Help with court claim against conservatory company?!

Travelette_2

Hi Hoping someone can advise me or guide me?
i instructed a local double glazing company to install an aluminium conservatory on the back of my home in Sept 2016. Since then I have gone through what can only be described as a nightmare! The conservatory was installed incorrectly as the company admitted in December that they'd never installed aluminium before they then called upon the manufacturer of the product for help. Since then (Dec 16) the manufacturer has been trying to make good all the problems the original installer got wrong. It is now 14 months since the initial installation began and i still have water leaking in and the building has very high levels of condensation and damp. The manufacturers have now discovered the external wall that was built doesn't have a DPC Membrane fitted, the lead isn't fitted correctly, the wall doesn't have enough cement in it so there are gaping holes in it allowing water in... so I now have to potentially get the wall rebuilt which will mean the whole structure taken down.
I am getting a building survey done this week to give me an unbiased report as the manufacturers can't touch or mend the wall as it isn't their work or product. I wondered how i go about taking the original company to the small claims court and how easy a process is it? I feel very alone and very vulnerable after having spent over 20k on this and still up against potentially terrible problems with it. Any advice would be gratefully received

hollydays

Hi don’t worry there will be someone along to help soon��
20,000 seems a lot to me, how did you pay?

Travelette_2

I paid bank transfer in stage payments - an initial deposit, then an interim for building works, then one when Conservatory was fitted the final payment I haven’t paid them yet. The total order was £25000 which after 4 quotes is about right for an aluminium conservatory. A UPVC one is about half!

hollydays

Travelette wrote: »

I paid bank transfer in stage payments - an initial deposit, then an interim for building works, then one when Conservatory was fitted the final payment I haven’t paid them yet. The total order was £25000 which after 4 quotes is about right for an aluminium conservatory. A UPVC one is about half!

Ok thanks and could I ask why you didn’t chose a upvc one?

pinkshoes

Get the building survey done, then take it from there.

You will need to quantify your losses e.g. How much this is going to cost to put right.

You will need to start getting quotes from reputable builders/companies to rectify this.

meer53

If there are holes in the wall and no DPC then you will always have condensation. Start with the wall.

agrinnall

If you do decide to go to court then with £20K at stake I'd say it would be worth a consultation with a solicitor to get some proper legal advice.

Warwick_Hunt

hollydays wrote: »

Ok thanks and could I ask why you didn’t chose a upvc one?

Is it relevant?

hollydays

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

Is it relevant?

Won’t know till she replies. If she was advised upvc wasn’t suitable then, yes.
Do you have something you want to ask the op, or contribute ?
I see you’ve recently been told to “jog on and abuse someone else” :T

Warwick_Hunt

hollydays wrote: »

Won’t know till she replies. If she was advised upvc wasn’t suitable then, yes.
Do you have something you want to ask the op, or contribute ?
I see you’ve recently been told to “jog on and abuse someone else” :T

I see you’re doing a bit of stalking.

Travelette_2

I didn’t want UPVC but the company in question kept trying to persuade me to have it and sell me the benefits. The fact is they weren’t experts in it but their website said they provided and fitted it. I’d been recommended this company by two people who’d had UPVC fitted windows. Aluminium is a completely different material to work with (I now know but shouldn’t have needed to!) and they now admit they weren’t experts had in fact never installed it before and it now isn’t featured on their website at all. The manufacturers tell me they no longer supply them with it. It has come to light I was their first “guinea Pig” for it and it didn’t go well!