Got ********** by Plumb Sensation. Took an 85% deposit, did not come when they said they would, eventually came and did a shoddy job. Said they would re do but never came again. Refused to refund

Made an appt with Plumb Sensation to come and detect the leak in my bathroom. I had spoken to them on the phone and they were pleasant and explained how they work. So I foolishly thought I owed them this opportunity.

15-Sep they were 3 hours late for our appt and CJ came told me that the shower needed to be redone and that they had a special water proofing material that would prevent water from seeping out. Boasted about their 10 year guarantee. I asked for a quotation and they sent one but demanded an 85% deposit to proceed. Against my better judgement and on the basis of having met CJ, I paid full amount excluding VAT. (The intention was to pay VAT on completion.) The payment was made on arrangement that they get start on the 19th. Everyone responded to phone calls and assured me that they were reputable and that they would get the work done. After that, no one ever actually answered my calls or ever returned a call.

19-Sep They did not arrive on the morning as promised. I was not able to get hold of anyone despite repeated calls. Eventually, I got an sms response from Charl (the boss) saying that they were delayed and that he would refund me R500. They arrived in the afternoon and managed to remove my old shower. They did not bring materials to actually build the shower. They said they would come on the following day.

20-Sep I waited the whole day for them but no one came. Tried calling but some of the numbers were not answering. The boss Charl just kept saying that he would call back. After a couple of hours of waiting Charl then told me that he was not aware of an arrangement for the guys to come through. When I sms’ed him back what transpired Charl said that all his vehicles were in for a service. Then he said that the guys would be there on the 21st.

21-Sep Then I tried calling in the morning to see if anyone was going to come through. Charl responded with his usual he is driving or he is in a meeting, etc. No response from Lesley other than that she is attending a course and cannot speak to me. I still drove out to meet be there. Shortly after that Lesley rep**** that the guys were busy with some other matter and that they will let me know when they are done. I was furious that they did not tell me this earlier. Obviously, they did not call later.

22-Sep Tried to call Charl and he sms’ed back saying that he was in a meeting. I then told him to either do the job or refund me. I then sent an sms to Lesley and no response. I then got an email later in the day saying that they would come tomorrow (Saturday)

23-Sep I waited. I managed to get one of the guy’s Ben and tried calling and he told me he had flat tyre and no spare. Needless to say despite all my waiting nobody came.

26-Sep I called Charl and he sms’ed back saying he is in a meeting. I responded saying that we needed to talk now that we are week behind schedule and he said he would call me back but he never did. Sent a similar sms to Lesley and she did not respond at all. Sent an sms to CJ and he got back saying that “Sir you need to stop becoming a nuisance, we not *******, we don’t need your money or anything like that! I will personally come in the morning”. This was odd as they had my money and have always refused to refund me. They also never took any of my calls and never arrived whenever they said they would (except once on the 28th of Sep). Of course, he never came and that was the only response I ever got from CJ.

27-Sep Sent another message to Lesley asking that they do the job. No response. Sent an email with banking details demanding that they pay me back in full.

28-Sep Around 10am I got a call from Ben (who is just the employee) asking if they could come within an hour. Luckily I was able to move things around at work and get to the place to let them in. Naturally they were late and only got there around 12:30pm and they build the shower base. It felt like they were not actually expecting me to say that they should come through immediately. Nevertheless, I was grateful that the came and did not argue with the short notice which was clearly because some other job had fallen through.

10-Oct I had not been back to site but I met with my builder to start the tiling. We were shocked to find that the base had cracked and was separating from the walls. We poured some water and it flowed right into the crack. I took photos and then sent it to Lesley by email. Despite not having had any responses, they actually responded defending themselves and saying that they had done the right thing. The builder consulter his engineer and confirmed that we could not proceed. When I asked Lesley to refund me she refused but said that they would come out to fix. It was finally agreed that they would come out on the 16th.

11-Oct Sent Charl and CJ a picture of the cracked base but no response.

16-Oct No one came. We then were forced to remove the base and rebuild. So when we broke up the base, it crumbled like old plaster. It was obvious that the job was poorly done. I then sent an email demanding that the refund me but it has been silence since then.