Can I do a Section 75

robbie89

Hi,

I am having serious issues with a kitchen that was fitted 18 months ago.

The handles are falling off, the quartz worktop is falling apart, the kitchen is chipped and the doors have all dropped.

I have tried for 1 week to get hold of anybody at the company. Most of the complaints department have left. There is now a facebook group with 100's of people all having similar problems.

I looked through my accounts and believe 1 payment of around £3,000 was made on Tesco Mastercard.

The total was £13,000 and I was offered £1,700 compensation as there were hundreds of problems at the fitting stage.

Can I do a section 75 for this? Would I only be covered for the £3,000 or the entire balance, the rest was paid by debit card.

I have never done this before so don't know the process.

Thanks,
Rob

Terry_Towelling

If a company you have paid by credit card is in breach of contract (and you can demonstrate this) you can hold the credit card company equally liable for that breach of contract. The contract amount must be between £100 and £30K (which it is) so you are on the right footing.

You should be covered for the full cost of putting things right, so if that comes to more than the £3K CC transaction, you wouldn't have to worry.

Your card company might want an independent report to be done on the kitchen before agreeing to anything and they might also engage their own contractor to put things right. This might mean you don't get anything back, but you do get your kitchen properly fitted and with all parts working properly.

Issues you may have to counter are accusations of poor handling by you and your family - chips, cracks, hinges and handles are all easily damaged with rough handling, so be prepared to counter that if the independent inspection looks like saying that is the cause of the trouble.

Hinges and handles are also very easily sorted with a screwdriver and few minutes of your time, so you might want to look at those yourself.

I don't think the £1700 offered at fitting (if you took it) will make a difference to your claim for problems that have occurred since but it might be questioned by your card company. Give them a call and they'll tell you how to proceed.

eco_warrior

TT is right

You’ll need a copy of your contract as well to establish the debtor-creditor-supplier link.

This is what causes most claims to fail, for one reason or another.

eskbanker

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

The contract amount must be between £100 and £30K (which it is) so you are on the right footing.

The item cost must be between £100 and £30K, i.e. the level of itemised detail on invoices may be significant....

PRAISETHESUN

eskbanker wrote: »

The item cost must be between £100 and £30K, i.e. the level of itemised detail on invoices may be significant....

This is particularly important - 100x £1 items would not be covered but 1x £100 item would be. That said it sounds like the cost shouldn't be an issue, more so getting the bank to cover you. I my opinion you should be prepared for a bit of a fight, and be aware that the bank will be looking for any excuse to not pay out.

CityLite

robbie89 wrote: »

Hi,

I am having serious issues with a kitchen that was fitted 18 months ago.

The handles are falling off, the quartz worktop is falling apart, the kitchen is chipped and the doors have all dropped.

I have tried for 1 week to get hold of anybody at the company. Most of the complaints department have left. There is now a facebook group with 100's of people all having similar problems.

I looked through my accounts and believe 1 payment of around £3,000 was made on Tesco Mastercard.

The total was £13,000 and I was offered £1,700 compensation as there were hundreds of problems at the fitting stage.

Can I do a section 75 for this? Would I only be covered for the £3,000 or the entire balance, the rest was paid by debit card.

I have never done this before so don't know the process.

Thanks,
Rob

Section 75 is explained in this useful MSE article
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/

However, I would advise you persevere initially directly with the supplier.
You suggest they are not contactable, but I'm sure they are. A supplier that is not contactable won't be able to sell much would they? :cool:

Furthermore, you have already been offered £1700 discount, so the supplier seems to already admit their service has not been great. Presumably they will rectify any faults you have identified (100's allegedly :cool:), or was the £1700 offered for you to get someone else to rectify any faults?

As long as you haven't accepted the £1700 in full and final settlement yet, then if you can demonstrate the cost of rectification (assuming the supplier is expecting you to arrange this with their compo) will cost more than that (I doubt it) then provide evidence and I'm sure the supplier will look again at the level of compo offered to you.

If you have accepted the £1700 in full and final settlement of your claim aginst the supplier, it will be very difficult to get any more moeny backl from anyone.

If you are successful in claiming a full refund, they will want the kitchen back. That will leave you in difficulties until you get a new kitchen fitted, and presumably out of pocket as you presumably went with the cheapest option in the first place.

You buy cheap, you buy twice. Section 75 does not cover buyer remorse.

Terry_Towelling

eskbanker wrote: »

The item cost must be between £100 and £30K, i.e. the level of itemised detail on invoices may be significant....

Agreed, this is one of those aspects that causes some debate - we had it with a orangery purchase thread some months ago where the contract was for more than £30K and we were asked to find a way that S75 might be made to apply.

If the invoice itemises hinges and handles as separate parts, the inference in the above quote is that they won't allow a S75 claim to be successful. If the invoice itemises 'kitchen units' with a price under £100 each, again the inference is no coverage. Similarly if the fitting is itemised as 'free' and found to be the cause of the problems, that might also not be covered.

This sort of issue crops up with things like car tyres. If you buy a set of 4 costing £80 individually for a total of £320, does that mean you aren't covered? If you buy them for £320 but they are described as a 'set of four tyres', are they covered? If you buy them and the seller offers you a discount for buying them as a set and itemises the discount separately, are they covered? etc etc etc.

My suspicion is that the courts will try to take a balanced view and consider the fundaments of the purchase. A fitted kitchen is more than a set of parts (however it is itemised) and so it should be covered as a whole. Just my opinion though.

eco_warrior

CityLite wrote: »

Section 75 is explained in this useful MSE article
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/

However, I would advise you persevere initially directly with the supplier.
You suggest they are not contactable, but I'm sure they are. A supplier that is not contactable won't be able to sell much would they? :cool:

Furthermore, you have already been offered £1700 discount, so the supplier seems to already admit their service has not been great. Presumably they will rectify any faults you have identified (100's allegedly :cool:), or was the £1700 offered for you to get someone else to rectify any faults?

As long as you haven't accepted the £1700 in full and final settlement yet, then if you can demonstrate the cost of rectification (assuming the supplier is expecting you to arrange this with their compo) will cost more than that (I doubt it) then provide evidence and I'm sure the supplier will look again at the level of compo offered to you.

If you have accepted the £1700 in full and final settlement of your claim aginst the supplier, it will be very difficult to get any more moeny backl from anyone.

If you are successful in claiming a full refund, they will want the kitchen back. That will leave you in difficulties until you get a new kitchen fitted, and presumably out of pocket as you presumably went with the cheapest option in the first place.

You buy cheap, you buy twice. Section 75 does not cover buyer remorse.

Why would the supplier of the kitchen want their kitchen back in the event of a successful claim against the card issuer under s75?

No need for smileys