A County Durham foster carer is appealing for help to finish off her new bathroom after she claims she has been left high and dry by the company who originally started the work nearly six months ago.
Ellena Coleman, of Stanley, expected Eco Home Improvements, based in Washington, to address the outstanding issues in her bathroom after company director Darren Keall promised to speak to her when Chroniclelive contacted him in July. At the time, Mr Keall said: "Although things have not gone as smoothly as we would have liked, I feel we have bent over backwards to accommodate Mr and Mrs Coleman. I will be speaking to them this week to discuss the final snags and wish them well."
However, two months later, Mrs Coleman, 43, is still waiting to hear from the bathroom company, who Mrs Coleman and her husband, Mark, engaged to strip out their bathroom and fit a new one, starting in March. The couple, who have four children, originally decided to go with Eco Home Improvements as the idea of a stress-free renovation by one company from start to finish appealed to Mr Coleman, who has terminal cancer.
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Eco Home Improvements apologised to the family in July, with Mr Keall saying the length of time the work has taken was unacceptable but the job had hit an unprecedented number of snags and had ended up with his business out of pocket.
But according to Mrs Coleman, outstanding snags still need to be addressed, including:
- Both sides of the shower screen are different sizes and the shower is not sealed;
- The shower tray needs non-slip application after the wrong one was fitted and a large scratch on the tray requires specialist repair;
- The wall cladding is not fitted to Mr and Mrs Coleman's satisfaction;
- The bathroom door surround needs finishing. Ms Coleman claims there is sharp piece missing and she doesn't think a trim will cover it so more cladding may be needed;
- One mirror needs connected to electricity and a second mirror needs to be hung;
- The shower part of bath taps needs to be fixed to the wall;
- The light is not in the middle of the ceiling and needs to be moved.
"We were without a sink for weeks until I begged them to fit a temporary one, so the children had somewhere to wash their hands," she said. "The whole thing has just been a nightmare and I wish we had never gone ahead with the work. We have had problems with other building companies in the past, but it seems we did not learn our lesson.
"Mark has friends who are tradesmen who could have done the job for us, but we thought it would probably take longer - how wrong we were. Given the circumstances, Mark just wanted to make sure that everything was in order as quickly as possible for myself and the children. It also had a guarantee which was important to my husband as he might not be here in the future."
Mrs Coleman says she has now given up asking Eco Home Improvements to help her family, and is struggling to find another company or contractor to finish off the work needed. In July, Mr Keall said: "I can’t stress enough how sympathetic we all are to the family's situation hence we have gone way further than we would have normally. We fit 4-5 bathrooms a week and yes like every company have problems and snags but this seems to be one that has just gone on and on and cost us thousands of pounds. I agree the customer has got some valid points and I agree that this job has taken way longer than is reasonable it hasn’t been helped by the customer not wanting the original fitters back and some subsequent fitters refusing to go back, which delayed it even further.
"Although things have not gone as smoothly as we would have liked, I feel we have bent over backwards to accommodate Mr and Mrs Coleman. I will be speaking to them this week to discuss the final snags and wish them well."
Mrs Coleman said: "I cant believe getting a bathroom has turned so bad. It has been a nightmare from the start and we are just desperate to get it finished now."
Eco Home Improvements have been contacted for comment, but have not responded.
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