Time for a huge RANT!

Went for a lovely long walk this afternoon.  Thank goodness for sunny days?!

And now for the huge RANT re the big Edinburgh flat refurbishment:  Using BLIP as a diary of events for the big Edinburgh Flat refurbishment.  Please feel free not to read, as the info below is not particularly interesting for anyone but Ann. 

………….But don’t I look particularly lovely today?

We were holding back from ‘ranting’ because ‘everyone deserves a second chance’. But actually; when does a second chance become a third chance or a fourth chance or even a fifth chance??  One employs a 'Project Manager' because one wants them to ‘manage’ the project.  The whole project.  Every single little bit of the project?!! One should not need to spend one’s whole life chasing up stuff that the PM should be doing.

OK, I think Ann was in denial because she wanted things to happen and her project manager kept telling her that everything was on track?!  Grrrrrr……………..

Everything is not on track!  …………….We were trying not to aggravate this particular company because they had assured us time & time again that there would be no problem knocking down a wall, installing new heating and completely rewiring the flat by the end of April.

They talk the talk………..  but do not deliver…………….  Grrrr…………

Ann thought that if we could at least get this work done, then we could go back to Edinburgh at the end of April and say, ‘Thanks guys, you’re really unreliable and we’re constantly having to chase you up but we’ve got someone else to do all the other work.’

Mmmmmmm……………… best laid plans and all that.  ………They have blatantly lied to us.  It is sooooo, soooooo frustrating!!!

When we were in Edinburgh, the PM kept saying that the engineer had submitted plans to  Edinburgh council.  (We want to knock down a wall between the kitchen/living room and need a steel beam putting in).  And thanks to 'Flumgummery' we are now very clever and know how to track planning applications on the Edinburgh City Council Portal Site.  Anyway, eventually, the PM made a major mistake he confirmed a lie in writing……………….  He replied to one of our emails asking him to confirm that the engineer plans had been submitted on Thursday 17th March 2016 and he replied saying they had been submitted on Friday 18th March 2016. 

Result!!!!  Yay!!!  Ann was really happy!!!  Not that he’d lied cos she thought he was telling the truth at this point!

Happiness can be very short-lived?!....................................

………After 10 days nothing was showing up on the ‘Edinburgh City Council Portal Site’ and bearing in mind that we’d been told the application would only take 2-3 weeks we thought this a bit strange?!  Fortunately, Ann has a very good friend (Iain who is a recently retired surveyor) and he actually went into the planning office and discovered that there was no record of any such application being submitted.

Soooooo…………. Last Wednesday Ann emailed the PM and said he was a big fat liar told him this and asked if he could give us the reference number for the application, so that we could personally chase it up. 

On Wednesday afternoon he said he’d left a message for the engineer and would get back to us.  On Thursday he left another message saying he was going to be speaking to the engineer that evening and would report back.  None of which has happened……….

On Thursday evening he also sent an email asking if it would be possible to meet Iain at the flat.  ………….Now, bearing in mind that when we left Edinburgh on Friday 18th March 2016, we sent him an email asking that he copy Iain into all future correspondence and until now (when he wants to get into the flat for whatever reason) he hasn’t; doesn’t actually sound good does it?

Ann was much too upset to reply to him.  She has been planning this refurbishment since December 2015 and she thought she’d found the ‘perfect’ company to help her.  How wrong can one be?????

Anyway, Iain replied saying he’d meet the PM at the property, Thank goodness we’ve not paid these people any money or given them keys to the flat but that Ann was very concerned that nothing was showing up on the Edinburgh City Council Planning Portal.  He then went on to say nicely that if they were lying to us  nothing had been submitted it would be a gross breach of trust, given that they had categorically informed us that the plans had been submitted and that a breakdown of client/contractor relationship prior to job authorisation was irredeemable.

…………..And since then we’ve heard nothing??????  Absolutely nothing???……….All has gone quiet; which only reinforces the fact that the building warrants haven’t actually been applied for.  And that the PM has been lying to us.

Sooooooooo………………. The tenants moved out more than a month ago.  The flat has been empty for more than a month.  No work has started.  No building warrants have been applied for. You cannot believe how frustrated and stressed Ann is about this whole thing???

BUT…………….. on a positive note……………….  WE LOVE IAIN.  He has taken it upon himself to help us.  He has written us a proper ‘spec’ of what we want and he has sent it out to three independent companies.

We’re back to square one……………  getting quotes in again??!!  But are feeling a little bit more positive knowing that we’ve got someone with ‘knowledge’ helping us.

Onwards & upwards.

 …………………. Obviously we will be leaving a ‘review’ on Checkatrade.com