Temporary fix apparently

Sunfold Systems came around this week and we had a different engineer this time. This chap decided that the only place the water could get in was via a couple of screw holes in the vents, so his plan was to cover them with a rubber skirt and see if that kept the water out.

This was a temporary measure with the outcome being that no leaks means it works, so he'd know what to remedy to make it a permanent fix. As we're off for three weeks over Christmas we're keeping everything crossed (again) that the rubber skirt keeps the rain out, otherwise we're back to square one.

(Photo above of Marlo, December 2013)

Sunfold leaks continue...

The wet splodge on the sofa is from the leak. We seem to go for weeks with no sign of a leak then out of the blue, drip drip drip. It doesn't even have to be raining, I imagine the insides of the metal frames are slowly filling up and then spilling when they eventually get full. I have no idea if this is why but then neither do Sunfold by the looks of it.

On the upside, at least we're here and can put down towels/saucepans etc and attempt to contain the water. Hate to think how much damage would have been caused if we'd gone on holiday without leaving out our collection of drip trays. 

In other news - we were very excited about the Alexandra Palace 'Back with a Bang' fireworks display. A group of us met in the afternoon with the intention of hanging out in the beer hall for a couple of hours before the fireworks started. The old saying about not being able to organise a piss up in a brewery springs to mind - the queues to get in to the beer hall, then wait to get served were an hour each time. We gave up which is just as well as the beer ran out. And yet there was still hours before the fireworks kicked off.

After huddling around outside and drinking (surprisingly not cold) beer from another vendor, and queuing for some mediocre food, we gave up. I watched the fireworks display on YouTube and thought 'Meh'. Was far happier in front of my pal's open fire while the kids drank hot chocolate in the next room. The security team had a difficult time controlling the large (and annoyed) crowd and the whole event was farcical. Hopefully Victoria Park will resurrect the fireworks display in 2014.

They're baaaaackkk!

I just had an unusually healthy weekend of very little booze (not counting Friday night), lots of sleep and two art exhibitions. I should be feeling well-rested and sedate, but after wasting my evening heading to Vodafone in Stratford to be told that they couldn't sort out the problem I saw them about yesterday, I feel exasperated and exhausted.

Long story short: I need to use an HTC One S for work. My regular SIM from my current HTC phone won't fit it. I rang Vodafone and ordered a Micro SIM. They sent me a Nano. Which I dropped into the SIM slot. Of course it promptly disappeared as a Nano is smaller than a Micro. I rang Vodafone customer care who said to try a pin. A pin wedged the SIM in further. They couldn't send me a Micro SIM as their 'systems were down.' They told me to go to a store. Only there are no Vodafone stores open in central London on a weekend (I KNOW!).

After a Tweet exchange with Vodafone I discovered that there was a store open in Westfield Stratford on a Sunday - so I put the kids in the car and went there. To be told that the tech guy doesn't work Sundays. So I made an appointment for tonight. I hastily gobbled dinner and drove back to Westfield. But the tech guy couldn't get the SIM out - he doesn't have 'HTC tools'. He took it out the back for a fiddle but said 'the prongs are holding the SIM in there.' He was clueless about what to do next as the phone didn't come from Vodafone, but said I have to talk to Customer Care. I lay the blame firmly with Vodafone: if they'd sent the SIM I'd ordered in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue. (Also - when I ordered the Micro I was super clear that it was for an HTC One S as the person assumed I had an iPhone 5 which is the only phone that actually uses a nano - obviously they don't listen!)

I'll phone customer care tomorrow and let you know what they suggest.
In other news: there is a slow, intermittent leak from the glass roof extension. Rob is going to email Sunfold Systems (again). I was hoping that the leaks we saw after the last visit were an anomaly, and it was pretty dry for the last few months, but the frame is slowly filling up with liquid (it hasn't rained here for over a week) as the drops started today. Happy happy joy joy.

PS: Vodafone update

I rang Vodafone's Customer Care this morning and ran through the story so far, and was then put on hold... and then cut off. So I rang back. Got another chap, ran through the story so far, again. And was then put on hold. His advice after double checking with someone was to take the phone to a Vodafone store for them to post back to get repaired by people who have the tools. SERIOUSLY. I was actually in a Vodafone store last night (and the day before that...) - why couldn't they have thought of that at the time?!

So on the way to work I stopped by a Vodafone store and had to run through the story so far THREE TIMES TO THREE IN-STORE BLOKES. I reiterated the bit about Customer Care saying it has to be sent away for repair but two of the blokes chose to ignore me, took the back off and started to get out a paper clip! I nearly lost the plot at this point. Fortunately a paper clip wouldn't fit into the SIM card space. Nevertheless, one of the blokes took the phone out the back (away from my prying eyes no doubt to shove something smaller than a paper clip in, just in case...) I have no idea why these people choose to ignore the request to just send the thing off for repair, maybe they think they're being helpful, personally, I find it disrespectful - as if I'm so stupid I can't possibly know what I'm talking about.
Anyway - the phone is now in transit. Will let you know what happens next!

Hello winter

SO. Sunfold came back last week with the engineer and spent over an hour lifting out the windows (vents) from their frames, cleaning out quite a bit of gunge and resealing with what looked like Polyfilla. Then it didn't rain for more than 15 minutes for an entire week. I waited and waited. We had a bit of snow apparently (didn't see it, must've melted by the time I got up). I've never wanted it to rain so much before. Finally, it rained. Last night it rained solidly for hours. And guess what? IT STILL LEAKS.

The good news is, it definitely doesn't leak as much. As far as I can tell the six leaks are now down to one though this might be a case of speaking too soon. The vents tend to fill up with water and drip hours after the rain's stopped, so it's possible they're still filling up.

The one leak is a nice bold drip which falls intermittently. The bucket has a very small pool of liquid at the bottom which is a nice improvement on the three inches of water it was accumulating in 24 hours.

The next step in our mission to not have leaks is to replace the windows/vents. And if that doesn't work we need to adjust the pitch of the roof to force the water to run off better. I'm not convinced by the pitch argument as surely the roof should be water tight? If water can't run off, shouldn't it puddle instead of coming inside? Or maybe that's just me being old fashioned.

To add to the seasonal change, the leaves have dropped so the light in the extension is a watery winter harshness. Instead of looking at lushness we can see the neighbour's house again. (Pictured at top)

Plenty more leaks

I should have updated immediately after the last post. I just couldn't bear it. The next morning we got up to find not only did we have the dreaded leaks back, but they were worse than ever before.

A bucket we put down had three inches of water within a few days. The previous polite and intermittent drips now almost rained down (no pun intended) - not necessarily when it was raining, but hours later. And it leaked in several places. Again. This is not what we had in mind by 'bringing the outdoors in'.

Sunfold agreed to come back a week later with an engineer from the steel manufacturers. The engineer duly showed up but unfortunately the Sunfold guy couldn't make it due to having a kid off school. The engineer refused to come inside and take a look without the Sunfold rep there. I pleaded but no, he said his gov'nor wouldn't allow it. So that was that. Three weeks since the 'fix-it' job and two weeks since the engineer couldn't come in, and still no sign of a rescheduled appointment.

I'm convinced that the steels are at fault as the rubber seals have been redone so many times. Probably from having the vents drilled in after they were manufactured, instead of at the same time.

Pictured is a nice view of east London taken from the London Eye last week. No rain.

No more leaks?

PROGRESS: Sunfold Systems decided to send a team of fitters to sort out these leaks properly. The idea being to lift out each pane of (enormous) glass and re-fit them, re-seal them and thus stop the leaks.

Rob and I spent an hour last night clearing every bit of furniture and associated debris from downstairs underneath the glass (ie most of the dining room). I did 20+ trips up and down the stairs while Rob dealt with the fiddly stuff. We then stacked the heavier bits and watched the drips land on our artfully arranged selection of pots and trays.

I managed to damage our Arco lamp when I thought I was unscrewing the bulb but was in fact shearing off the fitting including the wires. (Fortunately Rob knows how to resurrect this from his distant past as a scientist with a qualification in electricity or similar).

Sunfold's crack team arrived this morning ON TIME at 8.30am and were done by lunchtime. After so many visits which ranged from no show to late to not resolving the issue, I was beyond happy.

Apparently our problem was caused because the frames the vents (windows) sit on leaked at the joints - which is a manufacturer fault as they come pre-fabricated. It's Sunfold's responsibility to remedy even though the frames are manufactured in Germany. I am waiting for a rain storm so I can confirm that everything is water tight. Everything is crossed.

Sunfold Systems still suck

After a very exasperated phone call explaining that the Olympics actually meant light traffic, we got a new (!) slot for the service team to come round. We were assured by both the booking person and the head of installation that we'd be the first call out this morning. Guess what? No-one had showed up by 11am. Or midday. In fact, they didn't show up until the middle of the afternoon, saying that there was nothing on the call sheet about us being the first call out. (What is wrong with this company?!)

Rob had worked from home so he'd be there to explain the problems himself. Apparently the service chap was perfectly lovely and agreed that Mastick, debris, unusual shrinkage etc were not acceptable reasons for the number of leaks we were enduring. He's going to order up replacement vents and metres of rubber and replace as much as possible. This will be a full day's job. (The last time Sunfold Systems were meant to do a 'full days work' it lasted for several days, so I won't hold my breath).

Fortunately we have a 10 year warrantee. I hope these leaks are sorted before the 10 years is up!

Sunfold Systems suck

Guess what happened? After several emails sorting out the Sunfold installers to come back for the 6th or 7th time to sort out the ever worsening leaks, we finally had a date in the diary. It was several weeks away owing to high demand (!). We even had a generic email telling us there might be delays in reaching us due to the Olympics.

I emailed back asking if there was a cancellation earlier in the month to please let us know but alas, 31st July was the earliest we could get. Of course, the leaks continued right through June & July and the floor has been covered with towels and pans for so long that I've adapted my cooking to use fewer pans.

Yesterday on the drive back from Camp Bestival Rob rang Sunfold Systems to remind them that we had requested the first call out of the day. He wanted to speak to the installers directly to explain the problems and show them the new leaks. He left a message explaining this and his number so that they could confirm, but alas didn't hear back.

This morning he waited for a while and at 9am rang again, and was surprised that the same person who's been dealing with us all this time was clueless about the call out. At 11am he emailed me with the news that all London jobs had been cancelled but they'd forgotten to tell us. Apparently the Olympics would make it too difficult for them to come by van.

What a company: firstly, I drove across London in rush hour last night and the traffic was no worse than usual. If anything it was a little quiet. This morning I cycled to work and again, the traffic was lighter than usual. Lastly - WHY DIDN'T THEY COMMUNICATE THAT TO US?!

As Rob is a contractor he will only get paid for half a day today (he has a 90 minute commute). I am tempted to invoice Sunfold Systems for the lost income/wasting his time (does anyone know the legal viewpoint on this?).

I have never dealt with such a baffling company - their product isn't fit for purpose, and their customer service and after-sales service is laughable.

How appropriate that we bought a bottle of delicious Holy F*ck hot sauce at the weekend. I've been muttering that phrase all morning.

As the Olympics 'traffic' is going to affect London til September I guess this means we'll continue with the leaks for another 6+ weeks, at least...

Six months on a leaky boat

Over two weeks ago I emailed Sunfold Systems about these persistent leaks but have yet to get a reply. I guess they're exasperated with us - the annoying client who always has leaks despite 5+ site visits. We're pretty exasperated too - it's not ideal paying over £20k for a brand new roof to live with pots, pans and towels on the floor. The leaks have gotten so much worse since the last visit that we're wondering if having the serviceman up there has somehow damaged the steel supports. Will write a firmly worded letter and update in due course.

In other news, LOVE having that second shower. Especially when the weather's been humid and the kids come home filthy. The shower space is easily big enough for both girls - it feels roomier than other showers we've used actually, and despite various warnings about soap scum the black tiles look fine.

PS title refers to a Split Enz song: Rubbish quality video but it's from 1982, pre HD:

Drip drip drip

Bad news - despite replacing the rubber seals around the vents/windows, the roof still leaks. Now it seems to leak in four places, when it used to be three. Actually I've spotted rogue drips landing on random places on our floor and can't even figure out where they're coming in.

The Sunfold System repairmen suggested we poke at the drainage holes in the rubber with a stick to clear any debris regularly, but as the drips started a few days after their last visit this is clearly absurd. Even if the drainage holes were blocked with roof moss or dirt or whatever, the overflowing rain should surely drain off the exterior glass towards the guttering rather than drip INSIDE the house.

Funnier still, once the rain stopped, the drips continued for another two days - as the water is obviously building up somewhere beneath the seals. How can we be the only customers to have this problem?! If you've heard of any similar problems with a newly installed glass roofing system please leave the details in the comment box below.

Is now a good time to mention that the customer care person I'm dealing with is called Sue Lake? There's an irony in there somewhere.

Leaks in the roof

The rain in the UK has caused flooding, so you can imagine that quite a lot of water has fallen the last month or two. With it comes an ongoing problem that we have from our otherwise superb glass extension: The three vents (aka windows) all leak. Not from the frame, but from the rubber seals in non-consistent places on all three.

Sometimes one does it, sometimes two, but never so far all three. We've had Sunfold Systems (who installed it) out four times to remedy the problem over the last couple of years. This usually results in some rubber getting cut to improve drainage, then a fella coming back to seal up the hole which is too large. Then a fella coming back to cut a hole in the seal when the vents start holding water, a bit like an overhead glass-bottomed boat feature.

This time though they decided to pull up the external rubber and replace it with a wider version which should channel any water (rain, condensation, overflow from washing the windows etc) into the holes. From here it trickles over the glass and down into a gutter. That's the theory anyway. And yes, apparently we're STILL the only people to have this problem.

The top photo shows the dining area sporting roasting trays on the floor to catch the drips.

UPDATE

Two of the leaks have come back, so Sunfold are coming back next week to have another look...

Sunfold resolution

A week ago the whole of London was submerged in the heaviest snowfall in 18 years. You'd think it was the beginning of the ice age the way the media carried on. It is winter (duh) so we do expect a bit of inclement weather. And as we were tucked up in our doubled-glazed house with the central heating ticking away I felt quite cosy and happy. The kids made a wonky snowman and we had a snowball fight in the garden (oh bliss to have a garden!).

Late in the afternoon I ended up speaking by phone to the General Manager of Sunfold and we had a discussion for 17 minutes. He was keen to find out what the issues were and was surprised that his team were slow to install given that they have targets and bonuses to work to. I wanted to convey that a six week wait in sorting out issues was a bit on the slow side and to express our irritation about having to pay out extra days for the builder.

I suppose building angst is a bit like giving birth - at the time you think that you'd rather do anything than go through that again, but once it's over you take a step back and think "the results were worth it in the end". As I chatted to the GM I noticed the 8 inches of snow piled up on top of the extension and was thrilled to see it wasn't leaking. Eventually, we came to an amicable compromise based on the fact that ultimately, we are very happy with the actual extension and as the installation was six weeks ago, our frustration over how long it took had evaporated somewhat.

I'm sure Sunfold will change the small print on their contracts and/or motivate their installation staff, and hopefully they'll respond to any complaints in a more timely fashion. In hindsight, I would say they are worth getting a quote from (their prices were far more agreeable than most other glass manufacturers) but do the work in summer to avoid camping out in the freezing cold, incase the installation takes longer than expected.

Throwing petrol on the fire

We got a response from Sunfold's Head of Installation by post yesterday - a week after I'd written to them. I'm used to email correspondence and expect responses quickly. Anyway, the letter was full of defensive and badly argued points. Again, why don't companies use their PR or marketing department or escalate to someone who can look at formulating a non-inflammatory response? It ended with "In respect of above, we ask that you forward the final payment of £400". In respect of above?! I couldn't see one single reason from the six paragraphs supplied as to why we should pay up, I read it several times. Rob read it and we agreed that the letter writer had missed the point entirely. The six paras amounted to little more than an outline for a relaxed work ethic.

I wrote back addressing each of their six points and ended with a simple summation of the situation. I also said that I was happy for an independent mediator to assess the case, and we would abide by their decision. Of course I emailed it (posting letters with a week turnaround means this could drag on...).

The Head of Installation is away. However, someone else had forwarded my email to the General Manager and he promptly emailed me. His tone was immediately more conciliatory. I am optimistic once he's talked to everyone and read the history we can have a less frustrating debate and hopefully come to a resolution. Failing that, can anyone recommend a good conflict mediator?

No keys, no response...

Still nothing from Sunfold. It's now been six long weeks since the installation. While the installers were here I emailed to complain about their slackness, and the following day I rang and spoke to the staffer who was co-ordinating the process. Both times I made it clear that if they didn't get their act together we would deduct our builder's additional costs from the amount we owed them. They had the opportunity then to motivate their installation staff and avoid having to get our builder back. They could've also taken the opportunity to reassure us. The staffer I talked to admitted they'd had similar complaints from other customers.

After the installation I sent a letter from our architect outlining why we were with-holding £400, and sent two follow up emails asking for a response. Last week I sent a letter by post again asking for a response, and a version by email so they couldn't argue they didn't receive it. On Friday I finally got a message back saying that they had received my letter, and the head of installation would get back to me as soon as he could. It's now Wednesday and I've just emailed again as guess what? No-one's been in touch.

I find it unbelievable that despite contacting them 7+ times they can't get it together to do some damage control. In this day and age you'd think the public relations part of this company would wake up and see that at least acknowledging the issues (terrible service, slack staff etc) and apologising for this might make the customer marginally more happy. As it happens, I now think that withholding £400 was not enough and for the amount of stress this has caused we should've withheld a lot more!

I posted about what to do on the Livingetc Forums and got some good advice. One suggestion was to pay the £400 under duress then advise them we'd go to the Small Claims court to retrieve £1,000 for the true cost of the inconvenience/suffering/stress. Rob and Anthony-the-architect said that this was a slow and painful process and to try and get them to respond first.

I can happily recommend Sunfold System's product, but the customer service and conflict resolution side of the business is so poor that I would advise you to use another company.