A family who purchased a seven-day Wickes bathroom renovation in the new-year sale say the project became a 'living nightmare' after being left in a 'bombsite'.

Andrew Scott and his partner, from Wroughton, spent £11,000 at Wickes in January 2024 on a complete bathroom renovation for them and their three-year-old child.

But the project, which the family was told would take seven to 10 days, left them in a pile of 'destruction, dust and debris' with no family bathroom for 99 days.

Mr Scott, who is now in talks with Citizens Advice, has described the whole experience as a "true nightmare" and says he feels abandoned by Wickes who "didn't care" when problems started to occur.

"They employed an unvetted third-party local tradesperson who would turn up some days at 9am and be gone by 10am," he told the Swindon Advertiser.

"There was one day I remember where he just moved some floor tiles from one room to another and then went home.

"For two months we had nothing but the smell of raw sewage from the badly plumbed-in toilet.

The family have described living with a toddler and no working bathroom was a 'nightmare'The family have described living with a toddler and no working bathroom was a 'nightmare' (Image: Andrew Scott) “He then started demanding his second pay instalment of over £1000 for specialist works, even though the bathroom was far from finished.

"We lived like this for weeks with no working family bathroom and a three-year-old child.

"My wife would be crying at some points saying when is this going to stop."

When Mr Scott began to receive threatening emails from the tradesman via email, he went to Wickes who he claims advised him to just pay the tradesman, and they would then get someone new in to finish the job.

"But it took months to get another company in - just left us in that state," added Mr Scott.

The designs for the 'one week renovation'The original design for the 'one-week renovation' (Image: Andrew Scott) “Finally in mid-June some new guys came in and they worked like animals to fix up the mess.

"The toilet was done so badly by the first man they had to remove four buckets of sludge and the house smelt like sewage for weeks."

Work for the project was not completed until October 2024.

The family is now seeking compensation for the 'seven to 10-day renovation' after claiming that was not what they received.

A spokesperson for Wickes said: "We always aim to deliver a high standard of customer satisfaction but in this instance, we acknowledge that the process took longer than we anticipated, and we are sorry for Mr Scott’s experience. 

"Our Customer Relations team remained in contact with Mr Scott and the work was completed at the end of October."

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