Section 75 - bad workmanship

NQManchester

Hi,

Looking for some advice please on a recent flooring installation we had completed.

The majority of it is fine in the living room and hall however the kitchen is poorly done for a number of reasons (not enough screed, badly cut and shoddy looking round island, loose tiles) and I really ideally think it needs completely taking up and redoing.
I took photos and reported it back to the company at the time and they said they’d get the fitters back to sort. 

I then didn’t hear anything and eventually had a confused call off them two weeks ago and had to reiterate the fitters need to come back. Then heard nothing further and chased a week ago and they said they’d let me know when fitters will be able to come and this week they’ve just ignored me chasing completely.

it’s now been 6 weeks and unless I get a date off them I will probably need to arrange for someone else to come in and sort. We can’t fit the skirting or radiators till done so it’s getting quite annoying.

Can anyone tell me what the process would be for section 75? Would I need to get a quote for remedying it and request that amount? 

The other potential issue is the credit card is in my husbands name and the invoice is in mine. I read it’s ok if you can demonstrate they benefit from the work (which he obviously does since it’s also his house) is that correct? 

Thanks for any advice. 

eskbanker

NQManchester said:

it’s now been 6 weeks and unless I get a date off them I will probably need to arrange for someone else to come in and sort. We can’t fit the skirting or radiators till done so it’s getting quite annoying.

Can anyone tell me what the process would be for section 75? Would I need to get a quote for remedying it and request that amount?

Your husband would need to open a claim with the card company, who will probably initially ask for an independent expert report confirming the state of the work and indicative costs to rectify - the cost of obtaining that report can effectively be added to the claim.  The whole process can be quite time-consuming though, so if there's any chance that pursuing the original company can work then it would definitely be worth continuing down that route.

NQManchester said:

The other potential issue is the credit card is in my husbands name and the invoice is in mine. I read it’s ok if you can demonstrate they benefit from the work (which he obviously does since it’s also his house) is that correct? 

Not necessarily - the key issue is the existence or not of a direct relationship between debtor, creditor and supplier, and if the debtor (i.e. your husband here) isn't held to be a party to the contract then a claim may be rejected.  The stuff about the cardholder 'benefitting from the purchase' isn't actually mentioned in the legislation, so it's difficult to generalise and perhaps worth noting the Financial Ombudsman's equivocal stance:

This service reviews the evidence of each case on an individual basis. It is not always the case that there is no debtor-creditor-supplier link just because a sales advice or invoice is in a different name from the person who paid for the service.

However, if s75 isn't deemed applicable then chargeback is another option, and it may even be worth starting with a chargeback claim, as these are generally more palatable to card companies, as they recover the money from the merchant....

NQManchester

Thank you for the advice, best case they pull their finger out and get back and sort it out but appreciate you explaining the other options 

NQManchester

Hi, update on this. We’re now 7 months in and still have issues and new ones becoming apparent like the join between the ply being visible through the lvt. 

they’ve been out to fix things when asked but only with a lot of chasing but my last request for latest issues was 3 weeks ago and still no visit.
we’ve stated a preference that they get more competent fitters to visit but he’s insisting he’d have to use the original fitters again… do I have any right to refuse the original fitters? He outsourced so I’m assuming this is to save him money. 
We’re going to finally submit a section 75 claim but just wondering if anyone has experience of the sort of evidence we’d need to submit in terms of trying to get the company to rectify first. Is me having to chase for 7 months already reasonable? Would I have to let the original fitters try and rectify again when we’ve already had several visits?

I know I’ll need to get a second opinion, would this just be another flooring company quote or some sort of snagging specialist? 

Thanks for any help

eskbanker

NQManchester said:

We’re going to finally submit a section 75 claim but just wondering if anyone has experience of the sort of evidence we’d need to submit in terms of trying to get the company to rectify first. Is me having to chase for 7 months already reasonable?

If you're going down the s75 route then you're not under any obligation to provide evidence of trying to get the merchant to resolve issues, as you're simply exercising your rights independently against the card company, although I'd repeat my previous caution about the potential (in fact probably likelihood) for a claim to be rejected if the invoice isn't in the cardholder's name.

NQManchester said:

I know I’ll need to get a second opinion, would this just be another flooring company quote or some sort of snagging specialist?

You'd be trying to demonstrate that the existing workmanship is poor, so it would be better to find a person or company who's independent, rather than someone who's effectively a competitor of the company you used.

NQManchester said:

we’ve stated a preference that they get more competent fitters to visit but he’s insisting he’d have to use the original fitters again… do I have any right to refuse the original fitters?

Not really in those terms but you can insist that the work is performed to a reasonable objective standard.

NQManchester

Thank you!

torcawkwell

NQManchester said:

Thank you!

Hi, I’m in the same situation. How did you get on? Did you file the section 75, was it successful? Did you need a survey report? Any advice is much appreciated- Thanks 

Nasqueron

torcawkwell said:

NQManchester said:

Thank you!

Hi, I’m in the same situation. How did you get on? Did you file the section 75, was it successful? Did you need a survey report? Any advice is much appreciated- Thanks 

You should make your own thread rather than resurrecting a 2 year old post which is against the forum rules - not least because it can lead to confusing answers when the problem involves 2 different people 

The user NQManchester was last active on May 21, 2024 so you may well not get an answer from them, not an answer that helps because the details are not the same