jsaur

I’m not normally one to leave bad reviews but we had such a shocking experience with Nigel from Exterior Design Gardens that I feel it’s important to share so that others can make an informed decision. The number we were messaging on was 07961888253 and he introduced himself as being from Exterior Design Gardens. We contact Nigel after seeing positive reviews to build a brick raised bed and lay a small (2x3m) patio in our garden. The quote he provided seemed reasonable so we went ahead and that’s when the problems started. The guy he sent round to do the work took a couple of hours and several phone calls to find our flat (despite having been provided the address and postcode). He called my partner several times asking for directions and seemed incapable of reading a map. We maybe should have seen this as a warning at the time. When he started the work he did not dig out a base or lay foundations as discussed with Nigel beforehand, but just lay a brick wall on top of the existing brick patio. It was such a horrendously bad job that when I saw it I was genuinely shocked. See photos via link below. What made me even more frustrated was when raised the issue with Nigel, he replied (quote) ‘could do with a little more mortar between the soldier course’ but did not accept that it was a shoddy job. Feeling a bit gaslit I posted the work on a bricklayers forum. Comments ranged from ‘this has to be a wind up’ to ‘did he build it with a tennis racket’ to ‘looks like he kicked them in from the roadside.’ See here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/853083295947331/?multi_permalinks=947326963189630&notif_id=1688897183016407&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif I asked Bradley to rebuild the wall to an acceptable standard. He attempted to do so then admitted that he ‘doesn’t normally work with brick.’ We made the decision to end the job there and get someone competent to do the work. We refused to let them do the work on the patio. When I asked Nigel to refund some of the money we had paid for the work, he told me that he’d spent more on materials he’d quoted (without checking with me beforehand) so would only refund £90. It has been several weeks and I have chased him and I am still yet to receive this money. I’m absolutely livid that a ‘professional’ could have acted this way and hope others read this and take it into account before considering using the same service.

I’m not normally one to leave bad reviews but we had such a shocking experience with Nigel from Exterior Design Gardens that I feel it’s important to share so that others can make an informed decision. The number we were messaging on was 07961888253 and he introduced himself as being from Exterior Design Gardens. We contact Nigel after seeing positive reviews to build a brick raised bed and lay a small (2x3m) patio in our garden. The quote he provided seemed reasonable so we went ahead and that’s when the problems started. The guy he sent round to do the work took a couple of hours and several phone calls to find our flat (despite having been provided the address and postcode). He called my partner several times asking for directions and seemed incapable of reading a map. We maybe should have seen this as a warning at the time. When he started the work he did not dig out a base or lay foundations as discussed with Nigel beforehand, but just lay a brick wall on top of the existing brick patio. It was such a horrendously bad job that when I saw it I was genuinely shocked. See photos via link below. What made me even more frustrated was when raised the issue with Nigel, he replied (quote) ‘could do with a little more mortar between the soldier course’ but did not accept that it was a shoddy job. Feeling a bit gaslit I posted the work on a bricklayers forum. Comments ranged from ‘this has to be a wind up’ to ‘did he build it with a tennis racket’ to ‘looks like he kicked them in from the roadside.’ See here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/853083295947331/?multi_permalinks=947326963189630&notif_id=1688897183016407&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif I asked Bradley to rebuild the wall to an acceptable standard. He attempted to do so then admitted that he ‘doesn’t normally work with brick.’ We made the decision to end the job there and get someone competent to do the work. We refused to let them do the work on the patio. When I asked Nigel to refund some of the money we had paid for the work, he told me that he’d spent more on materials he’d quoted (without checking with me beforehand) so would only refund £90. It has been several weeks and I have chased him and I am still yet to receive this money. I’m absolutely livid that a ‘professional’ could have acted this way and hope others read this and take it into account before considering using the same service.