Chris Saul's Blog

Saturday May 10, 2008

Fixing fixing

We seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment with certain things in the flat.

After lots of fighting we managed to get the developers' sub-contractors to come and rectify various things that weren't finished properly.

Some things they did well, but the things they did badly are awful. Communication seems to be more of a problem than sheer incompetence, although the latter's playing a major role.

When the guys came round, I try to make it clear that whilst there are things I want to be fixed, I don't want them done if it means that what is supposed to be repaired is simply going to be made worse.

The end result is part a bathroom door frame being replaced with a piece of wood whose grain and colour is completely different from the original and a front door 'repaired' by being smeared round the edges with varnish that's completely the wrong colour.

I can't understand why a workman would just get on with a job, knowing that it's either pointless or is going to look awful. There seems to be some cultural thing going on - I think the workmen, who mostly come from India, are afraid to tell me when things really can't be improved, so they just get on with a complete bodge job instead.

In the UK, Mr Smith (or Mr Smithskynski these days) would suck his teeth and say 'can't make it any better, mate - that's the best it'll be'. That would mean I'd be able to complain to the developer about poor quality and whatever scratches or blothes would remain as they were. That'd be far better than having the scratches and blotches covered in brown varnish so that they looked like scratches and blotches covered in brown varnish, leaving me irritated, Mrs Saul distinctly unimpressed and us still having to complain to the developer.

In the garage again

I need to buy shares in our local garage.

Fresh from the radiator blowing up, the Wrangler then came out of a regular service with a 2,300Dhs bill ($625). Now it's been in again as the AC fan's not been working - that'll cost another 2,300Dhs.

The Range Rover's got a lot of wobble coming through the steering wheel at over 100Kmhs and hour and seems to have an oil leak - it is a Land Rover, after all. It's way off a service, but it'll have to go in to be looked at and will doubtless cost money.

The wobble irritates me - when it was being serviced I pointed out a very mild wobble and slight pull to the right to the garage. They did an 'electronic' wheel balance, but when I got it back it was clear they'd not tested it properly as the problem was still there. Now it's got worse. Dammit.