Driveway was under warranty - but needs repairing and firm has now gone bust...

95Rollers

Good Morning, I hope this is the right forum.  In 2018 we had our Driveway done and we chose a local long established company due to their excellent reviews and 10 year warranty.  However the driveway started to dip last year and could do with freshening up.  We went to contact the company and unfortunately got no response on the Emails or Telephone number (just continually rang out with no voicemail facility - most likely due to office closing down). On doing some research I found out that the company was listed as being recently "dissolved" on Companies House Website.  The warranty was provided by the company itself.

My main question is where does this leave us legally? We need the repair work done as soon as (which would have been covered by the warranty) - but have had no luck being able to contact anyone from the company. Is there any advice or anything we can realistically do?

Thanks in advance

Section62

95Rollers said:

Good Morning, I hope this is the right forum.  In 2018 we had our Driveway done and we chose a local long established company due to their excellent reviews and 10 year warranty.  However the driveway started to dip last year and could do with freshening up.  We went to contact the company and unfortunately got no response on the Emails or Telephone number (just continually rang out with no voicemail facility - most likely due to office closing down). On doing some research I found out that the company was listed as being recently "dissolved" on Companies House Website.

My main question is where does this leave us legally? We need the repair work done as soon as (which would have been covered by the warranty) - but have had no luck being able to contact anyone from the company. Is there any advice or anything we can realistically do?

Thanks in advance

What kind of warranty was it? Provided by the contractor, or an insurance-backed one?

What does the warranty paperwork say?

95Rollers

It was a 10 year warranty which was provided by the company itself (not an insurance backed one).  The invoice has details on it which I'll upload later when home.    The company offered a 10 year installation guarantee for all paved driveways.

maisie_cat

If the company has gone the chances are the warranty has gone too, it's happened to us a couple of times with installations.

rob7475

As above, if it's not an insurance backed, or third party warranty, you're stuck. If the company no longer exists, there's nothing you can do.

Have you checked the company's address to make sure they haven't just relaunched under a new name - it happens a lot with double glazing firms etc.

TELLIT01

Sadly the warranty expired at the same time as the company.  The only warranty actually worth much is an insurance backed one.

FreeBear

TELLIT01 said:

Sadly the warranty expired at the same time as the company.  The only warranty actually worth much is an insurance backed one.

Even then, some of them contain a bunch of exclusion clauses that render many claims void.

If there are dips forming in the driveway, it is going to be one of three problems - Subsidence caused by a leaking pipe or drain. Removal of a large tree on a heavy clay soil. The most likely cause, poor preparation of the sub-base and insufficient depth of hardcore.

McKneff

How did you pay for it

ashe

If you paid for any of it using a credit card or finance or some sort then you maybe have some recourse via them. Otherwise, due to it not being insurance backed, you're out of luck I think. 

GDB2222

You only need to have paid a small amount on credit, £100 if I recall correctly, and the lender/card company is liable for the entire drive. 

Ebe_Scrooge

GDB2222 said:

You only need to have paid a small amount on credit, £100 if I recall correctly, and the lender/card company is liable for the entire drive. 

You don't need to have paid £100 to be covered by Section 75 - if you paid any amount by card/credit, even 1p, then you're covered.  But the total amount of the goods/services needs to be between £100 and £30,000 for the cover to apply - that's where you're probably recalling the figure of £100 from