Forced to pay deposit for windows, Help!

alap

Hi, don't know if anyone can help but here goes. We are in the process of buying a house, we are first time buyers.
The house is in a poor state of repair but we are in a situation where we can stay at home while we work on the house and get it the way we want, doing most of the work ourselves with the odd exeption. We did have a problem with the mortgage company right as we were about to complete who stated that certain work would need to be carried out within 6-8 weeks, namely windows, damp course, electrics and plumbing. We have been rushing around getting quotes making sure we get the best prices.
This is where the problem starts, the last window firm we got in gave us a very good price and they are very well established but we did prefer the people we saw previously and they were recommended to us as well but were about £1000 dearer. We asked the cheaper company if they could give us the quote in writing, this way we could take it to the other firm to see if they'd match it. The salesman from the cheaper company came round about 3 days ago and went over everything with us, right down to the type of obscure glass and handles we were having and gave us full written quote and told us we would need to pay a 10% deposit, that's ok we thought but told him we weren't ready to pay yet as we hadn't even signed the contract for the house, so it's still not ours but should be next week. He asked us to sign a form to confirm the style of windows, glass, handles etc. and just to drop it off the deposit at their office when we were ready. We left it at that for now as we aren't ready but need to be prepared for when we get the keys. Then today we get a call saying that we are late paying the deposit of £500, that it should have been paid by friday, we told them that we weren't ready yet and that we hadn't decided on their quote yet and would get back to them when we were. He told us that if we cancel we would still have to pay the £500 deposit, that we signed a contract and if we don't pay they will send the bailiffs round. We told him we don't own the house yet and he said we could only cancel if the house falls through and if we do get the house we will have to pay up.
We weren't told we were signing a contract to do the work only that what we had chosen was correct for the price. It doesn't state anywhere on the form we signed about losing your deposit if you chose not to use them, it only states you may cancel within 7 days, nowhere does it say about having to pay the deposit regardless. The man on the phone, who was down right rude and a bit of a bully boy, said we have to pay the deposit so they can recover the costs of sending someone to measure up and give written quotes and we have no way out of it. Yet in their yellow pages advert it says in big bold letters, free quotes and estimations, no call out charge.
Even though they were cheaper than anyone else, we really don't want to give them the work after this, we would rather pay more to someone else. Has anyone heard of this before? Any help would be great, as we don't have much time before the 7 days is up, i will be phoning trading standards on monday as well.

P.S. It would be quite amusing if they sent the bailiffs round, the house belonged to a woman who was in her 90's and the furniture that's left in the house is about 30 years old, rotten and damp, worth about £50 for firewood maybe. I'd love to see their faces, they can take the lot, it'll save us a job of clearing it out:rotfl:

bryanb

Tell them you'll see them in court.

noh

Sounds like you have signed a contract. You say the document you signed has a 7 day cancellation clause, therefore you should cancel in writing before the 7 days is up and get a receipt for delivery of the cancellation letter.

Nigel

alap

We haven't actually paid a deposit and the form we signed doesn't appear to be a contract, it's just a form that outlines how many windows we're having, where the openers are going to be, colour, type of obscure glass, fittings and the type of doors. The salesman even said to us, can just sign this to confirm that this is the what you have picked.
We aren't planning getting any jobs done until we get the keys but the mortgage company did say they would need the work doing in 6-8 weeks after completion so we were just getting ready, we figured once we know who we are using then when we get the keys we're ready to roll, we have told this to all the tradesmen who we have been in touch with, that we're not ready yet but when we are we will want to move pretty fast.
As it happens the mortgage company are now giving us 6 months to do what they require as they agreed that 6-8 weeks was pushing it a bit, especially when we both work full time. I still don't think that we should have to pay a deposit unless we want the work doing, and there's not a cat in hells chance that we're going to use this company after their attitude, they've just lost a potential customer and they won't be getting any recommendations from us.

cajef

alap wrote: »

He asked us to sign a form to confirm the style of windows, glass, handles etc. and just to drop it off the deposit at their office when we were ready

it only states you may cancel within 7 days

That sounds like you have signed a contract, especially as it has a 7 day cancellation clause, looks as though you have been taken in by a typical double glazing salesman con.

Clive_Woody

Send them written cancellation now (today - do not delay), send it recorded delivery. Mention in the letter that you will also be reporting them to Trading Standards/Consumer direct and making an official complaint about their misleading sales pitch and the lies you have been told in order to get you to sign a contract (like the others on here I believe what you have signed is most likely a contract).

If you have the time you could talk to the Citizens advice bureau and see what they have to say, but I suspect you have been conned into sining up for something.

Under no circumstances send them any money. A free quote is as it says, free. They cannot charge you for sending somebody around if they offered this service for free.

If this did go as far as court I don't think they would get far, seeing as you don't own the house I think your defence that you wouldn't sign contracts until you had the keys makes perfect sense, plus this kind of dodgy dealing is all too common. They won't be sending the balifs around without a court order and I doubt very much they will take this to court.


Post the name of the company on here (if you like) then others will know to avoid them too.