Sunday 5 December 2010

DO IT WITH STYLE !!! I think not.

I wrote on the 5th October of coming back from France to find a leak in our conservatory.  It had been leaking for some time and the man from STYLE came out to look at it - we thought it was a problem with the internal hidden gutter, but after the big leak it was eventually confirmed that it was a problem with the roof.  Now isn't it peculiar that whilst the conservatory is under guarantee for ten years, the roofwork is only under guarantee for two years!  So Style are not responsible.  Just a minute, the roofers were  their subcontractors , not ours!  

It has proved very difficult to get  through to someone who could deal with us.There have been many telephone calls and many absences from the office for 'visiting a sick mother' and the person who is dealing with our case 'is on holiday' and instances where our calls were not answered from our home number but were answered when I used a mobile phone.   Eventually in desperation, and with Christmas looming, we got a man to come and do some work on the roof last week  - but Style will not replace the internal cladding until we are sure that the leak is mended.  So bizarrely we have been praying for rain - and what did we get?  Snow.  But yesterday it rained and yes, it is still leaking.    So more work to be done.   OK, I know I haven't turned the picture but you get the idea!
You can see the proximity of the big bookcase and imagine how the water crept up the paper and of course all the big, expensive art books were on the bottom row and some have had to be slung. 
So you can imagine with what delight we had a leaflet through the door with the local paper yesterday -

I must confess that I did say something unprintable and handed it to George.  He said something even more unprintable but hey, what is this he has spotted?  Can it be?  YES, it is.   US, our very own conservatory -

No possible mistake, it IS us.  There are the balloons we had for a party!   Whaahey!   Now if only I had known that they were going to use us for their advertising I would have asked them to put in a little note to say we would just LOVE people to come round and have a look.   Now is a good time.  We could show them the big watermark on the  antique rug

 some of the ruined   Art Books, all the past editions of the Melbourn Magazine which were waterlogged and must be thrown away, the buckets - we would have so much to talk about to any prospective |STYLE customer !

I will be the first to let you know when/if   STYLE   come good and who knows, they just may foot the bill for the roof work.  They may pay for the rug to be cleaned in the hope that the watermark disappears. (I have to say, they have been very good in the past about fixing doors etc) They may even apologise for all the ruined books.  I just have a feeling that none of this will happen before our Christmas party when  fifty people will be wanting to spill into the conservatory!  

But with all the angst we have been going through just recently, you will understand that  receiving that leaflet was the last straw.  I LOVE my conservatory (or should I say LOVED).  With a sittingroom panelled in wood, to go into the light & sunny room was a joy.  We had lunch there most days.  I used it for my Open Studio weekends.  I want it back.

Honestly, if you didn't laugh you would cry.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, that is astonishingly cheeky. Small claims court, perhaps? They really shouldn't get away with this - I just related your story to Mr DC and his jaw literally dropped.

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  2. That sounds awful Mavis - I hope you get it sorted out. Our consevatory leaks but that is age. We resort to a bucket when it rains!

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  3. Oh goodness, you didn't need that hassle did you?!

    And all those books ruined too - well done for naming them - hope new customers google the company and find your blog.

    Celia
    x

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