Cleaning Company hanging on to keys

richardvc

We are in dispute with a cleaning company over poor quality work and have refused to settle a portion of a bill with them as these problems were never addressed.

Because of this they have decided that cleaning will stop with immediate effect until this bill is paid.

We have no problems with that apart from the fact they are still in possession of our keys.

Do they have a legal obligation to return them to us and if they refuse to return them, any ideas what our course of action would be ?

Whilst I do not wish to, I would not hesitate in involving the Police to get our keys returned to us.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

Richard

frugal_mike

If I were you I would be changing the locks and letting them keep the keys. Depending on what sort of lock you have, you can buy a new lock for about £20 and this can be fitted with nothing but a screwdriver.

hollydays

How is it the problems were never addressed?
You need to take advice from the police about the keys.

stevemLS

I don't think the police will be interested I'm afraid.

quidsy

£10 for a new lock barrel. Key problem solved.

zaax

Keeping the keys is theft which the police should respond to. You could remind the company that if they don't return the keys you will pursue them for the cost of changing the locks

richardvc

Thanks for all your help so far.

It seems we have a wide ranging array of answers so I will have to pick the bones out of them and contemplate our next move.

powerful_Rogue

zaax wrote: »

Keeping the keys is theft which the police should respond to. You could remind the company that if they don't return the keys you will pursue them for the cost of changing the locks

Its only theft if the cleaning company of have the intention of permanently depriving them of the keys. If they are keeping hold of the keys until the matter is resolved, then it wouldn't be theft.

The cleaning company have whats called a "lien" over the keys.

Its like a garage keeping hold of your vehicle until you pay.

wealdroam

richardvc wrote: »

It seems we have a wide ranging array of answers so I will have to pick the bones out of them and contemplate our next move.

I am firmly of the opinion that your next more should be to ask for your keys back.

Your original post only asked what to do next if they refuse to return the keys, which tells me that you haven't even asked for the keys back yet.

As others have said, the keys are your property.

powerful_Rogue

Have a look at the following link, especially the part regarding paying under protest.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_cars_and_other_vehicles_e/cars_garage_repairs_and_services_e/disputing_a_bill_for_garage_repairs.htm

I know it refers to a garage keeping the car, however the principle is the same. The cleaning company are keeping your keys as lien.

In law, a lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation.

richardvc

Thank you all for your responses.

Whenever I ask for advice I like the fact that you get differing points of view and it makes me think 'outside the box' rather than a quick ill thought response.

To cut a long story short we have paid the cleaning company a portion of their bill but have withheld approx £45 because the quality of cleaning was not up to standard. Apart from that we have settled in full.

We emailed them twice stating that we would withhold some of the payment at the beginning of September (dates not to hand) and then again approx 10 days / 2 weeks later asking why we haven't heard from them.

Finally, we saw the owner about 2 weeks ago and printed the emails out and handed them to her after she denied receiving them. We told her that these emails outlined our disappointment in their service and said that we would not be prepared to pay the bill in full.

She never even responded to the 'printed' emails until yesterday stating that they would take further action to recover all costs and that all cleaning services would be suspended until we paid.

Naturally, we are exceptionally frustrated about this as we have given them the chance to respond and take relevant action which they have chosen not to do.

We are disappointed by their strong arm tactics and rather surprised that they are happy to lose a client who has been a customer for over two years and paid in full, on time, every month.

We haven't responded to them yet as I wanted to sit back, take stock and not fire off an angry response that I would regret sending later.

We don't intend to use them ever again BUT before we make any knee jerk response to her email I wanted to find out about getting our keys returned safely.

Whilst I have no reason to believe that anything untoward would happen, the fact of the matter is that someone else is in possession of our keys and this does not sit comfortably with me.

We have also discussed paying the £45 and getting shot of them but it sticks in my throat that they did a substandard job, haven't bothered to contact us about it / put it right and then demand that WE pay in full otherwise......

Apologies, too long a post and ridiculously boring but I guess this is a point about principles rather than the money !