LOCAL FLOORING MAN

travelodger

After seeing a glowing recommendation from someone on the site called Next Door I called in a local indie flooring two-man outfit. They really instilled confidence when they visited: they actually listened carefully to me, showed me samples, and gave me a verbal quote on the spot. I was even impressed that they had the company name embroidered on their tee shirts, and even more so when they said that they moved all the furniture including washing machine, white goods etc. so the customer need do nothing. I booked them in and they fitted the vinyl to my kitchen floor on 9th a week ago.

Because I have had my very heavy tall freezer moved before and it ripped the vinyl, I am always alert to that danger. When I went in to see how they were doing, I saw they had moved the freezer across the room without taking out the drawer. I immediately instructed them to make sure they took out all five drawers before rolling it back into place because it was chock-full of very heavy items like meat and it would damage the new vinyl. I said, "it only takes 30 seconds, better to be safe than sorry". One of them said, "we won't do that, you can do it yourself if you want" which I thought was bad because  (a) I am a disabled female pensioner and (b) they specifically told me that they take care of all the furniture-moving. Anyway, I said, "OK call me when you are ready to move it and I will empty it." I then went into my front room which is 15 feet from where they were working. They knew where I was. They did not call me to remove the drawers so I assumed he had been joking and had done it themselves. They then said they were done and gave me an invoice. I glanced across the kitchen floor, it looked ok, they left, and I paid immediately by bank transfer.

Later when I went into the kitchen I saw two deep, very noticeable "tram lines" leading from in front of the freezer, around a curve, and ending at the door to the hall. I phoned them and they said "Don't worry about it, love they will disappear in a few days". Well they haven't and now they are  not answering my calls!
I suspect they intend to do nothing about this. They charged me £320 to supply and fit one kitchen which is 10ft by 8ft.


I checked on the invoice and there is no home address or even an email address, just a bank number and sort code and a VAT reg number.
I searched online but they are nowhere: no address, no website, nothing.

I realise now that I should not have paid them without thoroughly checking their work. . I cannot believe that I have been so stupid. And I know I should not have let them work on my house at all without a proper quote with full contact details and home address.


What can I do?
 
 

Were_Doomed

I agree - the OP is merely a story without any question. Did they hit submit before completing their post and haven't realised it?

Spank

Aylesbury_Duck said:

travelodger said:

After seeing a glowing recommendation from someone on the site called Next Door I called in a local indie flooring two-man outfit. They really instilled confidence when they visited: they actually listened carefully to me, showed me samples, and gave me a verbal quote on the spot. I was even impressed that they had the company name embroidered on their tee shirts, and even more so when they said that they moved all the furniture including washing machine, white goods etc. so the customer need do nothing. I booked them in and they fitted the vinyl to my kitchen floor on 9th a week ago.

Because I have had my very heavy tall freezer moved before and it ripped the vinyl, I am always alert to that danger. When I went in to see how they were doing, I saw they had moved the freezer across the room without taking out the drawer. I immediately instructed them to make sure they took out all five drawers before rolling it back into place because it was chock-full of very heavy items like meat and it would damage the new vinyl. I said, "it only takes 30 seconds, better to be safe than sorry". One of them said, "we won't do that, you can do it yourself if you want" which I thought was bad because  (a) I am a disabled female pensioner and (b) they specifically told me that they take care of all the furniture-moving. Anyway, I said, "OK call me when you are ready to move it and I will empty it." I then went into my front room which is 15 feet from where they were working. They knew where I was. They did not call me to remove the drawers so I assumed he had been joking and had done it themselves. They then said they were done and gave me an invoice. It all looked ok, they left, and I paid immediately by bank transfer.

Great.  Sounds like they did a good job.  Where's the consumer rights matter - that they asked you to empty your own freezer?  Are you after a discount for that?

The way I read it is that they didn't get the OP to remove the draws and due to the weight of the freezer damaged the floor.

Aylesbury_Duck

Spank said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

travelodger said:

After seeing a glowing recommendation from someone on the site called Next Door I called in a local indie flooring two-man outfit. They really instilled confidence when they visited: they actually listened carefully to me, showed me samples, and gave me a verbal quote on the spot. I was even impressed that they had the company name embroidered on their tee shirts, and even more so when they said that they moved all the furniture including washing machine, white goods etc. so the customer need do nothing. I booked them in and they fitted the vinyl to my kitchen floor on 9th a week ago.

Because I have had my very heavy tall freezer moved before and it ripped the vinyl, I am always alert to that danger. When I went in to see how they were doing, I saw they had moved the freezer across the room without taking out the drawer. I immediately instructed them to make sure they took out all five drawers before rolling it back into place because it was chock-full of very heavy items like meat and it would damage the new vinyl. I said, "it only takes 30 seconds, better to be safe than sorry". One of them said, "we won't do that, you can do it yourself if you want" which I thought was bad because  (a) I am a disabled female pensioner and (b) they specifically told me that they take care of all the furniture-moving. Anyway, I said, "OK call me when you are ready to move it and I will empty it." I then went into my front room which is 15 feet from where they were working. They knew where I was. They did not call me to remove the drawers so I assumed he had been joking and had done it themselves. They then said they were done and gave me an invoice. It all looked ok, they left, and I paid immediately by bank transfer.

Great.  Sounds like they did a good job.  Where's the consumer rights matter - that they asked you to empty your own freezer?  Are you after a discount for that?

The way I read it is that they didn't get the OP to remove the draws and due to the weight of the freezer damaged the floor.

It's since been updated.

OP, without a physical address to work with this is going to be very difficult.  Have you worked backwards from the VAT reg number?

travelodger

I pressed "return" to make a new paragraph and it posted it. I then finished what I wanted to write and clicked on "post".
I have no idea how to get someone's address from the VAT number. 

Please can someone help me?

travelodger

Oh!  I just googled and now I have his address!
I am guessing that my first move is to write him a letter in the post stating my grievance. And then if he does not make good, make a claim in the county court? Never done this before.

I told him on the day that I wanted them to come back another time and put the same vinyl throughout my ground floor - this will cost me about £1,500.  

Aylesbury_Duck

Excellent.  Now you have his address then yes, google "letter before action" and consider sending one with the threat of small claims action.

I think you can call the HMRC VAT helpline to check the legitimacy of a VAT registration number.  Might be worth doing so to see if you can cross-check the address you have found with google.

travelodger

Hi Duck

I got his address from the EU Vat regisration website

I have discussed this with a friend who was many years in the building trade. He reckons these tramline dents can be fixed -- thank goodness! Apparently one can do it with a towel and a hot iron. I can't do it myself as I cannot kneel or squat down due to disability but I could ask someone to do it. That would be a lot easier than trying to force these horrible men to come back, or indeed the unpleasantness of having them in my house. I guess I could send them a bill for the workman.

Aylesbury_Duck

Yes, depending on the material, a damp towel and patient, gentle ironing can do the job.

You do need to give them the opportunity to correct the problem before billing them, though.

pramsay13

How long has it been since it was installed. If the vinyl isn't ripped I would expect any dents to return to shape within a week or two.