Drowning with Dolphins

Redbull40

Advice please!

We have unfortunately fallen foul of the announcement on Thursay around Homeform Group entering administration.

On the up side, we paid for our new Dolphin bathroom on a credit card (Barclaycard) - albeit in two separate transactions of approx 5k.

The problem is, it's not like we've paid a deposit and nothing has happened. We have had the stuff delivered, and work has been going on for the last couple of weeks. The installers called yesterday to tell us they weren't coming back, so we currently have a shell of a bathroom, with some pieces in place, and bare walls and floor.

We spoke to the credit card company yesterday and they're sending us some sort of claim form (although we didn't mention Section 75 at that stage as we didn't know about it) - it's some kind of 'incomplete services and goods not fit for purpose' type thing. Whether this is a section 75 thing or some internal process of theirs we don't yet know. However, regardless we'll be pushing a Section 75 claim.

The installer has said he is willing to come back and carry on, but obviously he'd want to charge us (can't blame him for that), and again it looks like we could claim the costs of this work as consequential losses. All good.

So my questions really are these - given that work has started and we have physical stock awaiting install, how do I know how much I should be claiming from the credit card company through Section 75? Are we going to end up in some sort of loss adjuster scenario? Do we claim the full amount? The job as supposed to be guaranteed by Dolphin (2yrs/5yrs I think) so how much is that worth given that they can't honour it?

In terms of getting the bathroom finished - which we really need to do, we have no bath at present and a baby that we're having to 'bath' in a bowl in the ensuite shower enclosure - should we carry in installing the stock we have or do we have to keep that in case it gets reclaimed by administrators or someone like that?

Would just like some good advice on how we should be playing this one.

Cheers all

sarahg1969

If you read the reviews, Dolphin quite often left bathrooms in that kind of state even before they went into administration.

£10k for a bathroom??!! You should have stuck it out a bit longer; the salesman would have called his "manager" and got it down to £6k, the standard price for a Dolphin bathroom.

I honestly can't believe that it took so long to fold, with all the unhappy customers they seemed to have.

paddyrg

Great thread title - my first thought was that Dignitas should offer that as a method of euthanasia...

I would imagine what you would charge back would be the cost of getting the job finished, can the fitter give you a quote as to what it'll cost to get done to the standard he'd have done for Dolphin, and start from there?

ThumbRemote

sarahg1969 wrote: »

If you read the reviews, Dolphin quite often left bathrooms in that kind of state even before they went into administration.

£10k for a bathroom??!! You should have stuck it out a bit longer; the salesman would have called his "manager" and got it down to £6k, the standard price for a Dolphin bathroom.

I honestly can't believe that it took so long to fold, with all the unhappy customers they seemed to have.

Well that has to be one of the most unhelpful posts ever. Criticise the company, tell Redbull40 they've overpaid, and offer absolutely nothing of help. Idiot.


Redbull40, I'd guess in your situation you need answers as soon as possible, for fear of making the situation worse. Problem is you'll find that no-one at the administrators or Barclaycard will confirm anything for ages.

From your side you don't want to be paying out money yourself at the moment if you may end up fighting to get it back or even never see it again.

Personally, I'd pay the minimum extra you had to to get a functional bathroom. Get someone to fit the bath etc such that you can use it. It probably doesn't need to be grouted in, just have working plumbing then the baby can use it. If the administrators want the bath back, tell them to come and collect it. At least this tides you over in the short term.

Do not contact the administrators yourself. Do it all through your card company, they can sort out the financial side. You'll get nothing out of the administrators anyway and this way it means you have a single contact that you're dealing with.

Personally, I'd try and claim as much as possible back from Barclaycard, but until you see their claim form you won't know how this works.

Unlike other option - is there anything in your house insurance that may cover this?

DCFC79

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Well that has to be one of the most unhelpful posts ever. Criticise the company, tell Redbull40 they've overpaid, and offer absolutely nothing of help. Idiot.


Redbull40, I'd guess in your situation you need answers as soon as possible, for fear of making the situation worse. Problem is you'll find that no-one at the administrators or Barclaycard will confirm anything for ages.

From your side you don't want to be paying out money yourself at the moment if you may end up fighting to get it back or even never see it again.

Personally, I'd pay the minimum extra you had to to get a functional bathroom. Get someone to fit the bath etc such that you can use it. It probably doesn't need to be grouted in, just have working plumbing then the baby can use it. If the administrators want the bath back, tell them to come and collect it. At least this tides you over in the short term.

Do not contact the administrators yourself. Do it all through your card company, they can sort out the financial side. You'll get nothing out of the administrators anyway and this way it means you have a single contact that you're dealing with.

Personally, I'd try and claim as much as possible back from Barclaycard, but until you see their claim form you won't know how this works.

Unlike other option - is there anything in your house insurance that may cover this?

nothing wrong with the reply, if it riled you that much did you have to quote it

redped

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Well that has to be one of the most unhelpful posts ever. Criticise the company, tell Redbull40 they've overpaid, and offer absolutely nothing of help. Idiot.

I understand what you're saying, and it may not have been a helpful post. However, as a new member you have the Newbie Alert below your name - have a look at the wording, and remember that the bit about being nice applies both ways.

ThumbRemote

DCFC79 wrote: »

nothing wrong with the reply, if it riled you that much did you have to quote it

So in what way was the reply any help to Redbull40?

arcon5

This is a public forum that anybody can join and contribute to, if you don't like peoples opinions aswell as advice then you would go to a solicitor.

Nilrem

IIRC what will likely happen is, if you contact BC they will arrange to either refund the cost of getting everything done to the level you've paid for, or to pay the fitters themselves if you've got all the materials.

When Courts went bust my parents had an outstanding order for a carpet and fitting, Barclaycard basically told them no worries and to fill in a form, even when Courts rang to say we could have the carpet if we collected it ourselves (which wasn't what had been paid for, as they'd paid for the carpet, delivery, fitting etc).

Basically you're covered under section 75 if the goods OR services you've paid for don't materialise, as for a lot of common things like carpets, kitchens, bathrooms you pay for both goods (materials) and services (delivery and fitting) in one go.

Flyboy152

arcon5 wrote: »

This is a public forum that anybody can join and contribute to, if you don't like peoples opinions aswell as advice then you would go to a solicitor.

I suggest you avail yourself of the rules of the forum, regarding the treatment of new posters. As well as taking the time to understand the function and purpose of Money Saving Expert and why people come to this forum.

ThumbRemote

arcon5 wrote: »

This is a public forum that anybody can join and contribute to, if you don't like peoples opinions aswell as advice then you would go to a solicitor.

If people have no advice to offer - as with sarahg1969 in this case - why do they post on these forums at all?

What a sad life someone must lead to go onto an internet forum, find someone who is in difficulties and try to make them feel worse.