Author: jogblog

At 9:50 I ring the installation centre and say Parcel Force tried to deliver the panel on Monday but I wasn’t in and they left a card to say they’d try again tomorrow but I still won’t be in, so can you organise a before 9am delivery please?  Man on phone says no, it’s coming from Parcel Force, I’d have to speak to them.  I say but I’ve been waiting for my bathroom to be finished for ages, this is the sixth week, can’t you send another panel out?  He says no, what Parcel Force will do is try to deliver three times and he can’t do anything until the delivery fails and they get the panel back, then he can arrange another delivery.

Twats.

Louise from the fitters rings at 11:25 and says have I got the end panel.  I say I couldn’t get the time off work to take delivery so it’s in transit.  Parcel Force tried to deliver it yesterday and left a card saying they’ll try again today or Thursday but I can’t read the writing on the card.

She says have I got the floor tiles?  I say yes, I’ve got the floor tiles and the edging.  She says and I’ve got a light suitable for the bathroom now?  I say yes, all I’m missing is the end panel.

She asks if I have a completion notice on site.  I say no.  She says if she sends me one can I sign it and tick box B to say the work’s not completed and that I need the end panel and floor tiles.  She says if I sign it then they can be paid for what they’ve done so far.  I say ok but what I really mean is get lost, I’m signing nothing, are you trying to be funny?

She says she’ll speak to her director and see if they can get an end panel from somewhere as they’d like to see the job finished.

I look on the Parcel Force website and see that they do a guaranteed 9am delivery and also Saturday deliveries, so if a neighbour hasn’t taken it in today, B&Q are just going to have to spend a few extra pounds and pay for a 9am or Saturday delivery.

I get home from work to a card from Parcel Force to say that they tried to deliver the panel and they will try again on Tuesday or Thursday (I can’t read the handwriting on the card).  No neighbours around to take delivery for me? 

I go to the store after work to pick up another piece of edging. I walk down the aisle thinking please, please, please, please, please be in stock and the positive thinking worked, hurrah, the colour I need is in stock. So I pick the right colour this time, pay for it and manage to get on the bus without snapping it. It arrives home in one piece, as does the bottle of wine I get on the way, yah!

All that’s stopping the bathroom being finished now (although I’m sure the fitters will think of something to delay it even more) is the end panel which I could get delivered on Monday if my boss hadn’t decided to be obstructive. Is he trying to get a job at B&Q or something? To be fair he has given me a lot of time off throughout this bathroom saga, but does he have to hold things up now at the very last stage? Aarrgghh!  Fingers crossed there’s a neighbour around on Monday to take delivery for me.

Oh well, Friday at last. And more importantly, beer o’clock at last, and a weekend without me having to go to B and bloody Q 🙂

The suppliers, PJH Group, leave a message on my mobile at 2:30 asking me to ring them to arrange delivery. I ring them back and they say I had a delivery on the 28th. I say I’m ringing about a delivery that is to be made. She says yes but you accepted a delivery on the 28th? Not sure why she’s telling me this but I say yes. She says there’s a bath end panel to be delivered. I say and some flooring and some edging. She says we don’t deliver that, that will be coming from the store. I say can you deliver the panel to the store? She says I’ll have to ring the store and ask them to ring them to arrange it and to give address details.

If that twat Riaz had ordered enough stuff in the first place, there wouldn’t be all this to-ing and fro-ing and deliveries all over the place.

I ring the installation centre to see if they can tie all the deliveries in together but give up after being on hold for 10 minutes. Suppose I’ll have to go to the store and buy the edging and flooring myself.

I ring back PJH and ask when they can deliver, they say Friday 8 December. I say have you got anything sooner? She says can do Monday up ’til 1:00. I say so Monday morning? She says up ’til 1:00. I say ok then.

My boss gets back from his meeting and I say I need Monday morning off to take a delivery. He says I can’t have any time off. Waa!

I ring the installation centre to see if they can arrange a special delivery so it comes first thing but they’re obviously still busy dealing with all the other complaints, as I’m on hold for ages again.

I have a brainwave and think I know, I’ll get it delivered to work, an end panel can’t be very heavy. So I call PJH and ask to change the delivery address. She asks for the postcode and asks why I want to change the address. I say because I can’t get the time off work, so want it delivered to my workplace. She says she needs to check something then comes back and says she’s checked with her supervisor and they can’t deliver to that address as it’s outside their delivery area. Waa!

She says it’s Parcel Force so what they’ll do is if I’m not in is see if a neighbour can sign, otherwise I can pick it up from their depot or ring them to arrange another delivery.

‘kin hell, why is it always one step forward and two backwards with this f*****g bathroom?

Grr.

At 4:40 Jackie from the installation centre rings and asks me how I got on the other night. I can’t think what she’s talking about (although when I put the phone down it dawns on me that she’s taking about when I was going to go to the store to pick up the sink parts, which they delivered to my neighbour anyway) so I tell her that it’s nearly all done but I need some flooring which I’m going to get from the store tonight and also PJH have rung to arrange delivery but I can’t get the time off work and they can’t deliver to my work.

Jackie says if I’m going to the store tonight I can ask them to authorise the delivery to there. I say I’m not going to my local store but to one that’s easier for me to get to on my way home from work. She says that’s fine, I can ask at the service desk for them to ring PJH and ask them to deliver to my local store. Hmm, I think, that’s too many people getting involved, it’s all going to go wrong. Jackie says she can ring the store for me and ask them to authorise PJH to deliver to them. I say that would be great, I can pick up the panel from the local store, that’s not a problem. She says she’ll phone me back.

Update
I go to the store after work and buy some edging and another pack of flooring. As I’m staggering across to the cab office (that flooring is heavy!), I snap the edging. Waa!

The taxi driver gets me to my house and I say can I have a receipt please? He hands me a card and I give it back to him and say can you sign it please, I need it properly receipted, I want to claim the money back. He says have you got a pen so I give him a pen and he receipts the card and gives it back to me.

I get in and realise I’ve bought the wrong colour edging. Waa! And I can’t even take it back because I snapped it. Waa! Sigh, back to the store tomorrow then and see if I can manage to get the right colour, although I did wonder when I bought it if it was right but it was the darkest one that was there, so maybe they’re out of stock? Bollocks.

Louise from the fitters rings at 8:20 and says Clive’s coming down to you this morning, are you going to be there, or is there a key left out? I say you said he was coming first thing. She says he had to come into the office first to drop off some paperwork and then he’s got to drive down the A127 (or something like that) and it’s absolutely chocca(sp?), I’ve just come down it and I was late for work.

I say how long is he going to be? She says well I think they’ve closed the road off. I say I don’t know anything about roads, just minutes, what time will he be here? She says an hour, an hour and a half. I say ok then, I’ll be here ’til 10. She says that’s great.

Grr, luckily my boss is going to be late with his own builder problems and he knows I’m waiting for a carpenter this morning, so hopefully I won’t get into trouble by coming in over an hour late.

Twats.

Still, the more they piss me off, the more determined I am to get as much compensation as I can.

Tossers.

Google ranking update:
B&Q bathroom installations

brings this blog in at No. 1, yeah!!

Update
No sign of Clive by 9:55 and the train leaves at 10:07 so I think sod it and go to work and just as I’m locking the front door, he pulls up outside my house. I say that’s good timing and let him in. I show him where the flooring and the bathroom are and say I’m going to have to leave you to it, I have to rush. He says ok, fine, thanks for waiting.

I have once again locked the bathroom window and hidden the key, if I come home and find the bathroom window open, they’re in trouble.

Update #2
Louise from the fitters rings me at 2:30 and says she’s had a call from Clive and he’s done everything he can but there’s not enough flooring, they didn’t take wastage into consideration. She says she’s ordered me some more flooring and also there wasn’t enough edging so she’s ordered me another one of those and has also ordered the end panel for the bath that I’m missing. I say that’s great, thanks, will B&Q let me know when they’re going to be delivered? She says they’re supposed to be ringing her back this afternoon but she hasn’t heard from them yet but by all means chase them up.

She also says can I leave a note to let them know where I want the cabinets put up. I tell her that I’ve changed the ceiling light as the electrician said it wasn’t suitable. She says oh yes, I remember, it wasn’t suitable for the bathroom. I say no but I did ask in the store when I bought it if it was but obviously it’s not but I’ve got another one now.

She says she’s ordered everything I need and when it’s arrived, to let her know and she’ll send someone round to finish off my bathroom.

Hmm, why are they suddenly being so efficient and ordering stuff for me, instead of leaving me notes telling me to get down to the store myself? Could it be because it’s near the end of the job and they’re going to want me to sign it off so they can get paid? Na, couldn’t be that, could it?

Update #3
I get home and there is new flooring in my bathroom, hurrah!  The window hasn’t been left open, nothing’s been damaged and the rubbish has been cleared away.  Hmm, they don’t seem to have fucked anything up today (apart from being two hours late).  This confuses me.

Looky, it’s a new floor 🙂

Louise from the fitters phones me at 9:42 and says can Clive come round tomorrow to fit your floor?  I say yes, first thing?  She says yes.  I say that’s brilliant, thanks. 

Woo, a new floor, hurrah 🙂

Update
At 2:50 Gary from the installation centre rings and says that he’s been asked to let me know that my goods will be at the service desk at the store for me. 

So, I’ve got a new light, edging and underlay for the floor, and can pick up the missing parts for the sink tonight.  All I’m  missing is the end bath panel that I’ve been waiting for for about two months.

The light is dimly shining at the end of the B&Q tunnel.

Give it another couple of months and it’ll all be done 😉

Tossers.

I get to work to find a voicemail message from Louise at the fitters saying that B&Q had called them to say they were delivering to me by courier a new sink so they can get the bolts out of it and can I let them know asap when I’ve got it.

At 9:45 I ring the installation centre and speak to Jackie and ask her what time the delivery’s coming tomorrow.  She says I have an emergency delivery and it’ll be between 8am and 6pm.  I say that’s no good, I have to have it first thing, I can’t take any time off work.  She says she’ll find out if they can give a more specific time and will call me back.

Sigh.

Jackie calls back at 10:35 and says that the person dealing with the delivery isn’t in ’til 11:30 and will call me back then. 

I ask if the end panel for the bath will be delivered at the same time as I’ve been waiting ages for it.  She says she’ll check.

I say the fitters left my window open again on Friday.  She says the bathroom window?  I say yes and they’ve done it before, it’s not the first time.  She says she’ll speak to their manager.

This is week five now, what happened to “it’ll be finished in four or five days”?

Update
At 1:30 Jackie from the installation centre leaves a message on my mobile to say that Paul from the Waltham Forest store will call me to say what time the delivery will be.

For fuck’s sake.  I was in the store on Saturday, if they keep the basins in stock there, why couldn’t they just give me the parts I need then?  I even said to Maryam and Azhar, don’t you have these in stock?  There’s no way I’m sitting in for up to ten hours to take delivery of a washer and a nut when I can walk round the corner and go and get them myself.  Why are they insistent on delivering me a whole new basin, for the fitters to take the parts they need, and then for the fitter to take the basin away again?  That’s another three days wasted, I could have gone to the store on my way home from work Friday night if they’d telephoned me and said come and collect these very small parts that will fit in your pocket, instead of we’re going to make you piss your boss off by having another day off work and you have to wait in from 8am until 6pm so we can deliver a whole new basin that you don’t actually need.

Twats.

Update #2
No one’s rung me by 4:30 so I ring Jackie at the installation centre.  She says Paul the duty manager at the store was going to call me, he’s probably still there, she’ll give him a ring.

Jackie rings back a few minutes later and says he’s left for the evening and she’ll ring him at 8:30 tomorrow morning but the delivery will be between 10:30 and 6pm.  I say I won’t be there, I’ll be at work.  I say, if it’s coming from the store, can’t I go go round there and get the bits I need.  She says yes, tomorrow?  I say tomorrow evening, can they ring me to say who I should ask for when I get there to get the parts.  She says it’ll probably be at the services desk but she’ll ring them tomorrow to arrange it.  Yeah right, like Riaz was going to leave a waste out for me, the lying twat.

I go to B&Q on the way home and get the edging for the floor.  I obviously look very helpless on the bus carrying three 2 metre lengths of wood and a bathroom cabinet that I decided I needed to buy and a kind man lets me have his chair and another kind man holds the edging while I sit down.  Aah, bless.