A furious dad has slammed scaffolders hired to fix his storm-damaged house after they were spotted using his hot tub and drinking beers by neighbours. David Wright says the incident is just the tip of the iceberg after seven months of "emotional stress and heartache" when he and his family were re-housed by insurers.
David, 45, his partner Nicola, 45, and their two children, Lewis, 10, and Lauren, seven were forced to move out of their house in Irby, Wirral after part of the roof was blown off during Storm Arwen that hit the UK at the end of November last year. They were re-located several miles away to a small bungalow in Springfield by insurance company Zurich, who told the family they be there for "four months max", Manchester Evening News reports.
However, seven months on, they are still no closer to moving back to their home, with David saying that he has been 'let down time and time again' by what he believes to be poor quality workmanship by the sub-contractors brought in by the insurance group.
The company has apologised and promised an investigation into some of the contractors used. The construction compliance manager claimed the wrong type of roof was fitted in one of a number of issues experienced during the repairs. "It was a flat roof that would have cost £3,500" David said.
"It's almost as if I'm working for them trying to sort my own insurance policy out. They're supposed to be working for me. I made a complaint straight away on December 12 because I had reservations initially. The builders came round to survey the roof four times and didn't even get out of the van."
David's family are living in a cramped bungalow with little-to-no garden space compared to their family home which has a garden and space for Lewis to play football. The dad says the moment that sums up the last seven months is when he received a phone call from his neighbour that the workman employed by Zurich to put scaffolding up were using his hot tub and drinking beer in the garden
"They took the wrong ceiling down in the house" he said. "They haven't taken any of the wet plasterboards down. The flat roof that they put on it is wrong. There are all kinds of different problems. The emotional stress and heartache has been horrendous. I am honestly so close to just breaking.
"We've been let down time and time again. I rang up the project manager at the time [the scaffolders went in the hot tub] to say that someone had been in the hot tub and that my neighbour had witnessed it and that they believe it was the scaffolders. I came back and the hot tub lid was up and damaged.
"On the hot tub you have wind straps to keep it down, they were all open so I rang the sub-contractors and they told me to phone the police if I thought it was a problem. I even have photos of the beer caps on the decking from where they've drank beer out of the fridge."
A spokesperson for Zurich Insurance Group said: "We are very sorry to hear about the problems Mr Wright has faced in relation to the claim for damage to his roof. The delays and some of the service he has experienced falls short of the high standards we pride ourselves on. We have issued a compensation payment of £350 in recognition of this.
"Following a meeting yesterday, we have agreed a way forward to address the outstanding works required to Mr Wright’s home. We are also conducting a full investigation into some of the contractors used, to ensure that those hired on behalf of Zurich, provide the best and most professional service possible."
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