MARC GREENHILL

Fletcher disputes claims that staff bullied a Christchurch woman who refused to sign off earthquake repairs on her home.

Lisa Hindson said this week that Fletcher and the Earthquake Commission failed to act on her complaints about “substandard” work on her Linwood home, including the house not being level after repiling, varnish stains on the carpet and raw sewage seeping under the house after services were reinstated.

She also complained about delays in completing the work and told The Press she was pressured to sign off the job days before Christmas.

Fletcher EQR general manager David Peterson said bullying claims had never been raised. “Whilst our site supervisor may well have expressed EQR-EQC’s position to the customer in a straightforward and matter-of-fact fashion, we contest that any bullying took place,” he said.

No workmanship issues were raised at the December 14 sign-off meeting, Peterson said.

“The customer would not sign off as she was waiting on information from four different parties. We were not advised who the four parties were,” he said.

“We asked if there was anything we could do to assist with this information, but the customer would not disclose.”

Delays caused by council inspections were explained and the complaints received related to requests for non-quake work, such as insulation and wiring, he said.

Hindson said the parties providing information were lawyers, which she had not wanted to disclose, and the EQC call centre also advised her not to sign off the work if it was unsatisfactory. She said she requested new wiring and insulation while plasterboard was removed, but did not expect the EQC to pay.

Her complaints about workmanship were made to the commission because of communication problems at the Fletcher hub in Woolston, Hindson said.

EQC spokesman Iain Butler said Hindson’s file did not mention uneven floors or painting problems. The commission’s notes often did not include “lots of detail” about Fletcher issues, “so I can’t rule out [Hindson] raising these things as well”.

Hindson said that after The Press article on Tuesday, a meeting was cancelled at Fletcher’s request. Fletcher disputes this.

– © Fairfax NZ News