Double Glazing & Certass

epichouse

My parents and myself have been having a terrible time trying to get a double glazing installation company to come back and rectify failed units at my parents house and to issue us both with the 10 year guarantee and the CERTASS certificates.

Altogether, it has been dragging on for nearly 2 years in a cat and mouse game. My own house was fully fitted with new windows, my parents had two bay windows done (upper and lower). Some of their units have failed and two are filling half-way up with water.  Some of the finishing trims outside are also broken and loose after having not been properly secured and blowing off in the wind. My dad has been up on ladders himself to try and patch it up for bad weather.

Part way through our installs, the owner / fitter was incapacitated with illness, and it dragged on  - but we were understanding and patient. He had to send somebody else who worked with him in the end to finish everything off, which is where we came a cropper in not being able to obtain the guarantee paperwork etc. We were told it would be brought or sent, but it never was.

This clown has been giving us the run around for too long. We have tried being nice, we have been patient, we have recently tried starting off proceedings with registered letters, but it is excuse after excuse, deadline after deadline missed, trying to claim he can't get windows made because of Corona - yet he is still posting all over facebook the new work he is doing all over the country, for which he seems to have no problems getting units made at all.

On calling Certass, we were told that he had never registered our installations - which is alarming, as we are left without any 10 year cover, not that this idiot would likely ever come back to do fulfil his obligations.

Furthermore, when looking at those "company registration" websites, they appear to be saying his company is dissolved, but he is still out trading the same name, same van, same certass registration and still posting on facebook about his 10 year guarantees.

On looking at trustpilot reviews on Certass, it seems they are utterly toothless and utterly useless to do anything and have no authority whatsoever to do anything about this person and his company. 

After several missed deadlines, they finally sent somebody around to measure my parents windows a few months ago - but again, here we are, three more missed deadlines, more excuses, still no certification or guarantee, our calls being avoided and snotty emails being sent back about needing to order extra parts (which is nonsense).

It's causing my parents quite a bit of anxiety and distress, as they are both ill with untreatable conditions and we really don't need to be battling like this.

We would even get somebody else to do the work and pay the money, but it is the 10 year guarantee on the entire lot of my house that is perhaps most concerning and that we have no paperwork for any of the work being completed at either property.

We are going to try again with CERTASS, but we don't expect to get very far.  Last thing they said was to request an official complaints form from the company in order to start proceedings against them - which, of course, we never got.

The way the said person is behaving is disgusting and shameful. I didn't think he was a cowboy and a rogue trader, but his actions and the suspicious nature of his lack of company status makes me worried we've just been conned and we are going to be left with no redress for the failed units and with no guarantees or paperwork at all.

I don't even know if he'd have the barefaced cheek to show his face. He'd probably send his underling again, but we're not looking likely to get anything.

He might be doing the same thing to hundreds of new customers for all we know, and they too will not be getting their guarantee or registration of work completed. 

What are we supposed to do in these situations?  

Aylesbury_Duck

Send him a letter before action saying that unless he confirms he will correct the problems and issue the paperwork you are entitled to in your original contracts with him, you will arrange for another glacier to sort the problems out, issue certification (if they can) and bill him accordingly, backed by court action if needed.

You will need to do this for your house, and your parents for theirs. As two separate letters and court cases if needed. 

epichouse

Thanks for the quick response Aylesbury_Duck. 

My parent's failed units and increasing water ingress has been the most pressing thing up to now, as we had no idea until just a few months ago that he'd never even registered the work, never mind issued any paperwork. That has perhaps now become the priority, I just don't know what to think any more, we're all tired of it.

I'm not sure what contracts we actually have in writing. We have been a bit naive and much of it was verbal at the start. There may be some emails somewhere from them confirming the work to be carried out, if that'd count. I have evidence of payment via my bank statements. 

He seemed such a nice, genuine and professional guy. Other than the failed units, the work seems to a decent standard. It's just looking like he's not standing by his stated guarantees, leaving people with nothing after creaming the new work, being too busy with that to be bothered, I don't know. I'd like to be proven wrong and that he does have a conscience. 

My father wants to contact CERTASS again, but by written email or letter, as all this verbal stuff so far is not helping. I have lost track of all the avenues we''ve tried so far, but I will mention getting this official confirmation again and how we may be best dealing with it as two cases rather than the combination we have tried so far.

The last thing we need in our lives at the moment is court cases, but we can't carry on like this. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Without contracts your threat of court action might be an empty one, but he doesn't necessarily know that.  The priority is for your parents to get the letter out so they can crack on with getting someone in quickly if he doesn't respond. Replacement glazed units (of they've simply "blown") are normally of the order of £100 each, more if they're a hinged unit, so not a huge outlay if they need to get them replaced.  It's also usually quite a rapid process if they're a reasonably standard size.

The certification is going to be the tricky bit, I fear.  I don't know if an installation can be retrospectively inspected and certified. If it can, then the same process applies. LBA, get it done elsewhere if needs be, sue afterwards.  To be quite honest, I'm not sure how valuable certification is anyway and if the general installation has been done well, you're unlikely to be using it.

epichouse

I have official copies of their invoices and some screen-shots of their webpages which cite the CERTASS aspect and the 10 year guarantee, if that'd count. I'm hoping that some pressure from CERTASS and a renewed registered letter to confirm that we are to recieve what is due will prompt some action. I am reluctant to be dragging his name and company into accusations of being a rogue trader, but surely it is ridiculous behaviour that is out of any reasonable order. I hope it gets resolved.

mikb

Aylesbury_Duck said:

 you will arrange for another glacier to sort the problems out,

I bet you get quite a frosty reception from that sort of letter ...

Aylesbury_Duck

mikb said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

 you will arrange for another glacier to sort the problems out,

I bet you get quite a frosty reception from that sort of letter ...

And it wouldn't be a speedy process, either.

Darned autocorrect.