Bit of an update... I am pleased to report that my outstanding concerns have now been fully addressed by e.surv. I am satisfied with the manner in which they have resolved my complaint and regard the issue as closed.

Bit of an update... I am pleased to report that my outstanding concerns have now been fully addressed by e.surv. I am satisfied with the manner in which they have resolved my complaint and regard the issue as closed.

Well no takers? OK, I am sure a MOD with move this to a different forum if there is one on surveyors etc, I couldn't find one though. Basically I wanted to warn people on here about the possible issues that could arise from having a survey done. I bought a property last May. Prior to buying it I had a full HomeBuyers Survey done by esurv. Esurv have a contract with Santander (my mortgage provider) so Santander strongly recommended that I use esurv. I paid extra to have a full homebuyers report done. Mainly because, like most normal people, I couldn't afford to buy a house then later find out it needed thousands spent on it. The Homebuyers report highlighted a couple of issues, nothing major that couldn't be dealt with. Having been satisfied that the house was OK I went ahead with the purchase and moved in. After a couple of weeks unpacking I went to store some boxes up in the loft. I couldn't believe what I saw. All of the roof supports in the loft had been cut away, I assume to make more space in the loft. The roof was sagging, roof supports was cracking and snapping under the weight of the roof. The purlings (the horizontal supports that support the vertical roof supports) had failed and were drooping. Basically the whole roof looked ready to collapse. I phoned my brother, as he knows a lot of builders, and within a couple of hours I had a roofer in the loft looking at the problem. He advised me to instruct a structural engineer and to move out asap as the whole roof could collapse into the house at anytime. I contacted esurv. They sent out an area manager who had a look and told me it wasn't a huge problem and could be fixed easily. The structural engineer visited, looked in the loft and agreed with the roofer. It was unsafe and ready to collapse. Despite following up with esurv they kept fobbing me off, saying they were assigning a "case manager" to look into it and he would be in touch in the next couple of weeks. All this time I couldn't live in the property. Esurv basically admitted that they were at fault but were adamant that it was a small fix and would only need some bit of wood putting in to support the roof. The structural engineers report stated that the roof had shifted and could now only be held by introducing a steel frame and trench jacks as a temporary fix, with a permanent fix being a removal of the roof covering and a full steel frame being built to support what was remaining of the roof structure. Thats when I hit a wall. I was getting nowhere and so threatened legal action. Esurv recommended that I refer the case to the Ombudsman (Property). What a huge mistake! Its been with them months. Esurv don't bother answering any questions from the Omb and so timelines have just dragged and dragged. The Omb issued a finding last month saying that Esurv were at fault and should pay for repairs to the roof, and other problems that they had missed. This is where it gets really really silly. My roof is around 30 yrs old. It should have a lifespan of around 80yrs, give or take a few. the Ombudsman has reduced the amount awarded to less that 50% based on the principle of "betterment". Basically, because I will end up with a roof that has a lifespan of 80yrs, rather than 50 yrs, I am in a "better" position and so the award has been reduced accordingly. I didn't want a better roof and I didn't want to replace it for decades to come. The amount awarded doesn't cover the costs required to fix the problems, but the Omb has just made an assumption that I am in the position to pay thousands towards the cost of repair. I have also complained to Santander. It probably won't get me anywhere but I hold them at least partially responsible for recommending a surveying company and telling me that they would do a good job. Santander seemed more concerned that it is now obvious that my house was overvalued, as if the roof problem was reported in the survey the property valuation would have been reduced by up to £25k. They now effectively have loaned me money against a property that isn't worth what esurv said it was and that has a roof held up with jacks. I have set up a website, about eserv.which shows photos of the problems. I know I will get people telling me that I shouldn't set up a website but I am absolutely furious and determined to have this issue thrown into the public forum. People deserve to know that getting a survey won't necessarily prevent you from buying a house that could potentially collapse and kill you, and getting any kind of justice is going to be slow and painful. My only other choice now is to take this matter through the courts. In the meantime my roof is held up with jacks!!! Please visit my website about eserv and please pass on words of caution to anyone you know who may be buying a property or getting a survey done!

Hi all, is there anyone else on here that has had major problems because of building surveyors missing problems on a survey? I would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has dealt with esurv. I have posted in a separate thread yesterday but thought I would throw this to the floor and see if anyone else has had problems?

Well I have decided that if I can't get justice I will at least name and shame them look up about-esurv.com. I expect to be sued but hey ho, at least I will have some fun in the meantime! You have just got to love the world wide web sometimes...

Well fingers crossed for you Purple_Rain. I hope it works out for you. Unfortunately I expect your progress to be slow, but that doesn't mean you won't get there in the end! Please let me know how you get on!!!

blogging my case and case number sounds interesting. i am new to the online world so may need to google that one! I have managed to set up a website though, and posted a link on the e.surv Facebook page. Naughty but good fun! Can I post my website link on here???

Hi all! This is the only forum entry I could find about the OSP so I thought I would post in here. I had a full HomeBuyers Survey done by esurv last year prior to buying my home. The survey didn't note any structural problems with the main roof at all. Having gone ahead with the purchase and moved in I looked in the loft and found that all the roof supports had been sawn away, presumably in some dim-witted attempt at a loft conversion or similar. Basically the roof was totally unsupported and was in danger of collapse. I had a structural engineers report done, which basically told me to move out of the house pronto. Since then I have had nothing but excuses and other flannel from esurv. I threatened legal action and esurv themselves actually recommended the OSP In hindsight I should have stuck to my guns but I opted for the OSP service, it being free and all! Anyway, long story short, at the moment (nearly 12 months on) it is still with the OSP. They issued their findings in March 2012, stating that esurv should have noticed and reported the roof issue, no huge surprises there. The estimate for repairing the roof is around £14k. The OSP have awarded me £5500, a reduced amount because they believe I will end up with a "better roof" and so have reduced the award to allow for "betterment". I have never heard such utter nonsense in my life! The whole process has taken months because the OSP have repeatedly written to esurv to ask for their comments. esurv haven't responded so the OSP have continued to give them time to respond and chased them up for weeks on end. In my humble opinion, if someone doesn't answer to an accusation the OSP should just crack on and make their decisions based on the complaint and the information they actually have available!! Anyway, I have appealed the findings with the OSP and it is now being looked at again. If they come back with the same nonsense I think I will pull out and just take esurv to court. Not entirely sure which court, or how but I will find a way! I try to leave customer feedback with esurv but they wouldn't put it on their website (no surprises there) so I have set up my own website. I little naughty and perhaps a bit risky but hey there is not a word on the website which isn't provable as fact. Not sure whether I can post the website details on here, but I am sure a mod will let me know in time...?

Just realised how much I ramble in my posts - will go for editing versions from now!!

Morning all, thanks for all the above posts and advice. Unfortunately I don't have legal protection insurance but I am in a union. The union rep seems totally uninterested, mainly because I don't think he understands the legal implications with this. I get the feeling that he sees this as a case of someone being pathetic etc and he pulled a face when I mentioned disabilities and the Equality Act. The main points I have so far is that I warned my HR months ago by email that I couldn't cope and that it was affecting my health, nothing changed in fact things only got worse. I see this is "putting them on notice" that an injury may occur. Am I right in a loose sense? That being the case am I right in thinking that when I finally had my breakdown it was, too a degree, foreseeable, and that that goes towards proving negligence? I have already put in a grievance, was called to a meeting and was just given a rollocking and told that this job was obviously too stressful for me. I have a copy of the policy regarding grievances and needless to say they haven't followed it at all. I haven't been able to get a copy of the Sickness policy at all. I have a copy of the colleagues handbook, and also notes from when I induct new colleagues into the department, and it says very little of substance. It points out that colleagues may have to abide by rules and requests made from time to time in line with the Sickness & Absence Policy. I have requested this from HR but was told there isn't a list of rules at all. Not sure how I can possibly abide by rules that haven't been communicated to me, but I have been told I won't be paid unless I do. Papasmurf, I think the point you make about the consequences of putting in further grievances is a salient one. Until now my primary intention has been to be supported back to work. Being realistic I don't think that will happen, I think this whole thing has been about making me so uncomfortable in work that I resign so they can restructure and hire in someone cheaper. I think they have no intention of supporting me back to work and are probably now very miffed that I haven't fitted in with their plan. The main reason I haven't put in any further grievances is because I basically don't have any confidence in them to deal with the grievances correctly, and I don't want to give them a further excuse for constantly contacting me. Does it dilute the strength of any subsequent legal action if I don't put in grievances? The main thing that drew me to this forum was to try to understand whether HR should be ringing me asking me when I will be coming back to work. My GP has signed me off for 6wks however also immediately HR were on the phone asking me specifically what the doctor had said, what she had prescribed me etc and asking me whether I think I will be well enough to return to work before the 6wks is up. I found lots of info on Keeping in Touch days, and most other posts seem to confirm that HR should be able to maintain a degree of contact but my understanding was that this contact was to explore ways to support you back to work. In my case I feel like all contact has been used to pile further pressure on me.

Many thanks people, I am absolutely awestruck by the amount of support and knowledge you guys freely share. Any case law etc you can throw my way would be appreciated and likewise anything of use I stumble across will also be posted. Is it just me, or do others get the feeling that as soon as you tell an employer you are struggling to cope they see you as fair game? Just been reading up on this little gem, bleeding flip!!! Even if employers don't take this seriously it seems that (some) tribunals see it differently... (just had to remove the link because I have less than 10 posts but, if you google Doctor wins £4.5m, you should find the case I have been reading) OK, so I am not pregnant but there does seem to be a line drawn in the sand for discrimination cases and stress caused by employers! Personally I would be happy with an apology and the support needed to get back to work but I think I have more chance of getting a trip to the moon. Has anyone on here had a psychological assessment done privately? I ask because I am being referred to OH and I am not sure how impartial they might be. I get the feeling that my boss thinks I am making this illness up, stress is seen as a good thing at work, not an illness so I am wondering whether its worth getting an impartial assessment? Has anyone any views on either the impartiality of OH or the usefulness of an psychological assessment? I have googled some through the BPS and there seems to be some that have specialised in "malingering" and also have appeared at tribunals. Regards FuzzyMutt

Hi Bankfodder, I have read about your exploits with interest!! My case is one that has been covered so well by others already but will happily share... Basically I work for a large public body. I have been lucky in a way because I was one of the last of the "good old days", people head hunted at decent salary rates before things started to go downhill with the global recession etc. I was (I suppose I still am...) head of department for a very fast moving element of local government (oxymoron perhaps?) Anyway to cut a long story short, I could very easily be replaced by someone willing to do the job for a lot less money. It's a position I feel lucky to be in, but to a great extent its been the crux of my problems. With everyone keen to be seen to be saving money it was inevitable that people would be looking at me in a critical way. A lot of positions in my department were cut last year with responsibilities shared amongst us lucky enough to survive the cuts, but it meant that everyone was working beyond capacity and everyone was feeling the strain. The additional workload took its toll with me ending up under the care of my GP since last July for work related stress. Further positions were then cut with me then being told that I needed to take up the responsibilities of my deputy. This obviously meant that I wouldn't have the time to manage the department, but I was told that that responsibility would be shared out amongst other managers from other disciplines, i.e.: finance would take over managing the department budget rather than me. In short I was demoted into a lower position with three times the workload we had a couple of years ago with my management responsibilities taken off me. Just before Christmas my GP signed me off work, she thinks I have had a complete nervous breakdown and is obviously concerned. I am on high doss antidepressants amongst other drugs for associated problems. Work have been absolutely awful about it though. I put in a grievance stating that I felt that I was being managed out of my position, the grievance was basically closed down and not progressed. I was told in no uncertain terms that my position was obviously too stressful for me and I should think of leaving whilst I still had a good reputation. Since then, despite being entitled to sick pay, I have been told that paying me is something of a discretionary decision based on how much contact I have with work and how compliant I am. My GP has specifically stated that I shouldn't have contact with work for the foreseeable future, or at least until I feel up to dealing with them, but that does nothing to stop the constant phone calls and date setting i.e.: we will call you again in a couple of days time to discuss how you are doing and when you will return to work. It was close to driving me over the edge. Anyway, thats the bad news. The good news is that your site has provided a few useful pointers for dealing with work. Firstly it could be argued that I have a disability as described in the Equalities Act. Although I haven't point this out to my boss I have dropped hints about whether there would be an option of a phased return to work, or perhaps being deployed into a different department with less stress, or working from home for a while. This has all been emphatically refused. Anyhoo my position now is that they want me to attend a meeting to discuss my future. Again my GP is quite clear that she doesn't want me to attend any meeting at all at the moment. Having read and researched I feel quite confident in politely declining their invitation, as it does seem to go entirely against the advice of my GP and is believed to be something that would make me more ill. It would be remiss of me to do something that my GP feels will make me more ill so on that level I am confident in telling them to crack on without me. The meeting is to discuss whether or not the continue to pay me sick pay, despite me being entitled to it, so the outcome will be interesting. My employers are stupid enough to not know the law and arrogant to believe they are the law, so I think things will get interesting over the next few months however I feel confident enough to deal with them, however ongoing advice and support will always be welcome. More than happy to share my hours/ days worth of research and personal experiences with anyone who may benefit from it of course...

Hi all. I have only just joined the forum this evening but I wanted to say a huge thank you to you guys and girls. I reckon there are most likely hundreds of people like me who research their issues by trawling through your forums, without posting about their particular problem. Obviously there is a mixed bag of good and not so good outcomes but I just wanted to say thank you for putting together this resource that allows people like me to take strength from other peoples experiences so willingly shared. I have a long long way to go with my current issue, but you guys have given me the guidance and inspiration to at least have the courage to take a stand and fight back.