Colour variation in laminate - what are my rights

ZenLikeBalance

Fitter has agreed to reduce the rare for a refit, but says I provided the materials. Such a mess. Really taken the shine off my first home.

POPPYOSCAR

ZenLikeBalance wrote: »

Fitter has agreed to reduce the rare for a refit, but says I provided the materials. Such a mess. Really taken the shine off my first home.

Most people have been through something like this at some point.

Unfortunately, you learn to not take things at face value and to check and double check everything and anything!

Do not let it spoil it for you.

Write a letter to them explaining the problem and enclosing the photos.

Say as they were both the correct worktops that you ordered you did not expect them to be different to each other and so just left them with the fitters to get on with the job.

As I say they may offer you something as a gesture of goodwill if not you will just have to put this one down to experience.

agrinnall

My experience of trying to persuade B&Q that they bear any responsibility for an error is that you'll get nowhere and give up vowing never to buy anything from them again. I have softend my stance over the last 12 years but I would be very cautious about making any significant purchase from them. I hope you do succeed, but fear that their intransigence will grind you down and you'll end up buying the whole worktop again from somewhere more reputable.

ZenLikeBalance

Thanks for the support everyone. I know its only stuff, but I had expectations and I'm really disappointed. I will try, because if nothing else they might put a check in place so no other naïve people go through this.


Sadly if they don't meet me half way I can't afford to re-do it all. So I either battle this and hope, or resign myself to hoping I'll stop noticing it. I can't do anything else in the kitchen until this is resolved either. I just feel stuck.

[Deleted User]

ZenLikeBalance wrote: »

Sadly if they don't meet me half way I can't afford to re-do it all. So I either battle this and hope, or resign myself to hoping I'll stop noticing it. I can't do anything else in the kitchen until this is resolved either. I just feel stuck.

One last thing you can do is check to see if both of the items on your receipt have the same product description. Unfortunately, the other possibility (that one of the items is not the correct colour ordered and has been sent in error) is no longer checkable because the fitter threw out the packaging with the all important barcodes.

I still say that applying some more pressure on the retailer will reap a (goodwill) dividend. Suffice to say that I have a far different experience of this retailer to the poster who deemed them "not reputable". Write them a polite letter which does not blame them for your fitter's error.

ZenLikeBalance

I will, thanks. Most of my flat is B&Q and we've had some niggles (took a month to give me refund) but they did eventually sort it out.

[Deleted User]

ZenLikeBalance wrote: »

Most of my flat is B&Q

Remember to mention that in your letter..

lincroft1710

ZenLikeBalance wrote: »

It only comes in 3.6 and 3m lengths so I had to get two.

In hindsight I would have assumed they could be different and checked properly. It simply never entered my head that this could happen. I expected it would match as standard.

Did you get 2 of the same length or 1 of each length?

[Deleted User]

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Did you get 2 of the same length or 1 of each length?

It should not matter if they are the same worktop. This is a laminate top over chipboard and significant differences should not be seen.

lincroft1710

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

It should not matter if they are the same worktop. This is a laminate top over chipboard and significant differences should not be seen.

I never said it should matter. But if they were different lengths it may explain (but not excuse) the difference in colour.