Dispute with bathroom store - any help appreciated?

Letsgetreal

Can anyone advise on this?

I placed an order from a bathroom supplier for everything necessary (bath, shower, shower tray, sink, taps, plug etc) to fit a new bathroom during the building of a loft conversion.

We were advised of a delivery date and plumbers booked for two days to install everything.

When the fittings arrived it transpired that most of it was missing and the shower tray that did arrive was incorrect.

As a consequence the plumbers could do very little and so we had pay them for two days work when in actual fact they only did about half a day with what little they had.

The supplier apologised (how nice of them) and guaranteed delivery of the correct shower tray and the outstanding items at an agreed date.

The plumbers were booked to take delivery and install the rest of the bathroom for that date.

The remaining items were delivered and a team of plumbers worked throughout the day to install the bathroom and tile so that we didnt fall further behind in the schedule.

Obviously me and my wife were at work at the time, but when we got home we discovered that although all the items had been delivered, most of them were wrong. They clearly did the job (a tap is a tap after all) but they were not what we ordered.

As a consequence we now had a fitted bathroom with the wrong radiator, wrong bath, wrong taps and wrong waste mechanisms.

Having spoken to the head builder he informed us that it would cost a couple of thousand to rip out and fit again if and when we got the correct items - effectively they would have to charge us to rip out the bathroom and then charge us again to fit a new one.

In circumstances like these, I do not believe it is the onus of the builders to check the delivery is correct (how would they know exactly what taps we want!), but the responsibility of the supplier to deliver the correct items.

We approached the supplier who refused liability but agreed to supply us with replacement items for those things easily changed (taps etc). They however refused to compensate us for the fitting of these minor items and refused to fund the replacement and fitting of the incorrect major items.

However not relishing the weeks of upheaval while the bathroom was put right we decided that we would be able to live with what we had (everything worked after all - it just wasnt what we chose) and agreed to not pursue the supplier for the costs of replacing the bathroom conditional on them replacing the minor items free of charge.

That was 10 weeks ago and we are still yet to receive the replacement items. The supplier simply doesnt see it as a priority and when they do finally return our calls keep referring to these replacements as a 'gesture of goodwill', going into an abusive screaming fit when I point out theyre actually in settlement for their previous errors and tell us that as we have a working bathroom then we should be in no rush for them and they will send them when they get round to it.

It really grates that the suppliers seem to think they are doing us a favour by 'giving' us 'free' stuff when in actual fact they have cost us time and a lot of money and ultimately we have ended up with a bathroom with fittings we didnt want. However even though I believe the suppliers have got off lightly, we would accept matters. But they are still refusing to hold up their end of the compromise in a timely fashion.

Any advice would be much appreciated as to what to do next.

unholyangel

I don't think you're on strong footing here.

While its true that the party in breach is responsible for reasonable losses incurred, there is no entitlement to any amount that can be reasonably saved (for example by checking the items are right prior to installation).

On top of that, installing the goods could be seen as acceptance - you'd still be entitled to a remedy this way but for something such as this, I'd expect it to the be difference in price between what you ordered and what was supplied (plus perhaps a further discount as a goodwill gesture and I say goodwill as there would be technically no entitlement to it).

I don't think its fair to place all the blame on the retailer here. While they are solely responsible for the breach, you at least have contributed to the "loss" caused by failing to take reasonable care yourself.

tomtontom

Two lessons here:

* Never book the delivery and the workmen for the same day.
* The project manager needs to be either on site for the delivery, or have delegated checking it to someone responsible. Yes, the retailer has a duty to supply the correct items, but the buyer needs to ensure this has happened before fitting them.

tykesi

tomtontom wrote: »

Two lessons here:

* Never book the delivery and the workmen for the same day.
* The project manager needs to be either on site for the delivery, or have delegated checking it to someone responsible. Yes, the retailer has a duty to supply the correct items, but the buyer needs to ensure this has happened before fitting them.

Exactly! After being burnt once by this supplier why on earth did you not get it delivered so you could check it and then book the plumbers once you could confirm it was all correct?