George Pistolea builder- beware

[amy30]

We used George Pistolea to renovate and extend our house after recommendations on this forum but unfortunately have had a terrible experience. He abandoned our site just after lockdown with no warning (he said he was going to buy materials)and hasn?t returned since. We looked him up in Facebook and he posted himself on a ferry. He has completed less than half of the contracted works and what he has completed was to a poor standard. He?s cut joists, put joists in the wrong way round, put in ?temporary plumbing? which we now see he never intended to complete. His plastering is to a very poor standard and so is his carpentry. He put in ?temporary? plug sockets we now realise because he didn?t want to buy the ones specified. He also told us thieves broke into our property twice and stole his tools, asking us for money to replace them which we now wonder if there was any truth. He failed to progress the work when he was here, he said the whole project would be completed in March before lockdown which we know at the time was unrealistic. When he was on site it was incredibly quiet and the amount of time spent smoking and on his phone was ridiculous. We believe he never intended on completing our job from the beginning and have contacted trading standards. If anyone else has any contact with him please get in touch with us.