Quote for partial new bathroom from ClearwaterKB

thehoopster

My parents recently informed me that they had a new shower unit and wet wall panels on half the small bathroom walls (not all of the bathroom) from a company called Clearwater Kitchens & Bathrooms (Coatbridge) and mentioned that as they have been making payments on it for some time would I take a look at the paperwork.
They decided to take it on finance as they could not afford it at the time and were quoted £3900.00 which is extortionate in my opinion, taken out over 5 years with Barclays at 22.4% APR, and I could not believe what I was seeing.
There is no breakdown on the quote, just the total cost including labour for a luxury (apparently) double shower unit and new electric shower and 4 wet wall panels to replace an existing shower unit and that is all, they were finished in 7 hrs.
The company have failed to respond to my email requesting a breakdown of costs and my parents will have paid this off by Sept 2019, they had a local guy fitting wet wall panels on the rest of the walls and vinyl flooring and I believed that he had done all the other work too, as I was not told otherwise as my parents were too embarrassed.
Any advice on what I could possibly do next would be greatly appreciated.

tonyh66

unfortunately there is nothing you can do, they signed up for it. Best thing to do is find a cheaper loan (lower APR) and pay off the other one.

stator

The builders and the finance company won't talk to you unless you have power of attorney (or whatever they call it)


If your parents have a complaint to make, they should put it in writing to whoever sold the finance agreement to them and progress the complaint from there.

thehoopster

Surely they would talk to me if given permission by my parents over the phone as I simply want a breakdown of costs and how they can justify £3900 for the little that was done, for example I recently had my bathroom done for £3400, which is slightly larger and comprised of a new shower and cubicle connected up to our combi-boiler and new in-line extractor fan, the floor needed replacing under the old shower, all wet walls with framed window and silver edging, click flooring and ceiling panelled, new wash hand-basin and unit, new w/c, radiator removed and new one fitted on other wall and Bluetooth led mirror, all this took 1 week.

So as you can see, there is little comparison and therefore it simply beggars belief that any reputable company would charge as much for a days work.

Thanks for your prompt reply to my post.

thehoopster

Hi tonyh66, surely if they failed to provide a breakdown of costs on the invoice then there must be a reason for that as I have never seen an invoice like that, so you could assume that the intent was to deceive the customer with the focus being on the end result rather than what it would cost, especially when it is only £107 pcm which doesn't sound that much (but over 5 years?), I still have my doubts that there is nothing I can do on their behalf although I do agree that they should pay it off with a cheaper loan.

thehoopster

Not sure whether to push for a response from Clearwater KB regarding their invoice but it won't be addressed from me (although I won't hold my breath) or to contact Barclays as the finance agreement is with them.

stator

They have no obligation to provide a breakdown of anything.
There are virtually no rules about builders selling refurbishments.
If the building work was acceptable quality, then you have really no complaint about the building company, no matter how much they charged. There is no law against charging £10k for £5k of work and pocketing a massive profit.



There are a lot of regulations about people selling finance. If your parents were misled about the finance, then they have a complaint. But if they knew the terms, the total cost etc and they weren't unduly pressured into signing something they didn't understand, then you don't have much of a complaint there either.

bris

You have no rights here, you can't demand anything and are entitled to nothing.


This was obviously done 3 years ago so you're a bit late to the party.

C_Mababejive

You cant do anything. Your parents accepted the quote and the finance option and the work was completed. The only thing you can do is get a cheaper loan and pay it off if there are still substantial amounts to be paid.

thehoopster

Well Bris, thanks for stating the obvious regarding when the work was done, but how would you feel if it were your parents that signed up for this, I am only getting started with this company and Barclays too, so with regards to your other comments they don't carry much weight with me but I appreciate your reply.

Davesnave

thehoopster wrote: »

Well Bris, thanks for stating the obvious regarding when the work was done, but how would you feel if it were your parents that signed up for this, I am only getting started with this company and Barclays too.....

You've now been told by several people that there will be probably be no legal challenge you can make at this late stage.

If your folks were of sound mind, their agreeing to a price for the work and the terms of the unsecured loan may have been bad financial decisions, but it doesn't seem as if anything illegal or fraudulent happened.

If this is so, then you will not "get started" with the company or the bank. They are probably not obliged to discuss the matter with you and I doubt if you'd now wish to embroil your parents directly in a dispute.

However, you might take something positive from this. For example, it's probably an excellent time to discuss having a power of attorney put in place, so that it's there when you and your folks feel you need it. Often, an event such as this precipitates the decision. I know it has recently done so in my family.