Beware a 10-year guarantee

On 1 July 2017 I bought a house in Roodepoort. There were a number of places requiring damp proofing, that the previous owner agreed to pay to have repaired.

As the previous owner of the property had used Future Interiors in 2013 according to the documents supp**** to me by the owner, which included a 10-year guarantee on the damp proofing done at that time, I called Future Interiors on 3 July 2017 and spoke to the owner (Paul Ussner), who agreed to provide us with a quotation for the repairs (if it did not fall under the warranty) within the week. He asked for my address, which I sent through immediately.

When I had heard nothing from Mr Ussner by 6/7, I sent an sms, to which I received a reply that he had been ill, but that he would contact me soon. I called again on 10/7 and spoke to Mr Ussner to explain the urgency of the situation (the repairs were to be done before the house registered on my name). Mr Ussner promised, yet again, to contact me to come and look at the damage during that week. As I work during the day, my mother (aged 76) drove from Nylstroom to Roodepoort to be available for the site visit. However, mr Ussner never turned up. My mother then called him on Thursday 13/7 and sent an sms, to which we had no response. On the following Monday (17/7) and Tuesday (18/7), I called and yet again left voice notes, to which we had no response.

I have had no choice now but to engage another company for the repairs. So be very careful of accepting a 10-year guarantee from this company (the original work in 2013 cost R91 000!). A guarantee is worthless when it is impossible to engage with the business.