Carpet Fitting.. does this look right?

bobwilson

The fitters seemed to work for the shop as they had logos on their t shirts. We pointed out some of the problems, but they weren't convinced. Eventually they agreed to do a few of the stair treads again, but they just did them again with the same problems as before. Then they ran out of time and had to rush off to the next job - one of them left the house without even saying goodbye!

The carpet not only doesn't look the same shade as the one we ordered, it doesn't feel the same as the sample under foot. It feels hard and plasticky in comparison. It makes me wonder why it's so different - could they have stored it in an unheated room for weeks, and could freezing temperatures do this to a carpet, kinda like freezer burn? The weather has been very frosty outside.

I work from home and my partner took 3 days holiday off work to move furniture and our office in this friday, saturday and sunday, but as we can no longer move the office in, I can't run the business as needed and we're suffering consequential loss as a result.

My partner is really upset about the doors and was crying today - they shaved the bottom of our custom doors in an unsightly manner, uneven and chipped. The bedroom has a half inch gap under the door at one end, and a quarter inch gap at the other. The doors were specially made to match the skirting boards & rest of the house so we don't know where we could source these doors again.

It is a small family run business so I think we'll be struggling to get anything out of them.

We have paid £1350 to the carpet shop (50%) and they want us to pay the rest.

We feel we can't trust the shop's fitters to fix all the issues. Are we within our rights to ask for a full refund, replace the doors, and have them pick up the carpet?

We would prefer to forget about them and go with a big company like John Lewis at this point.

arcon5

When you say your office, is this an office within your home? Was this a business to business contract?

I wouldn't be paying any more money until it was sorted. Put your issues in writing, bullet points and be specific so you have a paper trail.
Tell them what you want of them and by when and explain if they fail to do this you will be rejecting the goods under the sales of goods and services act.

cardinalbiggles

And keep those pictures, if you have to take them to court I cant see how they can defend the mess they have made.

Also, if you are ever talking to them stick your phone on record in your pocket. You are not allowed to let anyone hear it without their position but you are allowed to record them and you can transcribe the conversations should you need to go to court (as far as I am aware...) This allows you to remember exactly what was and was not said.

Gordon_Hose

Looks like an amateur install to me. Like someone who wanted to save money, bought end of roll carpet at knock down prices, and decided to have a go themselves.

bobwilson

Thanks everyone for your advice and support, it's really helping us to get through this.

We've emailed the shop owner and he has said he's seen the pics but needs to come and look in person. We've asked him to come today asap.

Someone mentioned we should get an independent professional opinion, and trading standards said it would be needed if we wanted to make a claim. So we called a few independent fitters to come and look, but they all said they'd rather not as its awkward to inspect another shop's work. I guess that's understandable, but it doesn't help us

Valli

Maybe you need to pay for the 'expert' professional opinion - because you will want a typed report from them detailing the faults with the fitting;) to show to the court, in support of your claim, should it come to that.

There may well be a trade body so they would be my first point of call. Should this go to court you would add the cost of the professional report to the claim you're making. Once you're paying comeone for their time they often become a LOT more co-operative!

I believe I have heard it said that a good carpet fitter can make a cheap carpet look good; conversely a poor carpet fitter can make an expensive carpet look - well like yours, I suppose!

mo786uk

you only need a report to prove something - if its an obvious shambles then you dont necessarily need a report - see what the shop owner says first.

asharon

Any updates ?