Mum ‘depressed’ over £2k kitchen nightmare
DISPUTE ARISES AFTER HOME MAKEOVER WAS PLANNED
A MUM who handed a Hull builder £2,000 to fit a dream kitchen that is still to be installed claims she has been left “anxious and depressed”.
Helen Cawston, 47, says she has had having sleepless nights after Derek Clarke failed to complete the work as promised.
The builder told the Mail: “I have always said that I would pay the money back. She will receive a full refund within 14 days.”
But Helen, of Goole, says the saga, after her mum’s death from Covid-19 in October, has taken a massive toll.
“I’m anxious,” she said. “I’m just really upset about it all. I thought I would get a kitchen. I didn’t want to waste the money that my mum has left me. He just took me for a ride.”
Helen said she hired the selfemployed builder after placing an advert on Mybuilder.com
But instead of fitting the new kitchen as promised, Helen says Derek “took her for a ride”, with her eventually begging him to cancel the order.
After receiving a quote from Derek, Helen says she paid £2,054 into his account for half of her brand new kitchen.
She said red flags began to show after Derek messaged her only two days later asking for a further £1,000: “I wasn’t prepared to do that, he rung up again and asked for £570 and said if I paid him that he could definitely order the kitchen today – so I did.”
Helen says Derek then bought the wrong size of doors for the house, despite paying him an extra £90.57 for new door handles.
After taking the doors back, Helen says that’s the last she saw of Derek.
Beginning to panic and with the introduction of the third national lockdown, Helen begged for Derek to cancel the kitchen order, but claims she still hasn’t received a full refund.
Helen says the ordeal has left her “anxious and depressed” as she grieves for her mum.
“I asked him for proof of him cancelling my kitchen, although there’s never been any proof of him purchasing the kitchen in December,” said the mum-of-two.
“I just don’t know where else to turn – he seems to come up with a new silly excuse every day.”
Helen, who was employed as fulltime carer for her mother before she
passed away, now believes she will never see the money she paid to Derek on December 15.