Safestyle windows

Leehackling

Hi, first post so please bear with me if I'm in the wrong place.

I foolishly went with safestyle for a complete house installation of windows and doors in January 2018.
Since the work was carried out I've had nothing but issues with 3 of the units.

One being my patio doors and two of my windows.

The doors seem to expand in the hot weather to the point of which I cannot open them or close them if I had them opened before the temp rose. I've had the repair men out 4 times to tweak them, but still I cannot use them in the hot weather.

My two front windows (bedroom and lounge) have top openers. The top openers on both the windows are fairly wide and appear to have sagged in the middle. I can only close them by forcing down on the frame and adjusting the frame until the window can be locked. The frame can be moved aswell up and down which I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be able to do.

It just seems as though the plastic is not reinforced at all and feels very weak. I don't feel I should have to manipulate the frame to close the windows.

I've got yet another visit from the repair men very soon and I want to just demand the doors and windows does be replaced as it's costing me a fortune and annual leave I'm having to take for these visits that never fix anything.

I want the patio doors changed to sliding doors and the windows to be changed to a window without a top opener. I want these changes purely to have less things to go wrong in the future.

Can I demand a replacement not a repair?

Many thanks and sorry it's so long winded

Furts

Replacement? Depends if your return visits have each been documented with a written trail, (an absolute must) and also how you paid - credit card or finace who be positives here.

Repairs? Do you have Rosewood, Teak, Oak or coloured upvc? If so this is problematic.

The doors sound like they need re-fitting. If they are cheap units then the hinges may be inadequate and insufficient. Also I suspect the fitting is defective with inadequate fixing at the head and the cill.

Sliding doors are old fashioned and defective. The problem is security, plus dirt and debris destroying the wheel mechanisms. The wheels were a problem 30+ years ago and well known in the construction industry so do not go back there.

The windows. Similar again. My guess is the top hung needs removing and more fixings put in the head. You may want a different window but with Safestyle that can mean more problems starting with those.

As a side issue you may have poor quality windows, badly surveyed and dismally fitted. An all round bad job which is likely with Safestyle. I suspect the units were all fitted by sub contractors concerned only for how fast they could bodge the job. In reality they may all want fixing again but this time properly.

There is not too much you can do here. I say that because you specified and you agreed to poor quality windows and doors. However you did not aspecify poor quality surveying and installation.

Keep fighting!

FreeBear

Furts wrote: »

As a side issue you may have poor quality windows, badly surveyed and dismally fitted. An all round bad job which is likely with Safestyle. I suspect the units were all fitted by sub contractors concerned only for how fast they could bodge the job. In reality they may all want fixing again but this time properly.

It would also help to know what the age of the property is, and what is above the problem window. On many pre-war properties, the facing bricks were often supported by the wooden window frame (I think this practice continued up through the 1960s...). If this is the case, then a steel reinforcement should have been installed before the windows went in.

Or if it is a bay window, then structural supports should have been installed on either side and due consideration given to the loading on the frame.

Slinky

Off topic but of interest I'm sure to anybody considering using Safestyle Windows, this has popped up on the BBC today.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-44844422

Furts

FreeBear wrote: »

It would also help to know what the age of the property is, and what is above the problem window. On many pre-war properties, the facing bricks were often supported by the wooden window frame (I think this practice continued up through the 1960s...). If this is the case, then a steel reinforcement should have been installed before the windows went in.

Or if it is a bay window, then structural supports should have been installed on either side and due consideration given to the loading on the frame.

All very valid points which I overlooked. Of course there should be support, but I was assuming this existed and was covered by the Safestyle survey. A fundamental so obvious that I did not mention it. However this does not make my stance, or assumption, correct. Safestyle may have failed here.


There is a puzzle with OP's stance too. After four occcasions watching Safestyle attempt to sort out matters one would have thought OP would have a good heads up on exactly what the problems are.


My intuition is the windows need removing for OP to establish the problem. For example no lintels, or made too big, or bodged down to size, or a loose opening to name a few.


If OP is not competent and has failed on the last four occasions when Safestyle returned then it is time OP got somebody on board who does know something about windows.


Remember the repairs may be undertaken by further sub contractors. If so, they can have a vested interset in bodging the repairs in order to claim repeated work returning to correct their bodges. They have to earn a living somehow!

Leehackling

I've had a new team around to look at the job. They have told me the Packers are in the wrong places and once they come around in August then everything will work as it should. I'm still very sceptical. I don't have a paper trail apart from the texts they send you before the engineers visit. I have kept all of them, around 8 in total (more than one a month since they went in)

Advice taken on the sliding doors I'll stay clear of those.

I suppose all I can do is wait and see if they manage to sort them when the new team arrive. The summer is likely coming to close so I'm guessing I'll have to wait for the next heatwave before I can see if the doors expand beyond opening again.

I'll write a reply about how the new fix goes

Leehackling

I've also asked safestyle on several occasions for an email documenting the engineers visits, they tell me they will but this never arrives.
They are so frustrating, I paid using they're interest free finance from Barclays, what difference will this make?

Thank you

Doozergirl

No one can really comment on your installation, but my gut says that they've not allowed any expansion and manufactured your
windows exactly to the openings.

They've been able to force the frames into place, but the sag you see isn't a sag, but the frame finding the path of least resistance.

Furts

Leehackling wrote: »

I've had a new team around to look at the job. They have told me the Packers are in the wrong places and once they come around in August then everything will work as it should. I'm still very sceptical. I don't have a paper trail apart from the texts they send you before the engineers visit. I have kept all of them, around 8 in total (more than one a month since they went in)

Advice taken on the sliding doors I'll stay clear of those.

I suppose all I can do is wait and see if they manage to sort them when the new team arrive. The summer is likely coming to close so I'm guessing I'll have to wait for the next heatwave before I can see if the doors expand beyond opening again.

I'll write a reply about how the new fix goes

Doozergirl gives her gut instinct, I have given you mine. My bold highlight is following exactly what I warned you about earlier. A new team of sub contractors comes round. They see that they can make money from the situation. So the farce continues. Perhaps come October another team appears ... the loser in all this is you.

You are a pawn in the Safestyle game. A competent company would have qualified technical experts who would be reporting back to in writing. Safestyle do not operate like this.

I suggest you take action against Barclays - written notification you are suspending payment. Let the legal bods comment here - building is my strength not law. As I see it Barclays have a responsibilty in consumer law and they should not be colluding with cowboy companies.

Finally ponder this. Packers go in two locations and provide two functions. They are used as small blocks to space off the sealed unit within the plastic profile. They are also used - in a different material and size - to space off the windows within the brickwork opening. Hence if they are "in the wrong place" this means your windows and/or glass are incorrectly fitted and have been since day one. So why do people keep returning? These visits are stages in the Safestyle incompetence and sub contracting greed story! The visits have nothing to do with correcting your windows. Think long, and hard, about exactly what I am telling you here.


No consumer should ever touch Safestyle!

Leehackling

I know the windows are not fitted correctly, and I really don't want them to be back and forth "fixing" them. I'm worried about contacting Barclays and withholding payments could have a negative effect on my credit score. I've been in the black before and worked very hard for years to get myself credit worthy to own my own home, I'm worried that going down that road would send me back. If I knew I could do this legally then I would do it, but I'm up sure of all the legalities.

Furts

Leehackling wrote: »

I know the windows are not fitted correctly, and I really don't want them to be back and forth "fixing" them. I'm worried about contacting Barclays and withholding payments could have a negative effect on my credit score. I've been in the black before and worked very hard for years to get myself credit worthy to own my own home, I'm worried that going down that road would send me back. If I knew I could do this legally then I would do it, but I'm up sure of all the legalities.

You need to commence discussion with Barclays. Suspending payment with Barclays agreement seems unlikeley to have any bearing on a credit score. If this approach is followed then the finance people are applying pressure on Safestyle to get matters sorted.

In reality you should never have commenced payment.. If you were paying with your money you would not be paying for a bad job. You would only be paying when the job was good. Since the job was bad when it was installed, you would currently still have your money invested earning interest. So why are you paying for something which has never been satisfactory?


Were I in your position I would never have agreed to pay. However I would also never have agreed to use Safestyle! Such companies can operate and scam people purely because they use the mask of finance offers. Small, trusted, local, companies do not offer the finance "con and scam" to suck people into dodgy work.