Bogus company or shoddy workmanship?

Sweetaspie

In a nutshell called a glass fitting company to have a small 6inch x 8inch glass panel put into my front door. The job was done in less than 10 mins, he removed the beading from the door (the bit that goes around each glass panel), put the glass in and nailed the beading back in. Nailing it in caused the beading to split in parts, the beading was not set into the door and was blatantly protruding out. I was told that is because new glass regulations means that thicker glass (6mm) was used as opposed to the glass i had in there originally (4mm). However, this did not explain why more than 2mm of beading was sticking out of the door. Nor does it explain why it is ok to leave gaps between the beading and the door as that would mean when it rains, water would get into those cracks and wood rot would set in. The door looked awful. I was told by the glass fitter that i would need to fill up the holes he had made with nails and re-varnish....ok fine...but what about the fact it doesnt fit into the door frame!

They were going to charge around £124 for all this (which by the way was not what we agreed to over the phone).

The glass fitter had an attitude when i pointed all the above out, didnt want to hang around to sort it out when i rang up his company headoffice. They agreed to remove the glass at a time that was convenient to me and before i was called back to run times with me, just as i was about to go out, the glass fitter came (with his attitude in tact), removed the glass, gave me the beading and when i asked why he had not removed the nails he put in the beading he shrugged his shoulders and said 'so'.

I then said, i would hope to raise this ammicably and he replied 'we dont want customers like you' which irritated me and so i said ' i dont expect to have my door damaged with the sort of money i had planned to pay'. He refused again to take out the nails he left in the beading and told me to shutup as he walked off!!! I looked down at the beadign and noticed of the 8 nails he used to hammer the beading back into the door, 5 were old rusty ones! Can you believe!

I called up and spoke to the guy in charge and i felt he was trying to cover up the fact that old nails were used as he said perhaps they were already in the door, i said 'no we saw him hammer them in and there were no nails in the door beading before yesterday and infact after he hammered them in yesterday i raised the point with him that putting nails in has caused the beading to split and paint work to come off which he had replied it was my job to sort out later'. Along with the way i was spoken to and by the way another additional chip on the door this guy created, the manager said he would consult with others and call me back.

SO they havent charged me for ruining my door, but what of the fact my door is now ruined? I can't seem to find the beading easily, its damaged and would need replacing, he has put a scuff on the door and all in all this is not what one would expect from service providers.

I also feel perhaps i ought to name this company, to prevent others from having a similar treatment, is that legal?

I will post back here to show what progress i have made.

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

phill99

One bad job doesn't mean the company are bad or incompetent. With the best will in the world, even the best tradesmen sometimes have jobs that just go wrong.

It sounds like the fitter had the attitude, not the whole company.

I think you need to give them a chance to rectify before naming and shaming.

Sweetaspie

Thanks Phil, I do agree with your point of naming and shaming which is why i held off. I would not want to impact the trade of a company because of one person but on the same note, if they fail to sort this situation out, then I intend to- I have been informed that it is not illegal to do so but I shan;t not yet (or not at all if it is sorted). THe company though has still not yet come back to me and i have sent them several emails.

But to be honest, i am not sure if it is a cowboy company or just a problem with one of their staff.

Advice on how to proceed if they fail to respond. I will put in a small claims court application as one way though i was hoping for less drastic measures. I can't think of anything else.

Thanks

gmgmgm

When did this happen? Small claims court shouldn't be your first knee-jerk reaction- give the company some time to sort it out instead of jumping to negative conclusions.

Sweetaspie

This happened yesterday and they said they woudl get back to me yesterday but did not.
Then i got in touch with them today post their glass fitter returniing to take the glass back and being abusive & doing a shoddy job in the process. Again iw as told they would get back to me by the end of the day, they have not. Their glass fitter left rusty nails inside the beading, i asked him to remove it, he did not. I have now someone else from another company lined up to fit the glass, yet what do i do with the nails? They are going to stick the beading on with glue, the nails need to be removed and they won't do it and i don't have the tools to do it immediately. Furthermore i have a glass payne missing in my front door-i am thankful its not cold and that there is someone here to babysit the place day and night but in a nutshell, the company need to respond what they are doing as i have several isues to sort out.

Ive asked the new glass fitting company if they could get their own window beads and I willpay for them, i was told they dont offer that service. The glass cannot be fitted without beading keeping it in place......hence why i need the original company to respond to say if they can purchase the right beading for me OR pay for a new door. In addition to this, their glass fitter left a scuff on the door too by chipping it. I am really annoyed.

gooner63_2

Is the door actually ruined....seems a bit dramatic.....is there no way of getting 4mm glass....or getting a local joiner to come up with a cheap solution.....most small off cuts are turned into beading at a joiners !
...:)

RealWelshWizard

maybe they could have used 4mm laminated instead of 6mm?

wadge

Can't get 4mm lami. Ordinary 4mm would have been ok at that size in a door without the need for toughening.

diable

Bit over the top the comment about a new door. The glass could have been fitted by yourself and save all the grief as well as about £120

capeverde

wadge wrote: »

Can't get 4mm lami. Ordinary 4mm would have been ok at that size in a door without the need for toughening.

correct about laminated glass, it is 6.4mm not 4mm. All glass regardless of size needs to be toughened if its going into a door. Do feel though that the op is making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill. Glass cost is a couple of quid and any beading can be run off in a couple of minutes at a joinery shop to size, either on a spinle moulder or a simple router table. May have a slightly different profile but back to front size would be exact. Re the holes, simply fill in with wood filler, prime and repaint. I appreciate if youre not in this business, it might seem a lot to do, but may I suggest popping into a small local joiners rather than a glass replacement company. Probably half an hours work including the painting.

keystone

capeverde wrote: »

All glass regardless of size needs to be toughened if its going into a door.

And thats where the majority of the cost will be. Theres a minimum chargeable area cost for toughening.

Agree about mountains and molehilss. OP should take a chill pill and relax. Yes the guy was a PITA by all accounts. If you want to pursue it then an action (for what exactly as you haven't thought that through properly) in the County Court via the Small Claims process is last resort. You should write to them properly not an email giving them details of the problem, what you expect to be fixed and give them a finite time in which to complete it. Two weeks is probably about right. Forget the new door nonsense - thats unreasonable.

Oh and if all you were doing was bombarding them with email missiles on the day after the event I'm not surpsied they are keeping you at arms length because until you calm down nothing they do will please you and it would just escalate.

Cheers