Touchstone Lofts

I recently had the misfortune of engaging with Touchstone Lofts for a loft conversion project, and my experience with them has been nothing short of disappointing and frustrating. Their seemingly impressive 5 star Trustpilot reviews, upon closer inspection, reek of deceit and manipulation, making it clear that Touchstone Lofts cannot be trusted. One glance at their Trustpilot page reveals a startling pattern. Clicking on the word "verified" exposes the truth behind their so-called 'positive' reviews. It becomes evident that the company itself has written the majority of these glowing reviews, attempting to create an artificially positive image, they all appear to promote the company but with no actual detail of any work done. They even have one from someone in Romania (RO), even though the company itself is UK based, so I can only conclude it was an incentivised employee who wrote it. Furthermore, it is disheartening to discover that Touchstone Lofts has actively flagged all the negative one-star reviews, further suppressing the voices of dissatisfied customers. This practice of cherry-picking reviews only reinforces their lack of transparency and genuine customer care. It is worth noting that all the five-star ratings are conveniently labelled as "invited" reviews, undermining their credibility. These invited reviews only serve to perpetuate Touchstone Loft's efforts to manipulate their reputation, rather than portray genuine customer satisfaction. Despite the evidence of these deceptive tactics, I am certain that this review, like many others, will eventually be flagged and buried by the company. Touchstone Lofts clearly does not welcome honest feedback and is determined to maintain their false positive image at any cost. My personal experience with Touchstone Lofts was a nightmare from day one. The project was riddled with delays, lack of communication, and poor workmanship. Any attempt to address these issues was met with dismissive responses and inadequate solutions, especially by Paul, and occasionally Mantas. It became evident that the company prioritises profit over any customer satisfaction. I strongly advise anyone considering Touchstone Lofts for their loft conversion to proceed with extreme caution. Do not be swayed by their facade of positive reviews, as they are merely a smokescreen to hide their true nature. Save yourself the time, money, and unnecessary stress by opting for a more reputable and trustworthy company. Touchstone Lofts' deceptive practices and manipulation of customer reviews have shattered any semblance of trust I had in them. It is disheartening to see a company resort to such underhanded tactics rather than genuinely addressing customer concerns and delivering a quality service.

Grace

I had an extremely negative experience with Paul Johal and his team at Touchstone during the implementation of our proposed loft conversion and internal restructuring. Paul demonstrated a complete lack of involvement in the planning and design of the works and abandoned the project shortly after it started, making himself unavailable for any further discussions or visits. The work done by Mantas and his team was anything but prompt and they consistently went over budget, resulting in the original quotation doubling. I would strongly advise against considering Touchstone for any similar projects.

From the beginning, Touchstone have failed to provide any meaningful assistance or guidance in helping us navigate options and design. Paul and his crew were woefully incommunicative with project updates, rarely seeking any input or feedback from us. As a result, decisions were rushed and hastily made, often impeding on the progress of the work.I was unimpressed with the lack of coordination and efficiency displayed by the crew. There was a clear lack of communication and quality control, leading to a disjointed and sub standard final outcome. Any rapport that may have been established was overshadowed by the overall lack of professionalism displayed by the Touchstone crew.It is evident that pride in their work is not a priority for the Touchstone crew. The finished product was lackluster and failed to meet our expectations. Any claim they may have had to craftsmanship or attention to detail is simply not apparent in the final result.

I thought it only moral to mention that I was originally offered payment by Paul from Touchstone Lofts to leave a five star review on his Google Review page. I did leave a review because I needed the money, but Paul never sent me any payment for it as he promised. I guess there are other students, like myself, who fell for his scam. Annoyed.

We contracted Touchstone Lofts to build a loft conversion after seeing many reviews. The initial meeting with Paul left a good impression as he promised outstanding service with no hassle. Their marketing and website looks impressive, promising exceptional build quality and customer service but the reality is different. Paul turned up 3 hours late, so not a great start. I could write pages regarding the incompetence and appalling service we encountered with Touchstone but I am going to summarise.

The work commenced in September 2022 and from the very first day we had issues with the workers not turning up some days, some days only one person would turn up and this continued throughout the whole build process. I contacted Touchstone to complain and they simply informed me that ‘time was not of the essence’. We were given a timescale of 12 weeks but the project was not completed till June 2023.

We were charged an extortionate amounts of money by Touchstone for all the extras they applied. Paul was supposed to manage the project but we felt let down by his lack of presence and managing. We were the ones pointing out all the errors in the build and highlighting any issues that arose. We were left at the mercy of the contractor, who was very inconsiderate at times ( left us with no heating and or electricity).

We had paid for interior decoration to be carried out and this took forever to complete. The delays in the build and decorating meant that we had to pay for storage for our belongings. Finally the decoration work started and the work was not finished to a good standard and they needed to return several times to complete the job.

Eventually, once the work was complete, it took months to issue the completion certificate and it took numerous emails, telephone calls and complaints to the their office. Sarah McIntyre spoke to us and she would acknowledge emails and then simply forget about us till we complained again.

These are just a few of the many issues we had with Touchstone Lofts and we certainly will not be using them again or recommending them.

Please note that with Touchstone Lofts you will be at the mercy of sub-contractors who are not vetted properly, will try to do the job using the cheapest possible materials and there are a number of hidden project costs.

The customer service was absolutely dreadful and if things go wrong Touchstone are not helpful at all and appear to be invisible. I believe it is when things go wrong that the true nature of a company comes out.

With the recent heavy downpours we can now see how poor the workmanship is. We have water coming through the ceiling light fittings, and the VELUX window is leaking around the sides. I attempted to call Touchstone Lofts so they can rectify, but could not have been more disinterested. I was promised a call back, but nothing. After constant calling and emailing I eventually got a response, but they blamed wear and tear and would not fix the issues. Our loft was only completed six months ago so should be covered under their Home Improvement Guarantee, but that is not the case. I'm incredibly disappointed with this company, their attitude, and complete lack of professionalism.

Atrocious company which treats its customers with utter contempt. Everything appeared fine until after the contract was signed, then it all changed. They caused us nothing by stress and anxiety though their constant ineffectiveness. Not only did they lie about the start date of the project, but after waiting over 13 months with little to no communication in between, they couldn’t even get the basics correct. They over charged for the architectural drawings, which when we checked with an independent surveyor, we're three times the normal price for such work.

There was no professional communication whatsoever. We found it very difficult to get hold of staff, and when we did they promised to phone back and didn't, and they rarely responded to emails unless they were after more money.

Unfortunately we fell for the falsity of their brochure and website which makes many great claims, but the actual proof is in the pudding, and this pudding was like eating cold rice pudding with a thick lumpy skin on the top. We found them difficult to work with, rude at points, and they would never accept any responsibility for their mistakes despite having proof of it.

Money appears to be their main driver ,see and read the contract and you will understand that it's all stacked in the company's favour. For instance, they want you to pay their invoice within 48 hours of sending and if after five days and you still haven't paid then they'll charge a further 4% above Barclays base rate. There's no customer service as its claimed, just excuses. BEWARE : if it's not written in the contract then expect to pay for all the extras they will find, all at higher than RRP.

When your ceilings are damaged that will be a further problem and expense for you to sort out. They have covered themselves because "it's in the contract.."

I can't believe this lot are still trading, and quite frankly, they shouldn't be. I'm just glad the last 12 months have now ended because it's been tough on us, and not just the extra 25% over budget. We were told by the Project Manager that the works would take 12 weeks from start to finish, but it was actually 12 months.

This whole project was a nightmare purely caused by this company, I certainly would not recommend them to my worst enemy.