The daughter of an elderly Kippen man who underwent a 14-month ordeal getting a kitchen and bathroom installed at his home has accused the company behind the work of affecting his health.
Arthur Pullen, 77, moved to a home in the village following a Parkinson’s diagnosis and shelled out for two brand new units from Wickes in January 2022.
After the initial work was completed on both rooms in June, the family soon discovered problems with basic fittings, with the company taking six months to refit drawers.
However, the ordeal for Arthur and his family was only just beginning, with his neighbour soon reporting water coming through his ceiling after the new bathroom was installed.
In their efforts to fix the issue, Wickes cut a hatch out of Arthur’s neighbour’s roof – but have failed to refill the hatch, leaving the hole remaining in the ceiling.
Arthur’s daughter Louise has been leading the complaints on her dad’s behalf and she has hit out at Wickes’ handling of her complaints, which began in October 2022.
Louise told the Observer: “It’s just been one disaster after another and there has been no apology over any of it.
“They have even left all of the stuff from the installation outside my dad’s house for months and eventually his neighbours have complained about it to the council who have issued an ASBO which he is mortified about.
“This has been going on from early last year and it has been horrendous and it has affected my dad’s health, as well as making him uncomfortable around his neighbour because of the hassle.
“It has taken a year to resolve some of this and yet other things are still not resolved and I just ask the question whether they would treat everyone like that or is it because my dad is older that they think they can point the finger at him?
“I’ve just got sick of the service. They said that they were going to offer my dad compensation but needed to get things resolved first before they could do that.
“I don’t think businesses should have a level of service like this. I just think that people need to be made aware of this.”
A spokesman for Wickes said: “We are very sorry to hear about Mr Pullen’s experience as we always aim to deliver a high standard of customer service.
“Our customer relations team is now in contact with Mr Pullen to help resolve the matter as soon as possible with the best possible care.”
