Douglas Paton was at first delighted with his new resin driveway.
The old entrance to his home in Glenrothes, Fife, had seen better days and needed modernising.
In November 2017, the retired electrical engineer paid Kirkcaldy-based firm Resin Drives Scotland £6,350 to do the work.
He felt comforted by a 15-year guarantee that was included in the quote. “I went with a local firm because their website says they are at the forefront of the installation of resin drives,” said Douglas, 74.
“Initially my wife Jenny and I were really pleased.
“The company did a good job and the edging was nice.”
However, the following summer the couple noticed that areas of the driveway were bleaching and had become patchy.
Douglas said: “It looked odd and it was starting to really annoy us.”
It was clear the problem was getting worse.
“The front of the house faces south and the top of the drive beside the house faces east,” said Douglas. “This area has not faded so the overall effect looks terrible.
“I discovered there are two types of resin. One is UV resistant and the other cheaper type is not.”
Douglas contacted Raw Deal and, in turn, we asked the company to look into the issue.
Last month, boss Grant Matthew visited the home to survey the problem.
Afterwards he offered to fix the drive – but only if Douglas paid for the materials.
Mr Matthew told Raw Deal: “I had been up to have a look and there’s a discolouration due to the choice of material by Mr Paton.
“It’s not my position to relay it at my expense.”
Raw Deal then asked why his company had not advised the Patons of the potential drawbacks of using this type of material.
He claimed Douglas should have done his own research online before shelling out more than £6,000.
Mr Matthew responded by email: “Buddy, get the customer to deal with me or go to trading standards or whatever it is you are doing.
“I said I’ll do the job labour-free if he had the materials and I did advise at the time also that this is a buff product.
“There’s the internet for people to use to research this information if you are going to spend that kind of money.”
Mr Matthew paid the Patons another visit last Tuesday.
Douglas said: “This time he brushed aside the 15-year guarantee and said he would want another £2,500 to fix the driveway.”
He insisted this was “not on” and was now set to raise a complaint with Trading Standards.
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