Everest windows pre-2020 work - Unusual Situation wrt warranty/

Leigen_Zero

Hello, found myself in an interesting pickle:

• I purchased a house in Feb 2022.  With all the documents and such I was also given copies of the FENSA certificates, some insurance documents and warranty/guarantee information related to replacement uPVC windows that the previous owner had had installed in 2019.  All of this is, of course, in the previous owner's name

• Since then I've had a few of the latches break (6 in total) all with the same issue - when shutting the window the little 'lock' bit of the handle breaks and thus can't open the window any more.

• Checked the Everest website and have now found out about them going into administration in 2020 and information to the (paraphrased) tune of 'work done before 2020?, tough luck mate'

So now I'm not sure how to go about this now, am I just squat out of luck and better off phoning a tradesmen to come and sort them out at my expense, or will the insurance still be valid even though it's not in my name? I balk at the idea of going down the route of booking a '£125 non-refundable assesment' with 'Everest 2020' to see if they can then charge me more to fix a few window latches.  Just looking for some advice on how to approach the situation.

Thanks

victor2

The warranty is useless, as you have found out.
Look for a local window repair person, who will probably be able to replace the broken latches for you at a reasonable cost.

GDB2222

I've never had plastic windows, but I wonder how hard these latches are to replace yourself? Also, if six have gone, is it sensible to just replace the whole lot?

jbainbridge

What's broken?

We've had a few handles break .. just bought replacements from Screwfix or Amazon. Easy to replace and cost less than £10 each.

ThisIsWeird

What exactly breaks, LZ? Are you saying you simply cannot open the 'broken' windows?

Is the broken part internal, or is it visible?

Any chance of a close-up photo of an example?

Most PVC window handles are secured by just two screws, tho' you do need to have the handle in the open position in order to access one. Worst case it should be possible to cut off the handle in order to get to the screw.

Leigen_Zero

ThisIsWeird said:

What exactly breaks, LZ? Are you saying you simply cannot open the 'broken' windows?

Is the broken part internal, or is it visible?

Any chance of a close-up photo of an example?

Most PVC window handles are secured by just two screws, tho' you do need to have the handle in the open position in order to access one. Worst case it should be possible to cut off the handle in order to get to the screw.

Yeah we can't open the 'broken' ones.

It was the same failure scenario on every window.  When closing the window, the little button with the keyhole that you press down when opening/closing pings out of the socket.  It looks like there's a little post inside and it's shearing off, so once it's closed it doesn't open again.

Tbh a bit of poking with small flathead screwdriver I might be able to open the handle.  If they are easy enough to fix then I'll probably have a go myself at the weekend, it was more the principle of things that the windows were (I thought) in warranty, and six of them going on 3 year old windows in the space of a few months sounds more like dodgy batch of handles than wear and tear.

Leigen_Zero

Here's a pic (excuse the water, that's the bathroom window and I hadn't long had a shower)

ThisIsWeird

Looks promising - almost certainly you'll be able to depress the pin in there, and unlock the handle.

One of the two fixing screws is under that cap on the left. The second should appear once the handle is up. And it really is as simple as undoing these two, and sticking in a new handle.

As for 'principle', maaaaan, you lost all that when you went with Everest  

(Kidding! I know it was the previous owner - you wouldn't be that daft. The business system companies like that use never cease to amaze me. They screw their customers, often to the tune of 3 times what a reasonable cost for a product should be, but still end up going out of business. Incredible.)

Apodemus

ThisIsWeird said:

As for 'principle', maaaaan, you lost all that when you went with Everest  

    But to be fair, the only reputable double-glazing salesman I have ever come across was from Everest.  Wife had booked him to come round (against my better judgement!) and he & I had a cup of coffee at the kitchen table and talked windows.  He admired my 60 year-old, local-carpenter-made, single-glazed windows, knowledgeably discussed the pros and cons of wood-framed windows and how to design a wooden frame that overcame the problems inherent with double glazing.  Ended up telling me how much it would cost for Everest windows and that I would be daft to replace the windows rather than repairing what I had.  All-in-all, a knowledgeable guy and a true gent!