So the intent was that we get the carpets up to help get rid of some of the allergies around the place, and replace them with polished floorboards. This had already been done in the second of three bedrooms and the results were quite good. So naturally we got the same guy back.

The dog, cat and I were the only three home that week and the first problem is that I was out of commission with the 'flu.

The second, larger problem is that instead of doing the work himself, the guy got his son to do it. And his son was not at all experienced. He sanded the living crud out of the floor perpendicular to the grain of it. At first I thought that this was just the line of the polish, and would come out as it dried. It was only after it had dried (and worse, after he'd been paid, which I shouldn't have done but was far from thinking straight) that the extent that he'd scored the floor became apparent.

Upon being contacted about it he gave every excuse under the sun; "Oh, there was water staining, oh, it was a heavy traffic area (what, the first bedroom too), etc, etc." The Department of Fair Trading was contacted and believed the line that he was (a) broke because people hadn't paid him and (b) overseas for the rest of the year, presumably on all of the money that he was owed.

The floor isn't a disaster, but leaves a great deal to be desired. If you get floor sanding done, inspect it with a magnifying glass before paying.