Can a company charge me to inspect their own work?

Jimbo_Jet

Hi,

Three years ago I paid just short of £1000 to have some damp proofing work done on my house and paid extra for a 20 year warranty for the work. One area in particular the damp seems to keep reappearing so I contacted the company last week to make a claim under my warranty.

They now tell me I have to pay them, in advance, £180 to come and inspect their work to see if the work is faulty or not. If the work is faulty they will refund the £180 but, if not, I have to stand the cost of it.

Three issues I have here:

1. £180 is a lot of money and I suspect that this, perhaps intentionaly, puts a lot of people of making a potentially viable claim.
2. If someone is not in a position to pay that kind of money then that policy activley excludes them from using a warranty they have paid for in good faith.
3. I can not think of any other instance where you would have to pay in advance like this to check potentialy faulty work/products? Can you imagine taking a Car back to your dealer with a fault under warranty and them saying you had to pay £180 in advance for them to look at it?

Are they allowed to charge this level of fee to inspect their own work?

Thanks

ormus

when you signed the contract, you agreed to the terms and conditions.
a 20 yr warranty is likely to be an insurance based warranty. and just like car or home insurance there is usually an excess charge.
that charge 0f 180 quid is similar.

you have discovered that warranties are a waste of space. and money.
you have now entered a gambling game.

fivetide

Car dealers will do it too. Pay for the inspection initially and if the claim is approved get it back. If not.... out of pocket.

CashisKing

Check terms of warranty.

... sale of goods act.
Under 6 years old but more than 6 months old you will have to prove the fault is caused by them. E.g its not your gutter overflowing etc. The cost of this inspection might be less than £180?