Screwfix loft ladder safety recall

greeneggsandham

VB1981 wrote: »

We are in the same predicament as the OP. We're intending to write to Head Office...

Have you spoken with anyone yet or planning to just skip straight to writing a letter?

mo786uk

yes it is a simple breach of contract and if it is foreseeable that people will pay to have the ladders installed then they will be liable to put you back in the position you were in - i.e a proper ladder with installation again.

VB1981

greeneggsandham - from experience, if we telephone we are likely to end up paying for a conversation that gets us nowhere, with someone who is unable to authorise the outcome we are seeking. So annoyed at the upheaval it's going to cause removing the ladder and installing a new one mo786uk has an excellent point.

mark1uk

I received the letter yesterday as well and I'm fuming. The letter itself , although ending with ''we apologise for any inconvenience caused", is clearly shrugging off any responsibility. I detect that this is carefully worded so as not to imply any liability.
I wonder how I would feel if I were a contractor and had installed 50 of these and had to "make arrangements for it to be removed" as stated in the letter.
Ok, I fitted it myself but by the time I take it down and arrange to get it back, it'll be a good few hours wasted. I also bought it when it was in a sale, so if I get a basic refund then I will have missed out on other suppliers sales- I will be out of pocket.
Personally, unless someone comes up with a good 'sale of goods' extract which is a solid case then I'll ask for a replacement of similar or better quality plus some vouchers to cover the inconvenience and my wasted time. I think that would be fair , and its all about being fair and reasonable.

eilidh_s

I got a product recall from them about faulty MCB's. They were sending out engineers to replace them all but despite phoning once a week for about two months and hearing the usual spiel about how they will phone me back with news, i'm on a priority list etc etc nothing was happening. Eventually I stopped with the recall line and phoned Screwfix themselves and insisted that I spoke to a manager and not only did they organise an engineer to come out and swap the MCB's (I would have done them myself but they had to be tested and certified and a sticker was put on my fuse box) they also gave me a refund for all my phonecalls.

greeneggsandham

Well it looks like Screwfix are going to play ball. I emailed yesterday (online@screwfix.com) and complained that I would be out of pocket because of fitting costs. They replied this morning and offered to send out a replacement "upgraded" loft ladder (which looks exactly the same but costs twice as much as the old one - maybe I got it on sale as well, I can't remember), and arrange for the old one to be collected. Also, that I should send them all invoices for uninstallation and reinstallation. The email doesn't actually say explicitly that they will pay those costs, so I replied that I would be happy with that arrangement provided that they reimburse the installation costs. So now they are sending the new one out next week and collecting the old one the week after, giving me a window of about a week to get the installation arranged. It doesn't make up for all the added hassle, but at least it shouldn't cost me anything.

So, if you've also had one of those letters, I'd recommend emailing them and asking them to deliver a new ladder & collect the old one, and pay for installation so you don't have the added inconvenience of having to do the work yourself. I agree that the letter is quite dismissive, they're obviously hoping that most people won't complain and will just remove the ladder themselves and take it to the store. Its a shame we have to complain to get them to be more helpful, but at least they haven't put up a fight about it (which makes me think they know they haven't got a leg to stand on?).

lucy03

I'd imagine Screwfix will be refunded their costs by the manufacturers, so I'd personally be surprised if they're unhelpful with any reasonable claim.

greeneggsandham

lucy03 wrote: »

I'd imagine Screwfix will be refunded their costs by the manufacturers, so I'd personally be surprised if they're unhelpful with any reasonable claim.

Ah yes, good point. And the manufacturers probably have some kind of insurance policy to cover these kinds of things.

Equaliser123

greeneggsandham wrote: »

Ah yes, good point. And the manufacturers probably have some kind of insurance policy to cover these kinds of things.

You'd be surprised....

Insurance won't pay out on this sort of thing. But again, that isn't your problem. You've done the right thing and glad it is sorted.

greeneggsandham

Equaliser123 wrote: »

You'd be surprised....

Insurance won't pay out on this sort of thing. But again, that isn't your problem. You've done the right thing and glad it is sorted.

Thanks. I won't completely relax until they actually pay up for the installation, but it's looking promising anyway...