The Letter I Can Never Send
My roofer turned out to be a thug — this is what I wish I could say
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| The old lead from my bay window. (Photo taken by the author.) |
I know that you’ll never read this letter, but I had to write it.
Your name was mentioned in a Facebook post, when my fiancée was trying to find a good roofer for me.
Someone recommended you, and said, “He won’t rip you off.”
How wrong they were!
And how foolish was I? That particular recommendation came from your sister, not a previous customer!
I noticed some problems right from the start. At the end of the first day, I went up into the loft, only to see rips and holes in the underlay. You insisted that they’d have been spotted and rectified, even if I’d not said anything.
I continued to trust you.
I provided outdoor drinks facilities for you and your team. And what thanks did I get? One of you urinated against the wall of my house, behind the gates, where they thought nobody would notice.
After you’d finished the work, you were desperate for an immediate payment, so I sent the money electronically.
But as time went on, more problems kept appearing — and that’s when your true nature began to emerge.
* * * * *
I queried the fact that you’d used sand and cement mortar in some parts of the dry ridge system. You insisted it was necessary and normal.
I pointed out some places in my loft where I could see daylight.
You told me it was nothing to worry about, and that I was overthinking.But when you checked, you found a cracked tile, and a gap along one of the battens. You fixed those things, but may have done more harm than good in some respects.
I pointed out a broken vertical tile on my bay window, which you had caused. Your repair to that was a bodge — you used adhesive to stick a cut-down tile in place, rather than doing it properly.
I noticed my gas boiler flue cover had been clobbered and was hanging off. But I fixed it myself, after seeing your slapdash approach to repairs.
When it rained, water started dripping from behind the gutter, because the underlay was fitted incorrectly. By that point, you were becoming irritated with me, and started complaining whenever I contacted you. However, you did rectify it.
That was the last thing you fixed, before turning nasty.
* * * * *
After taking a good look around outside, I realised you had trimmed down my small flat roof, meaning that the drips from it now landed on my windowsill.
I emailed and asked you to restore the overhang that you had cut back, or give me a partial refund, so I could get someone else to do it.
That’s when you phoned me, and insisted that nothing was wrong with the work. You said my windows must be at fault!
You also asked me why I’d waited a number of weeks before contacting you, given that it wasn’t the first time we’d had rain.
I explained that the delay was due to me focusing on my son’s health problems — he’d just been diagnosed with coeliac disease, and was already dealing with type 1 diabetes. Your reply was so cold and uncaring.You said, “Why is that any concern of mine?”
Even though you didn’t care, I thought you might have been able to figure out that I was answering your question, about why I’d waited for quite a while before telling you about the problem.
When I asked you to explain why you’d cut the roof back, you said it was rotten near the edge. And when I asked why you didn’t tell me about it at the time, you said that you didn’t have time to stop the job, to discuss every little detail with me. (Recently, I found out the real reason…)
Instead of showing some concern about the problem that you’d caused, you were simply annoyed about the tone of my email. You said I was implying that you’re some kind of conman.
You threatened to pay me a “personal visit” if I contacted you again about the work you did.That’s the first time I’ve given someone thousands of pounds, only to have them threaten to hurt me.
For a few days after that phone call, I felt unsafe — especially as a slightly-built person who lives alone with two children. For some time, I struggled to sleep even when it wasn't raining.
Luckily, I recorded our phone call — but I didn’t tell you that. I also listened back to it, and wrote a transcript.
The following day, I contacted the police, and they gave me an incident number. They told me to phone the emergency number, if you should ever turn up at my house.
They also recommended that I get a video doorbell, which I did.
* * * * *
I considered moving house, because I didn’t feel comfortable here anymore. And I don’t imagine your roofing work will have a good life expectancy —there is clearly no longer any sort of guarantee.
During the spring and summer, more problems became apparent.
The new gutters that you fitted made creaking and cracking noises, as they expanded in the heat of the sun. And when the wind blew, the telephone cable that you dislodged tapped against the fascia boards.
I’m autistic, so the tapping and creaking sounds caused by your shoddy work affected me quite badly.I had my house painted in the summer — the first time in 25 years. That was partly to make it look more saleable. My painter kindly fixed the telephone cable and the gutters, at no extra charge.
For the last ten months, I’ve tried to tolerate the dripping sound on my bedroom windowsill, because I couldn’t justify spending more money to have it fixed — especially as I might move house.
Whenever it rained, I had to sleep with a pillow covering my head. I even made a ‘single ear’ headphone, to wear at night. But neither option was particularly comfortable.
* * * * *
Recently, I decided that I had to get the flat roof fixed, for the sake of my health, and because moving house was probably an impulsive reaction to what had happened. (It’s likely to be an ADHD thing.)
So I’ve just paid someone £900 to do the work.
The other remaining faults with the roof will have to wait. (Poorly fitting interlocking tiles, questionable lead flashing, and an occasional drip sound in the back of my fireplace.)
I guess I’ll not be replacing this 2013 laptop for quite a while; in the meantime, you are out there, riding around in your top-of-the-range Audi.
* * * * *
The new roofer discovered that you’d trimmed the overhang back to suit the width of lead that you had, rather than buying some wider lead.
He’s also convinced that the work you did to my flat roof was unnecessary. All you did was to cause a problem, which I’ve had to pay someone else to fix.
The work is now done, and I took your stingy piece of lead to a scrap metal dealer this morning. I didn’t get much for it, but I’m glad to be rid of it.
I headed to a shop on the way back, and couldn't believe it when I saw your van in the car park. As I searched for a parking space, I also noticed you walking along, just in front of my car.
What a coincidence! It was just minutes after I’d scrapped the lead that you made me pay for! The receipt from the scrap dealer was still on the passenger seat of my car.
I hate the way I feel when I see you or your vehicle. I wish we didn’t live in the same town.I don’t like confrontation, but I’m angry that you seem to have won.
I can’t leave a bad review, because of the risk of retaliation.
I don’t know how you sleep at night.
You didn’t need to threaten me. Perhaps you don’t have a conscience. Or perhaps you don’t know quite how substandard your work really is.
I don’t think I will ever get a sense of closure about this matter. But having my bedroom roof fixed, and writing this letter, might be a good start.
* * * * *
Thank You
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The author first published this article on Medium. It was adapted and added here on 3 January 2022.
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