A handyman who fitted shelves in the dark inside a £1.25 million home has left the property with £1,500 of damage, according to the householder. In August 2022, proud home owner Dave Kirk completed on the celebrity-inspired mansion.
Listed for £1.25 million and boasting ‘incredible’ views, Mr Kirk said his new home was “perfect”. He said damage caused by the handyman hired from IKEA service Taskrabbit, was “disruptive” for him and his family.
As reported by ECHO, the handyman was enlisted to fit some shelves in the stunning property in Heswell.. Mr Kirk said: “The whole experience was bit of a shambles, IKEA had the shelves in store in Warrington, but no brackets so I ordered them online.”
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Dave said one shelf collapsed hours after being fitted with the screws coming out ‘cleanly’ and causing minimal damage. However, when the shelves were fixed to the wall a second time, it collapsed and left the whole wall needing to be re-plastered.
Dave has since had a quote for £1,350 for repairs and a further £225 for repainting. He told ECHO the first “warning sign” was when Taskrabbit’s handyman – who turned up a day later than expected – didn’t lay a dust sheet down and smashed the light bulb when setting up his ladder.
Dave added: “He was operating in the dark. The second day he came back I actually gave him a sheet to use, but when he moved to another area of the house he didn’t take it with him.
“I’m trying to run a business with all my stuff laid out on the floor because I’ve got no shelving.” Taskrabbit was founded in the USA in 2008 to match freelance handymen to customers needing help with everyday tasks.
IKEA parent company Ingka Group acquired the business in 2017. Dave attempted to tackle his problem by emailing the chief executive of Taskrabbit and said he failed to find a UK address for the company.
The ECHO can confirm Taskrabbit and Dave are now in contact with each other and aiming to get the issue resolved. A spokesperson for Taskrabbit said “reliability and safety are of the utmost importance”.
They added: “Taskrabbit’s Happiness Pledge is in place to cover certain damages up to £10,000. Unfortunately, in this case the client did not contact Taskrabbit customer service.
“We’re grateful to the Liverpool Echo for bringing this issue to our attention and for connecting us to the client in question. We are now able to work to resolve this issue and are in the process of reimbursing the client for the damage caused.
“It is clear that this task fell short of the standards we expect, and we apologise unreservedly for this experience.” Dave is hoping to raise awareness of his experience with IKEA and Taskrabbit.
He said: “I suspect there’s a a trail of other issues across the Wirral. I want to raise awareness for people who might be in the same position as me and need to get their problem fixed.
“This could be older people who don’t have a great deal of money. I also want IKEA to take responsibility.
“There’s a lot of people put off by flatpack furniture, but if your company is saying we can put it together for you, it’s part of their strategy for buiness growth. And it’s causing chaos.
“In my business, if I had a customer with a problem I’d jump all over it to make sure they’re happy.” An IKEA spokesperson said: “We naturally want all our customers to be happy with the service they receive.
“When things go wrong it is important that we try and get them right. As we do not have the details of the customer or the complaint, we are unable to investigate and therefore comment on this matter.”
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