Building firm posts viral TikTok of them tearing up client's driveway in 'row over £3,800 unsettled bill' - but all is not as it seems
A building firm faked a viral TikTok video of its staff tearing up a client's driveway while suggesting it was in response to an unpaid £3,800 bill.
Kendall Contractors Ltd, based in Leeds, posted footage of builders demolishing the homeowners driveway with the caption: 'Can't pay? We'll take it away.'
But the firm has now been forced to delete the clip and apologise to the owner after it emerged she had paid the bill in full months earlier - and the clip was actually put together by AI.
The homeowner was left furious after the video went viral and was viewed more than a million times, telling MailOnline how Kendall Contractors had left her in an 'awful position'.
She said the claim the driveway was torn up over a bill is completely false, and that the driveway was simply being repaired as part of agreed remedial work following damage caused by a utility company.
'The truth of it is, they've just done it for a laugh,' she said. 'They've posted a video on TikTok suggesting that I'm someone who dodges their bills, so they've ripped up my driveway.
'We've all watched TV programmes about this kind of thing. But that is not me.
'That is not the situation whatsoever. The fact is, yes, they were taking up the drive, but they were taking up the drive because it needed repairing.'
She added: 'They've put me in an awful position. People online think I'm someone who doesn't pay their bills.'
The footage appears to show a man with a chainsaw tearing into the newly-completed tarmac, set to music. A digger is then seen destroying parts of the driveway.
The homeowner added: 'Frustrating as this is and as annoying as it is and upsetting as it is, I'm actually glad that you did turn up at my door so I was aware of it.
'I just don't know why any company would think to do something like that.'
A neighbour of the homeowner said: 'I feel sorry for her. It's just not on to put her house on the internet and accuse her of not paying her bills.
'This video's gone viral and they've basically accused this poor lady of never paying.
'The best thing they could do now is write off the money she owes them for the repairs, as a goodwill gesture. I'd tell them to go and whistle for the money.'
The firm has since deleted the video and posted a new clip of the completed works.
In a statement accompanying the post, the firm said: 'We would like to clear up a few things from our latest TikTok that has now been removed due to it circulating virally.
'This driveway was completed last year, the customer DID pay in full. The reason the driveway was taken up was due to the gas board completing works on the property and having to dig up a part of the driveway.
'We were then asked by the customer to go back and rectify what the gas board had done to the new driveway.
'I have apologised to this customer personally as it has gained some unwanted attention.'
The firm told MailOnline the video was 'fake' and 'AI made'.
When pressed for further details, the staff member added: '[I've] put another video out explaining this and apologising. I'm at hers now. All sorted!'
According to the firm's latest accounts, made up to November 2023, Kendall Contractors Ltd is £122,000 in the red.
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