives you your radiators. I would definitely ask for them to be delivered so you can try to find someone else to finish the job. So sorry you have been dealing with this.
Thanks @dfinney. I saw he got some very good reviews from other residents on our estate as we have a community FB group, and he also lives here, so I thought it would be ok. He has finally messaged me today, hopefully we will speak tomorrow.
You’re so patient. Week 1 and I think I would already be breaking down. Everybody has problems, but I hope he’s being professional. If he can’t do the job, might as well end it with you. It’s really a hostage crisis.
My guess would be 11 sticks.
And wow, 2x powered up. Incredible!
Who would have thought my poor radiators would be held hostage? Shocking isn't it!!!!
Oh no! That sounds awful. I'm sorry you had to experience that. Unfortunately these stories are very common. It's so difficult to find good help nowadays. I hope that it works out in the end and you get the radiators installed - or your money back.
Challenge today seems easy but is actually quite hard. Hmmm. I'll guess 12
You made a very good move to learn and do stuff yourself in your new place, and you did it very well. I wish I was so handy.
Good luck with your entry
Time, practice and... YouTube lol
I would know how to install a radiator though. I'd have to hire someone as well
Wow -what a saga. A total pain in the neck. I cannot believe the situation/stories from this tradesman. He is definitely service minded. I hope you will get the radiators from this man.
I had a similar problem with keychain- but not a similar amount. 😀
My guess will be 12 sticks of sweets.
I wonder if keychain is playing up, it seems odd to send out an error message when the transaction went through. Luckily it's powering up ourselves, and not transferring to someone else, that would be a disaster!!!
Indeed. Luckily, I’ve used it thereafter and it seems fine.
Huh... Sorry to hear about your problems with the tradesman... It reminds me of things done here in Spain when they always promise that they will come "mañana"... I hope you will sort it out soon!
And regarding those sticks, I will go with 12... I counted 11, but I feel that there is one hidden in the background... 😃
Are you sure there's only one hidden ? 😉 Good luck!
Or three?
Sad to see the sorry state your home is in.
Hope everything gets sorted out soon.
Thanks. I'm hoping it will be sorted out this coming week and everything will be finished
you're welcome.
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Hi meanie. 10 sticks for me 😊
I know how you feel, having just completed house repairs with my "Here now gone tomorrow" or "Now you see him now you don't" contractor or tradesman as you call them over there. I didn't realize it can also happen over there. But it's quite common here 😤
Seems like it happens all over the world, it's like they have enough work and don't care about doing a decent job, plus how it affects people 😖
My sentiments exactly. Hope you get the repairs and the radiator done soon 🤞
It can be really frustrating, having to wait for a person to complete their job so that your own life can get back to normal. If the man has mental issues indeed, I hope he comes out of it hail and hearty. Maybe then, he can finish what he started.
I think the sticks of sweets are 11😇.
He has contacted me today and hopefully we will talk tomorrow so we can resolve this.
That's great news. Soon, there would be progress.
hope you get your radiators very soon and congratulations on your hive power up
I counted 12 sweets sticks
Thanks and good luck with your entry
12 sticks for me. It is very unprofessional of your repairman to give such an excuse.
It's certainly a very unfortunate situation to be in
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Congrats on your huge Powerup though.
And regarding the sticks, I would go with 12. (I feel like there is one more hidden underneath...lol)
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You've really gone through a lot with the fixing of those radiators but everything will be fine afterwards. My guess to the contest is 10 sticks.
I hope it will be sorted out very soon as well. Thanks
Everyone have challenges they go through where we just need patience to handle or probably endure to avoid it leading to something else.
This contest looks really tricky but my guess to this would be 11.
Good luck with your entry!
Grrr! I'm sorry for the stressful situations and ongoing problems the craftsman created for you and your husband the past weeks! The craftsman needs to finish the project or at a minimum return the two radiators he's "holding hostage" so you can install them yourselves. If it was me, I would try tracking him down and show up at his residence with a law enforcement officer!
The good part (I always try to find the good) is your new kitchen tiles look beautiful!
Hopefully the craftsman holds up his end of the deal and returns to finish the work!🙌
Congratulations on your double power up, even if though was accidental! 👩💻📈 I felt lucky to remember do 10 Hive and earn a Power Up🐝 badge.
Now for the hard part trying to count the candy canes. My counts are 12 or 13. With so many others entries of 12, I'll go with lucky number 13! @livinguktaiwan☺️
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I actually know where he lives, as he lives on the same estate as me, that's why I employed him to do the work in the first place, as he had very good reviews from the local residents.
Not that I had designed it by purpose, but I noticed it's not that easy to count, good luck with going with your lucky number!
I'm so sorry dear. Your patience is quite exemplary. I would have been livid. I do hope it gets done soon enough dear.🌺
I count 12 sticks.
Mental health is a touchy subject in UK, so need to tread carefully here
I feel so sorry for you Pauline, people can feel bad mentally but at the end of the day we all have responsibilities and we can't let go unless we can delegate it to someone else. I hope the problems will be solved as soon as possible. I send you my best wishes.
By the way, my guess is 12 sweet sticks.
Thanks Mustafa. I'm hoping all will be resolved next week as he finally messaged me today. Fingers crossed!
I am pretty sure he would finish up your work but it can be annoying though. My guess is 9 sticks.
Good luck with your guess
I am sorry to hear that dear LivingUK. I just hope that the task will be accomplished soon. I so feel you with this. You know, I am also having a problem with my furniture at home when it was not accomplished by the worker to what we have agreed and I have already fully paid for the labor. But still I hope all is well.
By the way, I guess there are 12 sweet sticks in there.
Have a great day and keep safe!
oh dear! I'm sorry to hear about your problem with your furniture. It will be even trickier for you if you have fully paid for the labour, they have no incentive to come, but I hope they will be professional and do a good job.
So sad to hear about the work of that tradesman (we locally call it panday). As I am reading it, I said I thought only in Philippines there are scammers tradesman but oh even in Taiwan. Though we cannot judge him because we don't know know what's really going on with him because he has a lot of different reasons for not coming up. But we can really think that he just get the money even without finishing it yet. Maybe because he need it badly or he is just one of those scammers. This will really make you sad, bad or angry.
I hope he will return very soon and bring the radiators and finish it together with he tiles in your kitchen.
About your HPUD guessing game, I can see the 12 sweet sticks there.
Thank you.
Bad tradesmen seems to be common all over the world, I'm in UK now and we have a lot of them all the time, and that is very sad. He seems a very nice person, very good when he is at work, but I think he has taken on too many jobs and not very good at time management hence causing all these issues.
Yes might be you're right. He accepted a lot of job offers and everyone wants to be prioritize so the work will be finished very soon. how sad.
So sorry to hear about the situation. Hopefully the tradesman turns up and returns the radiators.
My guest this round is 10 sticks :) Happy HPUP and joyful September @livinguktaiwan 😊
Thanks @trangbaby and hope all is well.
Hello, the answer is 9
15, because you cheat and hide some, your tale of woe…… your tradesman cracked me up tbh, love his novel excuses. 😂
What a shocking accusation!!!! Me cheat?? I'm the nicest and most honest person
except when I try to trick people in my contestsI rest my case m’lud
Tradesmen clearly do not appreciate [or care in some cases] just how stressful it can be when you are left waiting, worrying and stressing about will they return? Will the work be finished? When can I return my home to normality?
Some people get their stomach genuinely churned up at the upheaval of having even a good, reliable tradesperson in their home, let alone, one that gives you the run-around.
We both know that your family would have accepted that your home was not quite as ordered as it normally is, but I get it, you would feel uncomfortable. I'm glad you relented and put the furniture back so at least when you do get a chance to sit of an evening, there is somewhere to do it lol.
3 weeks is WAY beyond a joke! I hope you are able to switch off a little, as I know that it is more than merely inconvenient and can get right in to your head, especially after all the chaos that accompanies a move anyway.
Jeez those 13 candy canes remind me that Christmas is hurtling towards us like a juggernaut full of tinsel and turkey!!!
Have a fab, shiny new week and hope the work is fully resolved FAST! 😃
Hello stranger!! Good to see you back!
Good tradesmen are like gold, find a good one and keep them on speed dial!!
You know the feeling, when you think it will be finished tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, so you put everything on hold, expect tomorrow never comes. It was just getting too frustrated to wait, so I thought fxxx it, I'm sick of waiting, life will resume now!
He's such a horrible tradesman. Hopefully, you'll be able to get to him and finish the tasks.
My guess would probably be 12. Have a nice day @livinguktaiwan 😊
He's actually a really nice guy, but has a lot going on in life, and I'm caught in it all ☹️
I will say 13...
I will not say anything about UK tradesmen except to say having lived in over 60 countries, UK is not the worst!
60 countries!!!!! I guess it happens in every country as well 😞
The joys of being an overseas Project Manager in Oil and Gas Industry. Have passport will travel!
Yeah we got royally screwed over Covid, one bathroom and it was being upgraded no floor and no walls in an old flat. Covid struck and then the guy played the mental health card and we had fronted him loads of cash too. I hope yours get sorted quicker than our 2 months.
You have lived in 60 countries? I have lived in 7 and thought it was a lot :D How did you do that?
I was an Overseas Projects manager in the Oil and Gas Industry so had multiple overseas assignments. Five countries as a child, two more in university, it soon adds up. I do have wanderlust lol
Wow :) Impressive. With so many options tried out, I guess you have a very clear idea where you want to live now, is that right? :)
One thing I have learnt, is that there are pros and cons of every country I lived in!
If I had the money I would just travel around staying in a few countries for the best months of the year!
Yeah, that´s exactly my experience too. Every place in the world has its pros and cons. You just need to find the one that suits you the most :)
Exactly and it oftens come down to the people and the weather.
All good fun though.
Oh, gosh! What a nightmare! Every time I have to do any repairs at home, I get a chill in my stomach, especially if I haven't done any work before with the contractor, people can be so unpredictable. I hope the man shows up and you can get your two radiators and the job done sooner rather than later. Best of luck :)
I counted 11 sticks of candies.
Normally I have another builder but he is so very busy, so I found this new one and he got very good reviews, complicated...... ☹️
Sounds like a horrible experience. I´m sorry. How did you find this mentally unstable James? Tradesmen are unpredictable. Here in my country, it´s common to only hire tradesmen that some of your family or friends already have good experience with... Any progress with those radiators yet?
My guess is that the number of those sticks is as unlucky as the decision to hire James. 13.
The estate has a FB group and he lives here as well. I saw he had good reviews from other residents so I figured he would be acceptable. I have had two conversations with him, more excuses. Either way will be looking to bring this to closure next week. Enough is enough!!!
More excuses? That sucks. I´m sorry :( At least the weather has been on your side as the radiators are not needed yet... So far, unusually warm September all over Europe.
It made me sad to read you so sad and on the verge of collapse because of that man.
It's worse here. I have been building my house since 2009 and I have not been able to finish it, I know it well. There came a time when I said to myself: this is it. I am no longer living by putting up walls, fighting against people who in the end swindle me because they can neither do their job well, nor finish on time. That's why I felt very identified with your situation.
But, cheer up. Don't stop looking for solutions but without being affected by this.
Candy sticks... (I wish they could figure it out, it's all very convoluted).
And good for that power up. Good mistake, this is like complaining about something good that happened. Cool.
😁
Since 2009!!!! That is not acceptable! I cannot imagine the pain you are going through, it must be 100 times worse than mine. How far off are you to completion?
I think this answer is more difficult than who came first, the chicken or the egg (I stopped thinking about it, don't worry hahahaha).
At this time of life building is a luxury, what I could do is sell this and buy something small already finished. But I would lose my yard full of fruit trees. And the comfort I have here. But half of the house is left to do.
;)
Oh no...I am so sorry to hear this Pauline. Looks like this kind of tradesmen are all over the world. I once had a terrible frustrating situation with one of them, likewise my sister in another state. I can imagine the stress you have been going through all along and I commend your patience as well. I don't know what's going on with James currently but I suggest you should demand for the return of the radiator which cost £800 while you look for another builder to finish up the job.
What an accidental power up... hehehe, it's all good
Congratulations 👏🎉
And for the guessing contest, I go with 11 sticks .
Sounds like shoddy trademan can be found all over the world, just like scammers!!!! 🙃
The problem is finding someone else to finish the job as I know most trademan don't like finishing off other people's work.
Getting a reliable trades person can be hit or miss. Hopefully the rest works out ok and you get your heating back before it turns colder.
I'm going to guess on 12 for the candy canes. And I can confirm I did power up for HPUD this month.
Best of luck to everyone !
Luckily we're some way off before I need to turn the radiator on (it's been lovely this week), but yeah, need to sort this out as it's been dragging on. Will be going into week 5 now...
Ah that’s such a pain in the ass! It’s brutal when you deal with these half ass tradesmen! My dads an electrician and I worked with him for years. He does excellent work and not just because I worked with him but he was meticulous. He would constantly be cleaning up some other idiots mess. It’s hard for sure!
Have you gotten the stuff taken care of since then?
Nope still not resolved, I've had two conversations with him this week, more excuses which seem plausible, but then so were all the past ones ...😒 Gonna kill this off next week one way or other 😠
Your dad sounds like an gold dust, send him across the pond any day!!!