Good Builders Poor Customer Relations
We had entered into an agreement with ACAS to build a single story extension with some additional works that included an en-suit shower; the project started in the last week of May 2021. ACAS completed the majority of the project except the en-suit in September 2021. At that point they left site and agreed to return and complete our ensuite. At this point we where happy with their building work which is of good quality. From September 2021 to Christmas 2021 various dates were offered by them but did not come to fruition due to Covid, and other commitments they had taken on. They offered to provide us with the names of other companies so we could get the work done as they were too busy now to complete our project. We declined this and said we would wait as we felt the work they had done was satisfactory and we did not want to contract again and potentially pay more. More dates came and went and similar excuses where made. On the 23 of March 2022 (7 months after leaving the site) they informed us that they had won a brilliant contract that would provide them with revenue that is the same as two normal years rolled into one for a company of their size. They stated in an email to us that ‘This is work we simply cannot turn down’.
They were aware that we could not use the existing en-suit due to a leak in the shower and 4 adults were left sharing a bathroom. We had already purchased the shower, toilet, tiles and other items for the en-suit via their accounts with bathroom suppliers. These then sat in our bedroom and garage.
They had promised to return and complete the work and we trusted them. We are extremely angry and upset by this and contacted them to say that we would be providing feedback about the treatment we received so that other people would not be put in the same position as us. They then informed us that they were upset about this and would be terminating their relationship with us as if we were in the wrong! They pointed out that the quote for the work was not a contract and therefore they did not have to honour it. Luckily, we had not paid anything for this part of the work except for buying the materials. We had also held a small sum back for snagging. As they have said they will not be coming back we have had to get another contractor to sort out the jobs they left.
We have waited before giving this review about our experience with ACAS. We wanted to know the full impact of their decision not to complete the work. We have found that most of the items we had purchased for the en-suit (which were advised by them) could not be used or were not compatible with each other. We are not plumbers or builders and we chose items with guidance from the suppliers. They were not checked by ACS when they were delivered to us so we were unaware that there was a problem. We now have a new en-suit (July 2022) that we are very happy with. Unfortunately it has cost us more than we originally agreed with ACAS and we have the additional problem of selling the items that could not be used at significant loss to ourselves.
Whilst ACAS may give a range of excuses for their actions it is simply unacceptable to walk away from the work that you agree to do. We feel that they have a moral obligation to place their customers first; unfortunately for this company they prioritised their business over the the customer. We had paid ACAS at various points in the build as it progressed; in hindsight we wish we had retained a larger amount of money before the en-suit was completed.
After this was posted they then accused of wanting to ‘have our ‘own way’. I feel this was a strange thing to say as no customer would be happy to have purchased things and then the company does not do the work. Especially when what was bought was unsuitable and could not be returned. Leaving us out of pocket. They claimed we where being inaccurate despite the fact I have a chain of emails/communication. Their responses which can be seen on their face book page I think are more indicative than anything I wrote of how much they think really of customers who are unhappy. I feel this is a great shame as we where very careful to indicate their building skills are good. Our issue was their behaviour and response to what they had done.