Right to refund from Carpetright and Fitters

Candice-Marie

In September I ordered vinyl flooring and fitting at a home visit from Carpetright. I paid £451 for the vinyl by credit card, and was told to pay the fitter directly. The estimate paperwork says that Carpetright act as agents for local independent installers, and that CR arranges for them to deliver/fit under a separate agreement between the customer and the installer.


Fitter A came to screed the existing tiled floor. I paid him £176 by bank transfer.


Fitter B came to lay the vinyl while I was at work and my son was at home. He paid him £196 cash. The fitting was bodged and left like the surface of the moon - Fitter B blamed the wrong type of screed having been used. My son says only one man laid the vinyl across most of the room. At 4m wide, I wonder if that should have been a job for two? Attempts to rectify the fitting by Fitter B left the vinyl stretched and torn and covered in glue.


The store told me new vinyl would need to be ordered and the floor rescreeded. That was Oct 9th. In the meantime we have been walking on the unusable vinyl.


On 4th Dec the new floor was due to be laid. I queried with the store manager why it would be done in one day when it needed new screed, and he assured me that it wasn't needed, and there was nothing wrong with the existing screed.


Fitter A came on 4th Dec and said there was no way the existing screed could be used. Blobs of glue would need to be removed which would damage the screed, so it would need doing again.


Fitter A arranged to come today at 7.30 am to deal with the screed. He didn't show up or call. I chased via Twitter. I rang the store when it opened at 9.30, but got the answerphone. I left a message to call me. I've since had to come into work.


Yesterday I sent an emailed formal complaint to Carpetright customer services because I haven't listed here the litany of other problems that I've experienced along the way - eg the delays, lack of communication, broken promises, mess left by Fitter B, damage to the house, inconvenience, time off work, tears (mine!) etc etc I'm happy to fill in these details if they're relevant.


After this morning's no show, I have decided that I just want to cancel the whole thing and go to another supplier/fitter instead. I have called Carpetright and said I want a full refund. I've completely lost confidence in the whole thing. As I understand it, under Consumer Rights Act 2015 I can do this due to the service not being performed to a reasonable standard in a reasonable time - but do I have to make 3 claims? I don't have the contact/trading details for the fitters. I don't know why they used two fitters. Fitter A has told me that it's unusual.

Any advice that anyone can give me would be very helpful, thank you.

BykerSands

You won't get three refunds.

What was wrong with Fitter A's work?

By screed do you mean self levelling compound,

wealdroam

Candice-Marie wrote: »

As I understand it, under Consumer Rights Act 2015 I can do this due to the service not being performed to a reasonable standard in a reasonable time...

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 did not come into force until 01 October 2015, so you need to seek your remedy under The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

Candice-Marie

Possibly nothing wrong with Fitter A's work. It's only Fitter B who says it wasn't right.

Fitter A says the screed was fine. He muttered that Fitter B hadn't glued it properly (blobs rather than spread out), plus as I said, I'm not sure if one man can lay 4m wide vinyl on his own?

They have referred to it as screed all along - but yes, I assume so. It was a dry mix that was mixed with water and spread across the existing ceramic tiles.

From a certain amount of googling, it seems as though the system is set up to absolve them (Carpetright) of any liability when things go wrong (as per another thread on the forum).

Candice-Marie

wealdroam wrote: »

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 did not come into force until 01 October 2015, so you need to seek your remedy under The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

Oh, OK. The work began in October (2nd) and I wasn't sure which would apply. Thank you