Double Glazing unsigned contract

Apples72

Hi, In March I agreed with double glazing company to install new windows at a cost of £2500 I paid £250 deposit. This was at my house and the salesman was invited round to quote. I explained to him at that time that it would be quite some time before I could raise the £2250 needed to complete and he stated I have 12 months.
Now in August my work situation has changed and can no longer get the remaining cash, I told them I could no longer complete the deal and they threatened me with the bailiffs, saying they had already made the windows.
I have since checked the contract and I never signed it, I also asked them to send a copy of the contract they have on file and I never signed that copy either. I only signed the credit card section to pay the deposit.

Would like to know if this is still legally binding - will I have a lot of grief if I refuse to continue with the deal.

Thank you

fwor

<In the absence of advice so far from someone with legal training>

I believe that it's not necessary for there to be signatures for a contract to be valid and legally binding. The fact that you willingly made the deposit payment several months ago provides pretty good evidence that you have accepted.

Also, I can't help but see this from the other side. Given that it's five months on from when you agreed to their offer, there genuinely seems a good chance that they will have already put significant labour and materials costs into making custom-built windows for you, and these will have little value elsewhere. If it's a small business, it doesn't take many people doing what you are trying to do to kill their cashflow and put them out of business.

I'd say the best thing (for both parties) is to talk to them and see if they are willing to accept payment in two stages over a slightly longer period. If the first stage payment is big enough to wipe out their costs to date, they might go for that as a better course of action than court/bailiff.

arcon5

The above post is correct, you have a verbal contract if not signed. It wouldn't be hard for them to prove to a court you have a contract with them. However, in this breach whereby you have breached the contract, they can sue you for their losses -- which although wouldn't be £2.5k, would be significantly more than £250 you paid.

Also to add, they CANNOT just send baliffs round. To have baliffs sieze your property would require a court order.

You need to decide if you want the windows still or not..... if so, it may be worth working out monthly payment or stepped payments as mentioned to clear the balance.

It will be in their best interest also to deal with this without going to court.

browneyedbazzi

Have a look through the contract that you were given - were you informed of your right to cancel? If the contract was made at your home then the trader is required to inform you of your statutory right to cancel the contract within 7 days (this must be in writing and there is a specified format). If you were not informed of your cancellation rights at the time you entered into the contract then it is likely to be unenforceable regardless of the time that has passed or if they have incurred expenses.

If the trader has been previously advised of the need to issue cancellation rights and still hasn't then they have committed a fraud (failure to disclose information which they are legally obliged to)...not only will the contract be unenforceable so you won't owe the balance, you may be able to get your deposit back!

I'm not accusing this particular trader of anything, but failure to issue cancellation rights is a very common thing - sometimes done innocently because the trader doesn't understand the requirement etc, but some rogues leave this out on purpose so they can bully people into parting with money. In either case, the failure affects the enforceability of the original contract and may be a loophole to get you out of the situation.

Apples72

Thanks for the responses, I thought that the contract would still be binding and the salesman did give me the cancellation details even extending it to two weeks.
I agree with the response about the impact on small businesses, I will stress that I have asked the company how much I could pay to clear the cost of the works they have carried out so far and they are simply not interested they want the whole installation costs. I am quite certain they have not even started the production as we have not chosen the glass type yet, so I know the most they could have done is the frames. So I have tried to be honest with the company they just want me to sign up to one of their finance packages (I know I cant afford to increase my monthly outgoings). I have been told that if I cancel the installation I will end paying just for the windows but that will involve external debt company and I cant deal with the stress that will cause me, and I may still end up paying £1600 with no windows to show for it.

As it stands I would rather not have the windows as I feel I have offered to pay the cost of work so far and explained everything, they have been very cold about the whole affair, but more debt may be the only option.

Thanks for the help

fwor

Thanks for the honest reply.

I'd say as a last chance, simply make an offer to them. They have to be cold about this because they cannot survive as a business if they do anything else.

Your best result would be to get the windows in a timescale that you can afford, so work out how much you can commit to saving per month and make an offer based on that.

Any alternative is going to be bad news for both you and the DG company. For you it will mean more debt and no windows - a lose/lose situation if ever I saw one...