I thought I would never write this sentence but the Prodema showed up last week and we can all start breathing again. The work on the facade can now start after having been delayed for approximately 3 months, courtesy of our useless sales rep.
First, I would like to say a few works about that asshole dick head idiot. The dealings with him were probably the worst I have had to go through with a sales person. The difficulty was that:
1- We needed the product
2- It was fairly expensive
3- There is nobody else carrying this product in our area. Actually, we found out a few weeks later that someone was carrying Prodema but it was too late to change supplier.
In other words, buying this product was not like buying a pair of shoes. If you want to buy a pair of shoes and the sales rep is being a dick, you can go somewhere else and find the same pair of shoes, either in another store or online. Of course, with Prodema, we didn't have the same sort of flexibility. Choice of alternate supplier was inexistant.
At any rate, the negotiations following the second order were very painful. The rep told us that he would be for any repair to the blue skin (as it had been exposed to the UV rays for too long) but then took his word back. He told us that we would be able to inspect the product on our property but then said he needed to be paid first... and so on and so forth. Total crook.
Not to mention the BS we had to go through with the air freight cost. Ugh. Brutal.
Anyways, the truck came last week to deliver the panels and I made sure that the guys unloaded ALL of them before handing the delivery guy his cheque. We also deducted the amount of the repair costs to the Blue Skin from the balance. Of course, the sales rep didn't know about that and wasn't too pleased finding out that a substantial chunk of his payment had been deducted. He sent this lame email saying that "he was accepting the back charge just because he wanted this nightmare to end and sorry about the confusion". Huh? He wanted the nightmare to end? Unless I am delusional but I thought he created this nightmare by acting like a total jerk and by showing total irrespect to his clients. And "sorry about the confusion"? Seriously? That's called a confusion? I thought it was called a major fuck up but surely, I am too tough...
At any rate, the color was what we ordered. The guys are putting the panels up and quite frankly, they look amazing. I can't wait for all of them to be in place, it is going to totally change the look of the house.
We have now moved into the house. The past few days have been crazy busy, between trying to get the house as ready as possible and organizing the move. Moving is a giant pain in the ass. Really. But I'll get back to that. Right now, the giant pain in the ass are the plumbers. A couple of weeks ago, as we were getting close to moving day, I informed the plumbers that they should come in and mount all the plumbing fixtures, install the toilets and do the necessary hook ups. I gave them enough notice to get organized. They told me they would show up on Sunday prior to the move and get it done. The plan was for them to go to town and get things ready for us.
On that day, they called me and told me that they were at the house. I had to meet them to sort of tell them what to put where and what not.
Starting time: 9AM. The house was empty so they had plenty of time to figure things out and they didn't have to work with a multitude of other trades. First thing they do is they start to complain because they had to bring a couple of toilets up a set of stairs... OK, well, I don't really understand what the big deal is but whatever. After a couple of hours of bitching and complaining about various things such as "how am I supposed to install this and why did you have to pick this fixture and really you need this toilet installed there", they decided that they were done for the day and left.
Finish time: 11:30 AM. Items completed: NONE (well except for carrying a couple of toilets in the rooms where they belonged). Moving date: 2 days.
So not promising. I don't get this actually. The house is empty which makes it easier to work, I still owe these clowns a balance so you'd think they would want to finish the job and get paid but noooooo... let's fucking drag this on.
Anyways, I called my main contact who subcontracted the project to these guys to let him know that this was not acceptable and that since we were sort of in a rush, it would be good if they could finish up.
He assured me that they would come on Monday and work their asses off to finish up. Fine.
Monday comes. 9AM: I show up at the place to find out that there was a leak in one of the pipes. The plumbers of course are blaming the problem on the dry walls guys who apparently have punched a nail through the pipes. Right. I have heard that excuse before and again, I don't really give a shit. Just fix the problem and let's move on. 11Am: plumbers are leaving to go to another job. Items completed: NONE. Leak: Fixed... MAYBE.
I give a call to my main contact right away. What the fuck is going on? I don't get it. These guys are supposed to FINISH up the job but they only work 2 hours at a time. It is very strange to say the least. He tells me that he just talked to his guys and that they won't show up till later on Tuesday. How late? I asked. Well, around 4-5 in the afternoon.........................
4-5 in the afternoon on Tuesday? That's the day we are moving into the house and they are planning on finishing that day without having managed to install anything thus far. Somehow I don't see it happening but you never know.
I spoke to my builder right after this phone call and he was quite pissed off. He basically said "this is fucking bullshit. Let's hire another plumber". Ok, that works with me. These idiots are seriously starting to get on my nerves at this point.
We managed to find another plumber on short notice which is close to a fucking miracle. Plumbers are in high demand apparently. The guy is supposed to show up on Tuesday and start working right away.
Tuesday morning: I arrive at the house at 10 to find the new plumber and the old crew who wasn't supposed to show up till the end of the day. Ouch... this is going to get ugly. Super nice builder is not there yet so I guess I am going to have to deal with this. As expected, it doesn't take much time to get into a real fiasco.... I feel like I am dealing with the contestants on America's Next Top Model at this point. It goes from "OH MY GOD, you brought another plumber?" to "You know I made a real sacrifice to be here for you this morning and I also brought another guy and I was going to fix everything and blah blah and now you've insulted me, it is the first time I get fired from a job and I am leaving right now and..." and more and more bullshit.
o_O
I have insulted you? Seriously? Who is the client here for G*d's sake? You have insulted me by showing me on several occasions that you really didn't give a shit about this job. You did not fulfill your side of the deal while I have fulfilled mine by paying you on time no questions asked. I gave you plenty of chances to get your job done but yet, you couldn't do it. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
At any rate, the plumbers left and the new plumber took over. He got most of the job done and he is a nice guy, without an attitude, which is what I want on this job site. He had to fix the first leak which these idiots didn't fix at all.
On Thursday, we had another leak in the house due to the previous plumbers' shitty work. I think that getting rid of them was the probably the best thing to do. Hopefully we don't get anymore bad surprises over the next few days.
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