Alpha Builders respond to criticism
Readers will recall that I posted the experiences of one of my constituents with Alpha Builders (contracted by the city council). At the time I was very unhappy with them as they’d left a family with a very cold house on a night and over a weekend with sub-zero temperatures after not turning up for a job. I rang them that weekend and left a message – but they never got back. I, and representatives of the family, were so concerned that we got social services to offer them emergency temporary accommodation until the job was done.
Well tonight, I’m pleased to say that Alpha Builders have been in touch to put their side of the story (apparently a ‘concerned customer’ wrote to them after reading my blog – power of the Internet). In the interests of fairness I think it right that I publish their response so people can make up their own mind.
Alpha Builders say they’ve done an excellent job with what they were tasked to do (and from what I have seen, the finished product does look of a good standard). They say that they had a choice between two jobs that Friday – and that not doing the other job would have left a resident with no toilet over the weekend. They say that they explained this to my constituent – I’ll have to take their word as this is not something the constituent mentioned to me. They also tell me that they have, for free, repaired faulty heating and plumbing in the property after a previous builder made a botched job. This sort of thing is fantastic to hear, and I commend them for this. Alpha builders do seem very proud of the work they’ve done – and they say that they’ve pulled out all the stops to do a good job. They also say that not finishing the job on that Friday was unavoidable. Personally, I think it sounds like they’re trying to do too many jobs at once – but then I’m guilty of that myself.
Of course – if they’d rung me when I left a message for them they could have avoided any bad publicity. As I’ve explained – it’s my job to represent my residents, and if they tell me they’ve had a bad service and the evidence I have to hand agrees – then I’ll use every means at my disposal to fight the residents’ corner. In this instance it sounds like Alpha Builders could have communicated better, and should have been in contact with either me or that resident when they were rung, but are otherwise a firm that is proud of their work.
There you have it – I’m glad at least that I can put two sides of a story.