Extremely bad workmanship

We contracted this company to do laminate flooring for us. We paid our deposit on the same day we were quoted. We couldn't get hold of the salesman for 3 days thereafter. No reply to our Whatsapps. The office told us he was off sick. No red flags yet as people do get sick. On Fri 30 Jan 2026 their driver dropped off the 2 installers to lay our flooring. No-one was with them to show them what had to be done. They asked us for information. We didn't stand over them as they worked, because we'd done our homework on the company and read their positive Google reviews. However, by 2pm in the afternoon it became apparent that they were not qualified. We immediately phoned the office and spoke to the salesman to explain the situation. He told us that we need to speak directly to the installers. We weren't happy with that, because we contracted Flooring Solutions and not their installers to do the job. When the salesman 1st came to quote us we asked whether Flooring Solutions used their own contractors for installations. He confirmed that they had their own teams (not subcontractors). We told him that the store manager should come out to do an inspection. The store manager came on the Friday afternoon and we pointed out all the issues to him. He was in complete agreement with us and promised that everything would be sorted out. He called us on the Saturday morning and said he'd send an installer on Monday who knew more about laminate flooring than he did to rectify the issues. Monday came and went. On Tuesday afternoon around 1pm the same installer was dropped off to sort out the issues. When he left there were more problems than before. On 5 Feb we emailed the Owner of Flooring Solutions Bellville. He could only do an inspection on 9 Feb. Despite numerous problems being evident with the newly laid flooring the owner was only prepared to change 4 rows in the passage. We told him that we wanted a full refund. He said that he couldn't refund us, because the flooring had already been laid. We gave him 14 days to refund us in full and remove the flooring otherwise we were going to institute a claim against him at the Small Claims Court for the max amount. In the interim we contacted the manufacturer of the laminate planks in Germany to ask them whether they had a rep in Cape Town who could do an independent inspection for us. This person came out and was taken aback by the workmanship in general, the fact that no gaps were left for expansion of the planks, bulging on the long and short ends of the planks, the way the installers cut the planks and by which company did the job. He told us that the manufacturer would never honour the warranty due to the way that planks had been laid. We gave the owner until 25 Feb to refund us our deposit. On Monday 2 March he refunded us a portion of our deposit and promised to pay the balance within 24hrs after the flooring was removed. The flooring was removed on Weds 4 March. By Fri 6 March when we still hadn't received the balance of our refund, we called him to ask him what was happening. He told us it had been paid that morning. On Monday 9 March I sent him another final demand after which we finally received the remainder of our money. Flooring Solutions have a questionnaire that they want their clients to complete when they are finished with the job. One question asks if the team leader explained to the installers what to do when dropping them off. There was no team leader in our case. A driver dropped them off. They didn't have the appropriate tools, they cut in our study and had no broom - there was dust all over, they used the wrong colour sealant, they had no cloths to wipe the sealer when they sealed off so they got it all over the new floors, they hit the planks together with such a force that they damaged them, chipped numerous planks, etc. This occurred throughout the 3 bedrooms and the passage. It's been a terrible experience.