Carpet Right - No Carpet Wrong!

jandc6476

Two months ago (6th September) we had three bedrooms a hallway and stairs fitted with new carpets purchased through carpet right. We decided to let them arrange a fitter for us and were told to pay him the fitters fee direct on the day.

When the carpets were originally laid they didnt look too bad (or so we thought) but we recently had another carpet in our house fitted by an independent fitter of our choice and he remarked on the poor quality of the original fitting. He pointed out that they had not been cut to size correctly and down the stairs were not securred tight enough. I had also noticed over the past couple of months that the carpets were shifting when I hoovered and now there are creases running through them that you can notice quite clearly.

We have complained to carpet right who want to send out the original fitter to "repair" the carpets by stretching them to make them fit where they were cut too short and to "re glue" the stairs etc. We do not want the same fitter to do this as he clearly is sloppy and not to mention if after another two months it happens again we will have wasted our time.

Carpet right have told us they are only the agent for the self employed fitters and hold no responsibility for their work and so we are obliged under their T's and C's to let the original carpet fitter carry out the work but my husband is under the impression that because they were the agent and didnt give us a choice of which fitter we wanted the responsibility is theirs.

Can anyone advise on what we should do now as carpet right said that he will not refund us for his work and they are not responsibile for the poor fitting.

LandyAndy

I'm pretty sure your contract with Carpetright, as detailed in their invoice, will show supply and fit priced separately. Therefore, the ultimate responsibility for fulfilling their side of the contract is with them. That they subcontracted part of their work is irrelevant.

wallbash

Suggest you at least let the orig carpet fitter rectify any mistakes as a first step.

but my husband is under the impression that because they were the agent and didnt give us a choice of which fitter we wanted the responsibility is theirs.

Well is he wrong?

Alan_M_2

LandyAndy wrote: »

I'm pretty sure your contract with Carpetright, as detailed in their invoice, will show supply and fit priced separately. Therefore, the ultimate responsibility for fulfilling their side of the contract is with them. That they subcontracted part of their work is irrelevant.

The fitter wasn't subcontracted, they were recommended and the OP was advised to pay them directly.

This is where the grey area occurs.

Are Carpetright responsible for fitters they don't employ or sub contract if all they have done is recommend them?

Legally I think there are two contracts, one for supply and one for fit.

latecomer

Alan_M wrote: »

Legally I think there are two contracts, one for supply and one for fit.

I agree and I suspect its for this very reason.

jandc6476

Thank you for your advise. I have a couple of points to make with regards to my original post:

1) If the carpet fitter is sloppy and unable to complete the job properly in the first place sending him back to try to rectify his mistakes shorly would be a waste of time. If he couldnt get it right to begin with why would he be able to now?

2) If carpet right are acting as a "booking agent" for these self employed fitters would they have to complete any checks on their work ability before they recommend them?

3) The grey area is stated on their terms and conditions as basically "any problems with the fitting is the responsibility of the fitter only" but how can you act as an agent and then except np liability when the person you recommend is not up to the job?

3) Without having to lay new carpets how can he rectify carpets that he has cut too short?

Finally if we allow him to try to rectify the original mistakes and he is unable to can we ask for a refund on the original money paid. The reason I ask is that whilst Carpet Right have stated they except no responsibility in THEIR T's and C's they gave no terms and conditions for the fitter.

As always with these main suppliers they just want your money and dont give a hoot about what happens after that. The result is I have crap carpets and can not afford to repalce.

wallbash

1) If the carpet fitter is sloppy and unable to complete the job properly in the first place sending him back to try to rectify his mistakes shorly would be a waste of time. If he couldnt get it right to begin with why would he be able to now?

Would it be a waste of time?
You originally thought

laid they didnt look too bad

So they are not .. awful

not to mention if after another two months it happens again we will have wasted our time.

If ?? unless you take up the offer of a return visit , you will never know.
Here is the tough bit , you try and get it fixed , or you can whinge.

Jeff121

Hello
I haven't read all of the posts but can say from personal unpleasant experience that Carpetright, Britain's biggest carpet supplier is also the worst.
I know for a fact that they blast their carpets with air to make the wool content look thicker than it actually is.
Don't look at the mix of wool 80/20 look at the wool content per square inch, most mixes are between 30 and 50 ounces of wool per sq inch, carpet rights can be as low as 10 ounces of wool per sq inch resulting in the carpet looking good in the showroom and when laid in your home and given a few months of normal wear flattens out because all of the air blasted into the fibers has gone resulting in the carpet flattening out and looking like an old worn out carpet with track marks.
Don't think for a minute that Carpetrights assessor will back you up what ever your complaint might be, you are on your own and even contacting Trading Standards wont help you.
I am telling you the above because I had my house re-carpeted by carpet right 3 years ago also my parents and aunt did same, my parents and self have gave up trying to deal with Carpetright we had the same dreadful problems, my parents now re-carpeteted with a different company and self now moved house.
My aunt is still fighting Carpetright although I told her to give up. Carpetright seem to play on wearing you down as they did with me, good on my Aunt for continuing the fight if she gets anywhere but I cant see her getting anywhere with such a dreadful company.
I cant understand how a nationwide company gets away with selling substandard goods.
Myself and parents had bought their most expensive carpet, we didn't go into the store looking for cheap carpets.
Avoid this company at all cost to avoid misery and hassle, shop at a long established local carpet dealer with a good reputation even though they are a bit more expensive. Ask how long the carpet manufacturer has been in business and what sort of guarantee you will have. I'm moving house again and have decided on Cormar carpets for the next house, they are mid range and seem like good value for money also been in business for a long time.
Avoid Carpetright at all cost, they must be the worst carpet company in the UK

wallbash

Well I have had my house carpeted by CarpetRight .Had nothing but success.
Where does carpet Right get its carpet .... ?? where everyone else does!
Have they got an annoying pricing , YES.
Do they use independant fitters , YES ( they might be fitting your carpet today and John Lewis tomorrow.Result is down to the fitter , some are better than others... like ALL tradesman.)

So check the prices offered carpetRight then compare with a small independent.

( wish I could pay the prices quoted by my local shop)

macman

Their fitters are entirely independent and CR will take no responsibility for the standard of fitting. Which is why there is no fitting contract with CR and you pay the fitter direct.
You are not obliged to use their fitters, you can use whoever you like.

Alan_M_2

People will read this thread and assume this way of operating is some form of con or misrepresentation. It's not, it occurs for a reason and is very prevelant.

The reason is money, fundamentally saving the customer money and making the companies product more attractive.

If you fully employ a carpet fitter PAYE it would probably cost you (as a business) £20,000 to £25,000 in salary, plus employers NI contirbutions, plus statutory holiday pay, plus statutory sick pay, plus a vehcile with running costs, plus employers and public liability insurace for the employee....all in all that fitter could cost you upwards of £40,000 a year as a company.

Who pays for all that? The end customer of course, you.

So the carpet wholesaler chooses not to emply fitters but to recommend self employed fitters instead, they agree a fixed fee for the fit arranged in advance which you pay direct to the fitter and nothing else. The fitter has to cover his own vehicle, sick pay, holiday pay, tax, NI, insurances etc.....it's cheaper, a lot cheaper. This cost saving is passed on to the customer giving the customer a cheaper fit.

Problems only occur when the company represents this way of operating as though they were fully employing the fitters, this happens regualrly in my industry.

We operate in exactly the same way as Carpet Right, but we are very transparent about the fact we work that way, sometimes it loses us business as many people want a one stop shop. That's fine if you're happy to pay for it.

A full supply and fit service will cost more, there are more overheads to cover, but you as a customer get more piece of mind and the buck stops with a single person/customer. It's highly likely you'd get the same fitter, only with this company they would be sub contracted not recommended, in that case the main contractor (the carpet shop) has a responsibility to it's customer (you) for the quality of the fitters work.