Problem with Carpetright

martb1

We had carpet fitted by Carpetright to our landing and stairs. As the fitter was working on the stairs our burglar alarm was triggered. The alarm company's engineer has found that a staple had punctured one of the wires that are fitted to the upright part of the top stair. I am looking at probably a £200+ bill for the repair. The store manager at Carpetright - depsite not visiting here himself - maintains that as old underlay was in place that no new staples had been applied in that area ( although in the conversation with him, the area that the fitter was working on when the alarm sounded did change ). He maintains that it was an old staple that impacted on the wire when the carpet was laid and therefore they are not liable.

Any advice as to how to proceed? I believe new staples have been applied on the stairs but have no photographic evidence. I find it unlikely that in 8 years, in a position at the top of the stairs, in a household with three young children, that such a staple had laid poised to strike - this is what the store manager called the "logical" explanation.

Advice welcome!

Cheers

martin

martb1

The alarm engineer says he found 5 staples cutting through the wire - but he took no photo of this.

dacouch

Get the alarm engineer to write a report confirming this and his opinion on the approximate age of the staples and in his opinion how the staples got there.

This should give you good evidence.

I assume you paid the carpet fitter for the fitting rather than Carpetright, their fitters are normally all self employed and have their own Public Liability

martb1

I've asked for a report. The arrangement is as you say but the store manager is fighting the fitter's corner. When I have the report I will contact their head office. Will never use this company again though.

deanos

I think you will have to claim from the fitter , as mentioned its a seperate contract if you read the small print on the orderform

dacouch

Carpetright make sure all of their fitters have Public Liability Cover, the head office / branch keep a record of who they're covered by

martb1

Citizens Advice believe given you do not choose the fitter and he is provided by Carpetright, they are sub-contracting, so still have liability. The question will be does the fitter have the insurance, if not, why are carpetright sending him? The manger refused to give me his details on the phone - so next step is writing to the head office.

FatherTed09

if it costs you £200+ to have this repaired you are most definately getting robbed!!!!!!! all Carpetright fitters are supposed to be fully covered by public liability insurance, however, i dont think that this would be covered under this type of insurance,(check small print). Alarm cables should not be installed under floor coverings.!!!!

gordikin

FatherTed09 wrote: »

if it costs you £200+ to have this repaired you are most definately getting robbed!!!!!!! all Carpetright fitters are supposed to be fully covered by public liability insurance, however, i dont think that this would be covered under this type of insurance,(check small print). Alarm cables should not be installed under floor coverings.!!!!

6 weeks late with your advice!

Willsnarf1983

gordikin wrote: »

6 weeks late with your advice!

Better late than never though surely and for my two pence worth, I would guess your contract is with Carpetright so it is them you need to chase for the money to fix the cable, then they inturn will chase their fitter if required

Will

hethmar

Have to say we had lousey service from carpet right (wrong!) - left without carpets for weeks whilst they sent one load with a mark right down it, second time, not enough carpet to do all the rooms so we had the problem of mismatching. Never ever again. The carpet was so rubbish that we have replaced the lot with axminster after less than 2 years - the fitter told us the previous carpet right fitters had used bedroom quality underlay on heavy duty areas so that had to be replaced aswell.. Waste of money Im afraid and very poor service.

However, in this case I have some sympathy with the fitter. He would not be aware that you had wiring under the carpet - its not a normal thing to have is it. Your case may be with the original engineer who wired the alarm.