When a man walked up Isabel Webster’s driveway and made her an offer, she was as polite as possible.
The 73-year-old was having groceries delivered at the time. She is housebound due to chronic ME, which makes it almost impossible to go to the supermarket.
As the delivery man helped her unload her goods, a stranger came up the driveway of her home in Wigan. He was a door-to-door salesman with an observation.
The driveway outside her Winstanley home needed attention. Isabel wasn’t interested, but the seller wasn’t deterred.
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Although Isabel politely declined his offer, the professional persisted and asked if his boss could call her for a quote.
“He looked at the driveway and said it needed to be done,” Isabel told the Manchester Evening News. “It probably was, but it was the last item on my agenda. He asked if his boss could come round and give me a quote and I said no again. He asked me to turn on my phone so the boss could call me.
“I said I wasn’t feeling well, my phone was off and I didn’t feel up to it today. He asked me to turn my phone on for five minutes. Just to get him to go, I did.”
Isabel says the workman’s boss called and she agreed to let him visit the property to give her a quote. When they arrived at the house the next day, the “very pleasant” and “very helpful” man convinced the grandmother that they would do a “great job” with the new driveway and they made a plan.
Isabel eventually agreed to a quote and the man returned two weeks later to start the project. But alarm bells began to ring when the retired teacher noticed that the work was being done very slowly – despite initially being told the trip would take four days.
“For the first few days he barely did anything,” Isabel told the MEN. “He had to go and get stuff all the time. It was because they did so little each day. The mess piled up over a few weeks. I had to apologize to the neighbors, it was so bad.
Heavy concrete slabs and other debris on the driveway meant Isabel was unable to use her mobility scooter for two weeks.
She also noticed that many of the workmen’s tools were broken. She even had to borrow an axle grinder from a neighbor. She began to worry that she had been scammed.
“I told them I was concerned about the way things were going and they got mad at me,” she added. When the work was finally done, Isabel says she looked out the window and the driveway looked fine.
The workers demanded £7,000 in cash, despite initially telling the grandmother she could pay by bank transfer. But when Isabel went outside and took a closer look, she was shocked by what she saw.
“[When they finished]”I went outside and looked and I was shocked at what they had done,” she said. “The ride itself was shocking, but they also drove over a manhole cover. I told them not to do that because it’s the only one on the road.”
Isabel, who had a double mastectomy last year for breast cancer, called the workman and asked if he could come back and clean up the mess they had made.
“They had left all the rubbish in the garden and in front of the door,” she added. “He said he would come back in two days to see what needed to be done.
“[When he arrived]he stormed through the door and out. He was already in an aggressive mood. He said he had done a good job and that I was nitpicking.
“I didn’t think I was at all. All my neighbors had commented on it and said how badly the work was done. He said he was fed up with me carrying on.
“He said it was all in my head and that I just wanted perfection. As he pulled out of the driveway, I said, ‘What about the manhole cover?’ and he got really upset. He got really mad at me.”
Isabel says she was so upset by the situation that she stood on her doorstep crying. “I couldn’t believe how vulnerable I felt at that moment,” she added. “I knew there was nothing I could do.”
Isabel felt completely hopeless and contacted Citizens Advice. They were told that she had a case but that a resolution could be long and difficult. They advised her to contact three reputable professionals for quotes to repair her driveway.
“I was sick from the effort,” Isabel added. “I had no energy. My son and I went for a month. They told us to get quotes and get it fixed to an acceptable standard.”
Isabel said two workmen visited her home and were “disgusted” by the state of the driveway, adding that it was the worst job they had ever seen. Isabel was told the damage was too extensive to repair and that she would need a completely new driveway.
Unable to pay the additional £7,000, Isabel thought all hope was lost until she received a visit from the third and final trader, Calum Griffin, owner of CG Paving.
“He was really upset,” Isabel said. “He just kept walking around with his head in his hands.”
Calum offered Isabel a “reasonable” quote before he left the property. But later that evening, the grandmother was surprised when he called her out of the blue. In an incredible turn of events, the kindhearted tradesman offered to demolish the shoddy job and redo the driveway for free.
“Calum said he thought about it and it really upset him,” Isabel said. “He said the tradesman had done such a bad job and it gave all tradesmen a bad reputation. He wanted to do it, but he wanted to do it for free.
Isabel said the couple went back and forth before she finally agreed to the friendly offer. “I told him he couldn’t do it because it was too much,” she said. “I finally said yes, but I couldn’t talk. I really couldn’t talk. It just didn’t go in.”
Calum enlisted the help of local businesses and four suppliers came together to offer materials for free. The worker and his “lovely” team went on to complete the job – and restore Isabel’s faith in humanity.
“He came when he said he would come and his team was amazing,” Isabel said. “He kept me informed the whole time. He did everything he said he would do.
“I couldn’t have wished for anything better. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The situation was too much for me for the first part of the year.”
Isabel claims the company that carried out the shoddy work was closed down after the work was carried out, meaning she has not received any money back. Hero trader Calum, 42, from Wigan, told the Manchester Evening News it was “heartbreaking” to see how Isabel had been treated.
“When I went to visit Isabel to give her a quote to repair the work, which was in such a poor condition, I could clearly see that no attempt had been made to follow the correct procedures to install it,” said Calum.
“It looked horrible. Even the Tesco delivery guy tripped when he delivered his order. It’s heartbreaking to see that another company has seen this as an opportunity to take advantage of a vulnerable old lady. These so-called professionals are giving the industry a bad name.
“We asked our regular suppliers if they would like to donate their time and materials to a good cause, and without hesitation they all agreed.
“We hope this will restore some confidence to the industry. Having work carried out on your property is stressful enough, so we are trying to make it as easy as possible for the customer – not a living nightmare like the previous company and the many other rogue companies out there.
“Hopefully it will raise some awareness of what these cowboys are willing to do.”