JogBlog

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.

When it eventually stops raining, I trek up to B&Q, taking my pink fluffy gloves off at the door in order to look more like someone who’s not to be messed with.

I go up to the bathroom department but can’t see Maryam so I show Azhar the floor I have and say I need underlay and edging.  He says I can get any underlay but they haven’t got any edging in the right colour in stock.

I tell him I need to replace the ceiling light that I bought that I was told originally by someone in the store that it was ok for the bathroom but now the electrician says it’s not.  He looks at it and says I can tell you now that it isn’t suitable for the bathroom, do you know the name of the person who told you it was?  I say no.  He shows me where the lights suitable for bathrooms are.  I say B&Q are doing the installation, will they charge me more for spotlights when I didn’t have spotlights originally?  He says that’s possible but he’ll take me to the person who deals with bathrooms.  He brings me over to Maryam who smiles and says hello Miss White.  I say, hello again.  Azhar says to Maryam if she gets spotlights willl the fitters charge her more?  Maryam says you’ll have to ask the ISC.  I say they owe me a favour after all the hassle I’ve had and I don’t think I should pay.  Maryam says definitely, and you should really kick up a fuss and make a complaint.  I know I work here but you shouldn’t have had all this hassle.  Those taps go anywhere on the bath, I can’t believe the problems you had with them.  I say I know, I couldn’t believe it when all I had to do was show him a picture.  Maryam says if I tell Donald that, he’s going to piss himself laughing.

I tell her there’s parts missing and show her the note Rick left.  I say I’ve got to take a day off work just to take delivery of 4 little pieces.  She says that’s crap.  She says I really need to make a huge complaint.

I pick up some underlay and choose some spotlights that say suitable for zone 3 hazard areas and bathrooms and go off to find a door stop thingy to stop the door handle bashing into the shower screen (which by the way I have cleaned with bleach and worked out how to make it open outwards, so the shower screen disaster is over).  I speak to Kuldip and show him the note Rick left and say I need some kind of door stop but if it’s going to be on the floor, then it needs to be over six inches high as there’s a step and the door’s not on the floor.  Kuldip tries his best to think of something but fails.  He calls over Azhar and asks him to be creative.  Azhar says I shouldn’t be left notes by builders telling me to go and buy stuff, they should be professional and find a solution and do it.  He says he does private work for people and asks them to write him a letter if they think he’s done a good job.  He says he couldn’t believe the conversation me and Maryam had and that the fitters have been giving me all this hassle for so long.  He says he’s disappointed as he feels proud to work for B&Q and doesn’t like to hear of builders not doing their job properly.  He says he can come round and have a look at the door and see what can be done and gives me his phone number.

I go and pay for the underlay and tell the girl on the checkout I need to return the light and buy new ones.  She says do I have a receipt?  I say no.  She says when did you buy it?  I say about August.  She says I’ll have to give you a credit note.  I say but the new lights cost more than the one I’m returning, can’t I just pay the difference?  She says yes.

I have just spent near enough two hours going up to B&Q and back and I still need some edging and I don’t suppose the carpenter will come and do the floor until I have everything I need.

Grr.

Rick the tiler turns up at 8 and I say you got a lot done yesterday, I wasn’t expecting it to be painted, thanks. He says yes, it’s a shame there weren’t enough tiles or they’d have been finished too.

He says has anyone contacted me about getting the floor done? I say no. He says he should be just about finished today and he’ll ring his office and see if they’re sending someone to do the floor, and when the floor and skirting board is down, he can come back to paint them, then someone should be round to finish off all the other jobs that need doing.

He asks me if I wanted him to lock the bottom lock yesterday, he says he just pulled the front door shut because he didn’t know whether to lock it or not and put the keys through the letterbox. I say it was fine just pulling it shut but if he could lock the mortise today that would be great.

Wow, the fitters sending me someone security conscious. Amazing.

Will update with pics later when I get home and see my tiled and painted bathroom 🙂

Update
I get home to find a note from Rick. It says “Be careful when opening bathroom door, handle will hit glass screen. Some sort of door stop is needed to stop hitting glass. Either on top of door (closer) or side of bath.”

Hmm, so I’m going to need to have some kind of big rubber protrusion sticking out of the side of the bath? Nice.

The note continues “Can you see B&Q to get these parts as they are missing. Also you have’nt [sic] got an end panel for your bath. Underlay is needed for your floor and some edging.”

Oh great, my basin can’t be installed completely until I get the parts he’s circled for me on the note, hopefully they’ll be in stock, think I’ll take a trip to see Maryam at the store tomorrow to see if she can help. Buying underlay and edging I can do without, I just spent another £100 yesterday on tiles because it hadn’t been measured properly in the first place and now Riaz the designer shows he f**ked up once again in by not factoring in underlay. If he’s in the store tomorrow I might have to punch him.

Anyway, I go upstairs to check out what’s been happening today. Rick has finished the painting and very nice it is too. The pipes behind the toilet have been boxed in, which is a nice finishing touch that I wasn’t expecting. But, there’s another note on top of the new ceiling light box that says “Hallo [sic] Miss. New light fitting is not suitable for bathroom. It is very dangerous to use this light. Replaced only switch for u [sic]. You need to buy light suitable for zone 3 – bathroom. Thank you, electrician.” He’s even drawn a picture to show bathroom zones, but they mean fuck all to me.

F’in hell. I asked in B&Q when I bought the light if it was ok to use in the bathroom. Man in store even disappeared for fifteen minutes to find someone to ask. Did he just nip out for a cigarette then came back and said yes, it’s fine for the bathroom?

Also, the shower screen is up, but there’s dirt on it that I can’t get off. Oh joy.

And I take back this morning what I said about the fitters sending someone who is security conscious. After Rick asking me if I wanted him to lock the mortise lock, he didn’t bother and either him or the electrician left the bathroom window open. And not only did they leave it open but they opened it themselves with their own key, the sneaky bastards, because after Alan the plumber left it open, I locked it and hid the key.

Tossers.

Here’s today’s progress pics (along with a pic of the dirty shower screen and the electrician’s note), anyway:

God of B&Q, I hate you.

Grr.

Update #2
There’s a message on my answerphone from Kay at the installation centre. She says the fitters have told her I’m missing some parts for my basin. She says the suppliers can’t send the parts out as they come from China, so what they’re going to do is send me a whole new basin and the fitters can take the parts from that then take the basin away and it’s coming on Tuesday. So I’ve got to take a day off on Tuesday to wait in for a delivery? Oh my boss will be pleased. I’m not a plumber but the parts in the pic that Rick has circled (see pic below) just look like normal plumbing bits to me. They don’t have them in the store? F’in hell.

And I thought when I return the shower screen, I’d get a folding one as this one doesn’t move and the shower spray only just about reaches far enough past the screen but not really comfortable so I looked in the brochure and it says that all their screens open outwards 90 degrees and there’s even a diagram showing it next to the screen that I have got. Well, my screen doesn’t move so Rick (or whoever did it) must have fitted it wrong.

Waa.

Do these look like special parts that can only be got in China?

Rick the tiler turns up at 8 and says he doesn’t know anything about the job. Hmm, good start. He says he’s going to be doing the decorating too. I say is he going to do the floor? He says no, they’ll send a carpenter for that, doesn’t know when though. I ask him if he’s going to be replacing the skirting board. He says no. I say but shouldn’t it be done before the decorating as obviously it’s going to need painting. He says the carpenter will probably do it and he can put a coat of paint on it.

I ask him if I’ve got enough tiles and he says it should just about be so I tell him to ring me if I need to buy some more. I ask him if I’ve got enough paint. He says it should be. I say will the decorating be finished tomorrow? He says he’s not sure as there’s quite a bit of prep work and it might need two coats as the coving’s very dark.

He calls me at 9:50 and says I need 3 more boxes of tiles. How did just about have enough turn into need another three boxes? That’s another £100, yikes. Why didn’t the designer measure properly? Duh. I tell him I’ll get some tonight. Please please please let them be in stock.

Update
I get home after struggling back from B&Q with three boxes of tiles (they’re heavy and I don’t drive, I think my arms are going to fall off) and see that Rick the tiler has been very busy.  I thought when he’d run out of tiles, he’d have just buggered off home (or to the pub) but no, he has prepared the walls and put an undercoat on the whole room.  Woo, quite impressed!  Look, I’ve got white walls now and some tiles around the bath:

I’m still suing the ass off them though when it’s finished 🙂

It occurs to me that the skirting board is going to need to be done before any decorating so I ring the installation centre at 10:30 and speak to Gary.  (Where’s Alan gone?  Has he abandoned me?)  I say to Gary that a tiler’s coming tomorrow and the decorator on Friday but there’s a bit of architrave that’s disappeared and the skirting board needs replacing.  Is the decorator going to do this?  He says you need a new architrave?  I say it was taken down when the room was stripped but a bit’s gone missing so needs replacing and there’s still a bit of skirting board that needs replacing.  He says has this been planned for?  I say yes, it’s on the works schedule.  He says he’ll phone the fitters.

I tell him I’m also still waiting for the end bath panel that I haven’t got.  I say I’ve asked twice before but I still haven’t got it.  He says is it the front or the end panel?  I say it’s the end.  I say I’ve got the long panel that goes on the side but no end panel.  He says he’ll chase it up for me.

I don’t know who this Gary person is.  I want Alan back to sort it out, or Jackie.  There’s too many people involved in this installation.  The Victorians never had all this nonsense, maybe I should just put a tin bath out in the garden and save myself a lot of hassle.

Actually, I think this Gary person may be on the ball because he rings me back ten minutes later and says that he’s spoken to the fitters about my skirting board and they’re going to sort it out for me.

He says about the end panel, there was never one ordered.  I say oh, that will be down to the designer then as I do need one.  He says yes, he’ll speak to the store and get one ordered and they’ll have to get someone out at a later date to fit it for me.  He says he’ll get the store to phone me and sort it out.

Will my bathroom ever be finished?

No one turned up to do any decorating this morning so I ring the B&Q installation centre at 10:45 and speak to Jackie.  I say the fitters didn’t ring me yesterday.  She says she left a message for them this morning and will chase them to see what’s going on. 

I tell her they’ve ripped my kitchen floor.  She says oh no, what type of floor is it?  I say it’s vinyl and it’s been torn.  She says is it old?  I say no, it’s only been down about a year.  She says she’ll speak to her compensation team and find out about getting some money out to me for a new floor.

I hate B&Q.  Well, I hate their fitters, anyway.

At 11:09 Dragon Lady from the fitters rings and says she can get the tiler to me on Thursday.  I say okay then, first thing?  She says yes.

I ring Jackie at the installation centre and say a tiler’s coming on Thursday.  She says just a tiler?  Did they say anything about decorating?  I say  no, just said the tiler’s coming on Thursday.  I say this has been dragging on for ages now, this is the fourth week.  She says I know, I’ve been looking at the notes of everything you and Alan have been trying to sort out, it’s awful isn’t it?  She says she’ll ring the fitters and try and get everything sorted for me.

Sigh.

Jackie from the installation centre rings at 12:45.  She says she’s spoken to the fitters and they’re waiting for the plaster to dry out and the decorator will be round on Friday and the tiler’s coming on Thursday.  Jackie also says that she’s mentioned to them about the kitchen floor and they’re going to look into it.

I don’t know who’s doing the bathroom floor.  Will I have to wait two weeks for a floor man?  And they need to send the carpenter back to make a new bit of architrave as a piece has mysteriously gone missing.  And they’re supposed to be adding some skirting board.  Who’s doing that?

Tossers.

Alan the plumber arrives at 8:30ish with his young plumber’s mate and apologises for being late. I say are you going to install the bath today? He says yes. Hurrah. I say can you phone me when it’s done? He says don’t you want it to be a surprise? Oi matey, cut out the wisecracks, I want a plumber, not a comedian. No I don’t want it to be a surprise, I’ve been without a bath for three weeks. I say do you still have my phone number or shall I write it down again? He says he has it in his van.

Fingers crossed then (again).

Update
Alan at B&Q rings me at 3:15 and asks if the plumber turned up today. I say he did and he was going to ring me when he’d installed the bath but he hasn’t yet.

Alan asks if they said anything about finishing the job. I say no but I’ll wait and see if I’ve got a bath before I worry about anything else. He says he’ll ring the fitters and see if they know anything.

I don’t think they know anything at all. I’m surprised they even know how to get out of bed in the morning.

Update #2
Alan the plumber rings at 4 and says the bath’s been installed. Hallellujah! He says when I get home I’ll see that it’s full of water and silicon’s been applied. The silicon might still be wet so best to leave it ’til about 8 before I use it. He also says that he’s put the pop up waste in the sink and made good the wall.

At 4:15 I ring the installation centre to see if anyone’s coming tomorrow to start on finishing the work. Jackie answers the phone and says oh yes, as soon as work has started, it carries on until it’s finished. Yeah right. I say but because there’s been delays, there might not be anyone booked to come round. She says she’ll find out and get back to me.

Jackie rings back at 4:45 and says the fitters are going to ring me this evening to sort out the rest of the work and she’ll ring me tomorrow to make sure they did ring.

Hmm.

I get home and Alan has indeed installed the bath. Look, taps, woo hoo:

And my cat is very impressed with her new water bowl:

But somehow the fuckwit has managed to tear a hole in the kitchen floor:

Bloody hell, can’t they do anything right, ever?!!! For f**ks sake, to say I’m annoyed is an understatement, bet they deny doing it too but when I left for work this morning I didn’t have a kitchen floor with a hole in it.

Tossers.

Grr.

Nothing to report yesterday as it had been left that a plumber will be round today between 11 and 12. Please please please please let him turn up and fit the taps and not give me any “taps don’t fit” nonsense.

How much chance have I got of a plumber finishing one job on a Friday morning and then going to another for the afternoon? Aren’t they more likely to bugger off home, or even more likely, to the pub?

Alan at B&Q probably didn’t know what to do all day with me not ringing him to moan every five minutes, maybe I should have given him a ring to complain about the fitters losing my keys and scratching the shower spray. Got to keep him on his toes after all.

Fingers crossed then. He’s not late yet, it’s only 6:50am.

Update
It’s 12:00 and no plumber. I ring the fitters and get put through to “someone who knows what’s going on”. Louise gets put through to me and says sorry, he can’t make it, he got held up on another job. I say why didn’t anyone ring me? She says I did, I left a message. I say where? She gives me a number which isn’t mine. I say that’s not my number. She gives me another number. I say that’s not my number either. She says do you live at [address], I say no. She gets my name right eventually and says oh, Clive’s coming out to you. Then she says oh, Andy’s going to be with you this afternoon, hang on and I’ll find out where he is.

I have started growling already. If Andy is not here within half an hour I’m going to kill someone on my way to work.

Update #2
12:20 and no one’s rung me back so I ring the fitters and get their answerphone and leave a message saying I need to know if the plumber’s on his way, I’m leaving my house in 20 minutes, can you call me back please.

Tossers.

I ring Alan at B&Q and say plumber not here, I have to go to work now. He says oh dear, you’re not having much luck are you? I say not exactly, no. He says do I have to go to work right now? I say yes, in ten minutes. He says he’ll ring the fitters.

Louise from the fitters rings me just after I put the phone down to Alan and says Andy will be with you this afternoon. I say but you said between 11 and 12 and I have to go to work now. She says she’s really sorry. She said am I available next week? I said it has to be first thing Monday. She says she’ll see who she can pull off another job and ring me back.

Wankers.

Update #3
Alan rings and says the fitters say your keys were left in your gas meter box. I say why didn’t anyone tell me that, that’s not the first place I’d think of looking for them. He says no, well, you wouldn’t really would you?

He says he thinks the fitters are coming out on Monday. I say you think? He says they are. I say first thing? He says yes. He says if they don’t come, then they’ll get Reactafast (or something like that) to come out but they will only do the bath, not the decorating. I say well the bath’s the main priority at the mo, this is going to be the third weekend without a bath, I can’t take any more time off work, my boss is already spitting feathers with all the time off and phone calls I’m making. He says let’s see what happens Monday, see if the fitters turn up.

Sigh.

At least it’s Friday I suppose. Hurrah.

Update #4
My keys were indeed left inside the gas meter box which means either a) that Danny had no intention of coming back, because if he did, he’d have put the keys through the letterbox like a normal person would have done, but if he’d have done that I’d have thought “oh, that’s weird, why has he posted the keys, isn’t he coming back?”; or b) that he left them in there every day instead of taking them with him which means that he’s just as security conscious as that Alan idiot who left my window open as any random passing burglar could have seen him take the keys from the gas meter box every morning he was here.

‘kin hell.

Update #5
At 4:30 Louise from the fitters leaves a message on my mobile to confirm that Alan the plumber will be round on Monday morning to do the taps.

At 5:00 Alan the plumber rings about my “dreaded” bath. He says he’ll be with me first thing on Monday. I say brilliant, 8 o’clock? He says thereabouts, do I have to be out of the house at a specific time. Well of course I do dickhead, I have to go to work and earn money to pay for a new bathroom. I say I have to be out by 8:30. He says he should be there by then, he has to pick up a few bits and pieces on the way so he doesn’t have to go out in the day. He says he needs access to the back garden. I say that’s fine, he can have keys. And if you forget to lock the back door, like you forgot to shut the window, it’s going to be you who’s going to need new plumbing matey.

I think Monday is finally going to see the end of the bath saga. Yah!