L S.
1/5
had an extremely terrible and costly experience with Duncan.
Firstly and most importantly, he is not an Architect. the term architect is protected in law and HAVE to be registered with the ARB. he is not. he stated he did 4 yrs in college, this is not an architect and is highly highly illegal to claim to be one (as he does in many places, have screenshots).
this is a long review but its important to explain all facts....especially for other customers whom may think hes "chasing" applications for them when in fact hes actually not submitting them for weeks then blaming delays on the councils...
appointed sept 24.
numerous issues resulting in just shy of 2 months worth of delays..computer breaking,hard drive corrupt,hard drive needing recovering,cant download CAD light etc. assured many times my application would be in before christmas.
apparent success...emailed me plans Dec 20th 7pm along with a "i know i have left a few windows off (by left i mean forgotten)". geez.was still assured they would be submitted before christmas.
final plans received 23rd December 14.23pm with invoice,invoice paid.
I mesgd 29th Dec - Have any plans been submitted? reply "i have submitted loads thanks *laughing emoji*. no further info.
8 Jan asked again. reply: "yes". Asked him to be professional and provide the date submitted and next steps.
Response on 8 jan 14.19pm "application submitted on the 23rd..."
also in jan requested the drawings that had the measurements on, chased 3 times, reply "been busy boy! how time flies! will sort tomorrow" on 27th jan, chased on 29th got the reply "got a long list of clients shouting at the same time"..to this date have not received.
had a horrid feeling so i checked the planning portal....nothing for my address..ZERO 🙁
messaged 1st and 2nd feb... no reply.
Called warrington BC on monday and they were nothing short of absolutely fabulous with me...ZERO APPLICATION FOR MY ADDRESS, AT ALL. they detailed other applications he had made (all public information on the planning portal so no DP laws broken) he had submitted 1 on 23rd then 8 and 24 jan, jan's both being backdated to December....not professional imo.
called him 3 times, no answer.
email from him14.25pm stating "contacted warrington council last week who confirmed the app received and is awaiting validation, it is 10th in the queue and should be validated in the next few days".
this is an outright lie as i already knew there wasnt an application, also....validation timescales for WBC are currently "a few to 5 days" so i should have had that validation early jan latest.
i made aware that i was aware there is no application but that he had done others and asked for proof of his 23rd december email.
response received...he did not receive my payment until the 24th dec so did not submit my application until 6th jan....almost 2 weeks later...although we already know even that was not true. and why say on the 8th jan it had gone in on 23rd? he went on to blame the councils email system...another lie as they received his 23rd, 8&24 app's. also...validation happens within 5 working days....he should have chased...we're 7 weeks on.
i responded asking for proof he submitted 6 jan. in the meantime i called WBC to ask them to double check...they informed me he had submitted 4 minutes earlier...14.29pm on 3rd feb (4 minutes after telling me he submitted 6th jan...what!) no planning fee paid (he now states his card is blocked but he tried)
sent a falsifed "proof" of 6th jan ...a drafted email.
response to my formal complaint was to state hes not refunding my money and wont be replying to me any further. he failed to provide the requested insurance/mediation, governing board or complaints procedure. Still no payment receipt to date either.
he's acted so illegally - from claiming to be an architect to refusing to deal with a complaint that i have no choice but to follow through stages of complaint and then a money claim/civil claim. I have of course report to trading standards (consumer line).
con man.
