Toilet damaged by carpet fitter

rbarker999

hi

In October we went into the Carpet Right store and ordered new carpets, wooden floor and bathroom vinyl for the whole house, I was going to put it on my credit card but decided to do the "buy now pay" later option as advised by the salesman. £2300 approx supplied and fitted. Paid a deposit on credit card and left. We had to pay the fitters direct, I said I didn’t want to do that as if there is an issue I want to deal with Carpet Right and not some self employed carpet fitter. I was assured any problems I go direct to Carpet Right.

We was advised that it would be fitted in around 2 weeks, and to give them a call to closer to the date to arrange a final fitting date. When we called I was told that the carpet hadn’t come in yet and he would chase it up, I called them back was told that he would need to talk to his head office who in turn would need to talk to the supplier Belgium.

So we waited but no call, so I phoned again and was told that the carpet was on its way and due in towards the beginning of November. I phoned near the date and was told that the carpet was now unavailable due to some weave problem. So a bit peeved we went and picked a replacement and was told that it would be fitted in 2 weeks.
Again close to that date I gave them a call to find out it had not been delivered and it was due the week after. So we are nearing the end of November. A date of December 2nd was made for fitting and the carpet arrived and the fitters came to fit it.

The 2 fitters started work and were doing a great job. One of the fitters went into my daughters bedroom that has an en suite and I said to him "give me a shout when you start to fit the carpet and I will help you move the furniture and boxes to the living room.

He closed the bedroom door and started to measure, I sat in the living room. After a while he came out and I asked if needed help moving the stuff, he said no its all done. When I looked in, the toilet had new vinyl flooring fitted and the bedroom carpet was fitted, the en suite was stacked with boxes, bookcase, etc from the bedroom, he had used the en suite to make room... I thought ok that’s one way to do it.

They then finished the rest of the house, job done, it looked great.

Around 9pm we started to clear the en suite and I could hear water running from the toilet as though it had just been flushed, I looked down and there was water everywhere, so we emptied the toilet of all the furniture and boxes to find that there was a crack where the cistern is screwed to the wall. So buy overloading it with weight it became damaged. It also ran into our downstairs toilet and has stained the ceiling. We mopped up and called Carpet Right the next day. They sent out the fitter.

He said I only put a box of books on it, I said that’s irrelevant, you have put something on it and its damaged, and by the way it wasn’t just a box of books, the toilet was packed full of boxes, furniture etc and a lot of it was rested on the toilet. You were the only fitter in here and you moved everything yourself. He said it could have been broken before, to which I replied I doubt it as its been used everyday for the last 9 years and you fitted the vinyl flooring before you stacked it with furniture and boxes so you would have noticed any water.

He then started to say it might not be fitted correctly to the wall, so he asked if he could unscrew one of the screws and to check if there was a plug fixing and there was. He said that there wasn’t much water and that it would dry up, but I wasn’t happy as I said there was enough water to leak downstairs and it will will be hard to dry as the vinyl has a rubber back so the water cannot go anywhere. So he took up the vinyl and said it will get replaced. So he took some pictures and left.

I then call Carpet Right to find out what was happening to be told that he had to pass it on to his manager and he would get back to me. He never called so yet again I called carpet right and the salesman asked if I could get a plumber out for a quote, which I thought was odd as I assumed the fitters public liability company would send an assessor out, but for speed that’s what I did. Plumber quoted £295 fitted. So I drove to Carpet Right and hand delivered the quote. I was told it would be passed to the manager.

Nobody got back to me so I called to be told the sales man is on day off and they would pass the message on. No return call so I ring again I spoke to the salesman he said his manager was on a course until Tuesday can I ring back then... I agreed. Called today and the salesman say his manager is not available to until later as he has been on holiday for 2 weeks, so I challenge him as he said he was on a course.. at this point I ask for head office number.

I call them and tell them the above and state that I have been more than patient, accidents happen etc, just agree the work and lets move on. She said she found it odd why I was asked to find a plumber and no representative from the company had been out to view it. She would look into it.

30 mins later the store manager calls me and says that they would not be paying for any damage as the toilet has been incorrectly fitted. I asked to explain himself , he said looking at the pictures one of the screws was loose, I explained his fitter loosened it to check for a plug and he is looking at pictures after the event, he said that’s my decision based on the pictures. I asked what plumbing qualifications he had and he said what qualifications did I have, I said none like you so why don’t you get and independent plumber in and give an unbiased verdict, he declined to do that. I asked him as a representative of his company to come and visit me and look for himself and he said he was in a car on the way to Coventry, I said how come your store number showed up on my phone he changed his story to I am just about to leave for Coventry. After 30 mins of arguing he said look were are going around in circles, take it further if you want, but our decision is final.

I call head office back who said that it had gone as high as it could and that was final as the store manager had made the final decision.


Any ideas what to do next..?? Do I go through small claims, write a letter to their head office?


Absolutely disgusting customer service!!

rbarker999

forgot to mention i pics of all the damage and i used my mobile phone so i have a log of all the calls i have made to them.

Poppie68

I could of told the story and got to the point in a lot less words..
You lost me after the Belgium saga....which turned out to have naff all to do with anything.
Put the complaint in writing but please just get to the point with none of your own spin.
If you send something like the above they will be asleep after the first paragraph.

rbarker999

thanks for the positive and welcoming post for a newbie:(

i was trying to give a feel for the amount of rubbish i have had to put up with