R M PLASTERING SERVICES

The mark of a quality tradesman is how they deal with things when they go wrong. People make mistakes; we are all human after all.I picked Ryan as he had good reviews, a lot of that was to do with how tidy he was, something that was very important to me.Called Ryan to come over to provide a quote, asked him to wear a mask and he did and he arrived on time. I specifically mentioned if he would use dust covers to protect my furniture and wood floors. He said he would and also said he would use special floor coverings to protect my floors.Ryan seemed like a good guy so we proceeded and while this was delayed due to Ryan testing positive for COVID, the communications were good and he even sent me his negative test after isolation.On the first day of work, Ryan arrived and was wearing a mask. He bought some equipment in and a dust protector and put these in my bedroom where he started to remove the plaster without using any dust protectors, he also didn’t bring the floor coverings. Instead he had those useless cotton sheets that had seen better days.I walked into the bedroom after an hour or so and could see the dust in the air, at this point I asked Ryan to put the dust protector on. He had ONE; my priority was my electrical equipment at this point so I covered this.The dust was now on my bed and furniture and more importantly, I found out later that it was inside my wardrobe and all over my clothes.My exposed wall required some additional work to make it sound; Ryan called in his Uncle Ray Ruddick who said he would be able to fix it.Ryan came around a couple of days later and sanded down some of the minor cracks he had filled in my walls around the flat.Ryan’s uncle then came around a week or so later to fix the main supporting wall, he wasn’t wearing a mask and neither was his partner (who also works with Ryan). Ryan’s uncle, Ray Ruddick had no dust sheets when I asked him about it, he said ‘my work isn’t dusty’, so I had no choice but to use one of his filthy cotton floor covers to cover my electrical as best I could.There is no doubt that Ray made the dust level worse, but the dust was on my bed and in my wardrobe from day 1 from Ryan failing to cover up properly. What Ray did made it worse but it would have need cleaning anyway.Ryan came around a few days later and finished the plastering work; both he and his partner didn’t wear a mask.I spoke to Ryan a few days later about the dust in my wardrobe as 5 items would need dry cleaning and 1 duvet would need to be laundered, everything else I can wash myself. The total of this was £69.50, pretty minor considering I spent 3 solid days cleaning everything up and 30+ loads of machine washing over 2 weeks.He agreed to pay, kept chasing I was fobbed off with the old ‘waiting for some money to come in’. After constant chasing, he then changed tack and said he wasn’t going to pay and said it was all his Uncle Ray’s fault. Ray also refused to take any responsibility for this and was downright rude to me.Not once have I received a simple apology, or an acceptance of responsibility by these two.Ryan will say that he offered to clean up, I have seen his level of cleaning on day 1 and it was just a simple wipe of some surfaces and a quick mop. I have photos of his cleaning efforts. In any case, I wasn’t asking for him to clean my house, I wanted him to compensate me for the dry cleaning.Ryan will also say that the amount of plaster removed on day 1 wasn’t enough to create the dust levels; the fact is I have loads of photos and videos which he has seen, of the dust in the wardrobe and around the house. The evidence is undeniable.Ryan will also say that he asked to move the wardrobe and that I refused, 1. He didn't ask, 2. It would have to be disassembled as it is huge. 3. Here is an idea Ryan, use a £1 dust cover! What are you saving them up for? A dust storm in the Sahara?It’s a massive shame, I believe Ryan is still a decent person and I hope he will do the right thing by accepting responsibility, apologising and compensating me.