In September 2006 I employed Keystone Construction UK Ltd to refurbish my home. The quote for this work was £23,000.00 including V.A.T in total. I have paid Keystone a total of £23,269.00, not once did they provide any receipts or written contracts, despite repeated requests.

I had a meeting with the directors at my home on 1st February 2007, to discuss the slow progress of the work and the poor standard of workmanship. It was at this meeting that the directors used intimidating behaviour towards me. They then agreed to complete the contracted works by 9th February 2007.

Keystone’s director, Guy Tonkins, telephoned me on 5th February 2007 to inform me the work was completed. When I arrived at my home, I discovered it in the dilapidated state that can be seen on the videos, chartered surveyor’s report and photos.

Please compare the evidence to the list of works claimed to be completed in a letter from Keystone’s solicitor dated 17th May 2007.

The cost of repairing this negligence is estimated at £29,000.

I even had the BBC programme Cowboy Trap offer to film a programme, with a make over. They did some preliminary filming at our home and the programme’s builder visited the property, but the extent of the damage caused by Keystone was too excessive for the programme’s budget, and they had to withdraw the offer.

I used Keystone because they were affiliated to many regulating organisations. These organisations assured me that using them is the best way to avoid a cowboy builder, as they offer protection to the consumer and easy customer complaint procedures. This has turned out to be the biggest fallacy in the construction industry, as shown by the picture of the mountain of paperwork and evidence I have accumulated trying to get these organisations to follow their own procedures.

Every single one of these organisations, with the exception of Corgi, who then made numerous mistakes, refused to even look at this problem. All I ever received in reply was ‘go and seek independent legal advice’. This included the police, who refused to even look at the evidence until I threatened an officer with dereliction of duty and demanded their badge number. It was only then that they looked at the evidence and gave me a crime number. The police then became another horror story.

The worst organisation I have encountered is TrustMark. This organisation was initiated and funded by the government, ‘to raise standards and empower consumers by helping them identify reputable building firms that meet a set of competence and customer-care standards’.

TrustMark receive their licence from BERR (the government department that was formally known as The Department for Trade and Industry). TrustMark have made false allegations against me, in reports to the government, but have not provided any evidence to substantiate these. Please read my horror story, with TrustMark.