Carpet was delivered and fitted on the third attempt - backtrack on refund offer

jgallcash

I had booked a new stair carpet with a national chain back in November with the fitting being agreed as roughly 21st November.

The day before it was due to be fitted I got two emails - one saying contact us immediately and the second saying your order is on its way. When I contacted them to check they said the item had been deleivered damaged and they could not fit it.

I was frustrated maily because my wife was 9 months pregnant but these things do happen sometimes. They agreed to rearrange for two weeks later the day before the baby was due.

The morning of the planned second attempt (having taken a holiday from work) I received a call that the fitter was unable to get out to us because of the snow. The store agreed that they would arrange for a refund of the fitting fee (£150) after the fitting had taken place on the third attempt but that I would need to pay the fitter on the day as they were a seperate contractor to the store which is seemigly normal in the industry.

A week later they fitted the carpet at the third attempt and I duly paid the contracted fitter and then contacted the store.

The store backtracled and offered me £35 for inconvenience and I said that I would prefer to contact Head Office than accept at this stage.

Do you have any thoughts on this? What are my actual rghts?

I'd like to be reasonable but I don't think reneiging on the original offer and the sum of £35 is reasonable compensation for the inconvenience.

Would appreciate any views.

What are my next steps?

stuartJo1989

I understand your frustration here, but I do have to question what sort of evidence you have that the full fitting fee was to be reimbursed?

If you've readily paid £150 to the fitters then it sort of weakens your case. If they offered you £150 off then you should have either:

- Refused to pay a single penny to the fitters, insisting that the company foot the bill. Worst case scenario is that the fitters refuse to fit it + you get a full refund.

- Get it in writing.

If the company are refusing to reimburse £150 then you will need to start small claims court action against them, armed with any evidence you have (you *may* be able to argue a case without evidence, but would be best speaking to CAB etc).

As a side note, the delays seemed fairly understandable (you wouldn't want a damaged carpet fitting + this country does go to a standstill when snow falls) and I'd say a £150 refund is fairly generous, but then again £35 is a bit stingy. I'd probably say anywhere between £50-£100 to be honest....

jgallcash

Hey thanks for the response.

The pnly evidence that I have is that a phonecall took place on the date/time and then it's my word aginst the store manager as to whether he offered to refund fitting costs.

The truth is that the only option I had on the telephone when they hadn't come at the second attempt was to either cancel the order or to rearrange a third attempt. My wife was about to drop and I didn't think that cancelling and trying to find another carpet to be fitted before Christmas would be the best thing to do.

The last option open to me was to refuse to pay an independant contractor that had nothing to do with the problems who had done a good job when he actually came. I should have done this - you are right but for all of the reasons I've posted above I just couldn't do that to a guy so close to Christmas who has his own family.

I also agree that the stores offer of refunding the fitting fee was generous (perhaps he didn't realise the cost when we spoke on the phone) and I didn't expect that amount and am not suggesting thats what I want.

I want to be reasonable but this is maybe the second carpet purchase in my life and the first time I've had these issues. I've no frame of reference for what is reasonable.

I intend on making a formal complaint to Head Office but would like to be clear on what my consumer rights are (if any) in terms of the delay in providing the goods.

And any suggestions on what IS reasonable.