Potential Driveway Disaster

gunwande

On 15th Feb we had a sales man come round and measure/quote for a new driveway, he gave us the usual "deal" for signing on the line there and then and it did seem a fair price. The work quoted included using the original bricks from our driveway and putting up some fencing, the new drive will cover around 68m2 for £3000

However when the surveyor came out on the friday to look and measure up he said the original bricks were not ideal to use and wouldn't recommend to use them, he then didn't seem to realise the extent to what work had been quoted and seemed surprised at some of the things I said the sales man had said would be done.

He went away and said he would provide a quote for replacing the original bricks with new ones. When he eventually replied on wed 22nd Feb he quoted £890 for 22m2 of extra bricks, however when we have looked on the internet it only costs around £350 for that amount of bricks, when asked why it was so much he talked about the extra area that now had to be covered as the salesman only measured to the end of part of the drive not to the road (even though he had measured to the road).

We now dont trust the company and feel that they wont do that great a job and other items may come up that suddenly will need to be paid for, if they will try to get an extra £540 on bricks.

I have spoken to the builders and told them our concerns and feelings about the way this has gone. We have asked for our deposit back, however as the 7 day cooling off period has lapsed for the original contract, they wont give us our money back and whilst they will honour the original contract we dont now want to use them.

Do we have any legal rights to get our deposit of £600 back?

browneyedbazzi

If they are offering to honour the original contract then there is little you can do. Cancelling now will be a breach of contract and they will be able to retain some (or all) of your deposit as consequential losses resulting from your breach of the contract. They will probably say that the deposit was eaten up by the cost of the surveyor's visit and anything else they have done in preparation for starting work.

It's a bit late for this sort of advice now, but you should always get at least three quotes and check references before signing up to have any work done. Although the sales people say they are giving you a better deal for signing on the day etc, that is just a tactic to pressure you into making a snap decision without giving it proper consideration. In practice shopping around and holding out will often get you the best deal.

halibut2209

Did you get written advice that you had 7 days to cancel?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Situationsthatcanchangeyourconsumerrights/DG_194562

shaun_from_Africa

Another thing that you could check up on is to see if the contract that you signed states "subject to survey" or something similar.

If it does, then you might be able to argue that as the surveyor stated that the otiginal bricks wouldn't be satisfactory, you would have to spend more than planned to get the job done, hence the contract should be cancelled.

Bradden

Two great points there.. hopefully one of those will help.