PAVEFORCE - SO CALLED INSTALLERS OF BEAUTIFUL DRIVEWAYS AND PATIOS. The photos really say it all! A lop sided unfinished pillar. An unmade wall and a sign stuffed into the hedge. BEWARE! THIS COULD BE YOU. This is our story so far. When an elderly uncle left us a small endowment in his will we decided we would invest in a new driveway and patio - something we had never been able to afford - as an investment for our old age. After many months of seeing many firms and representatives we finally decided to go with PAVEFORCE. We were impressed with the owner - a young man called JOHN ROBB - who appeared authentic, knowledgeable and reliable.
The work started and a team of 6 Eastern European workers invaded with JOHN and his brother JOSEPH ROBB overseeing from their vans. They were there for 10 days and then said they would be finished the next day. In good heart my husband paid them (16K) but we assumed they would come back to make the 'site' good as we were left with pizza boxes, coffee cartons, beer bottles, broken bricks and slabs and literally everything covered in a thick layer of dust from the cutting of the slabs. As we slowly cleared the debris we found that not only had our lawn been decimated but that the standard of the work was extremely basic and in some areas appalling.
JOHN ROBB was called back and assured us that he would make it all good and that he was "appalled and ashamed" by the standard of work. This included the most basic of elements in that no concrete surround had been put into the edges of the driveway meaning that, as it was used, the bricks would eventually drift apart. They did come back for a day to do this but as this is so fundamental that we took a deeper look elsewhere. What faced us was a patio area at such a slant that you would end up in the bushes; a pathway that slanted 'into' the house rather than away; trip hazards and uneven slabs and our poor Wisteria concreted into wonky brickwork to name but a few. The list is very long.
We tried to get hold of JOHN ROBB by phone for a week and in the end sent an email listing our concerns - they were after all TRUSTATRADER members! This resulted in JOSEPH ROBB calling with his father JOEY ROBB who apparently runs his own firm 'St. Albans Driveways?'. At first they were very defensive but in the end agreed that remedial work would have to be done at their expense. They then told us it could not be done for another 2 months - January 12th 2017!! Because of the length of time we would have to wait we took on a surveyor to give us an unbiased view of what was needed and sent the report to PAVEFORCE copying in TRSUTATRADER. Needless to say the remedial work necessary was very extensive. We asked for their assurance that they would follow the surveyors recommendations and heard nothing. When we phoned them on Wednesday the 11th January to check they were actually coming they said they weren't because we were "difficult customers" despite (or because of) the surveyors comments.
TRUSTATRADER have removed PAVEFORCE from their website and we are having to get other contractors in to remedy PAVEFORCE'S appalling workmanship and will be taking legal action against PAVEFORCE/JOHN ROBB for the costs. Oh! and that 10 year guarantee they advertise and remarked on numerous times stating that their work was guaranteed? Non-existent. They are unwilling or unable to provide a copy. Watch this space, but in the meantime, if you see any advertisement for PAVEFORCE do not look at their wonderful website which shows immaculately installed drives and patios - come have a look at ours!