New windows and asbestos

spanielmum

Ten weeks ago a well known window company gave us an estimate to replace windows and doors around our property. The deal at the time seemed good and the salesman encouraged us to go with them as this was a "one time only chance at the price" - hindsight is a wonderful thing and alarm bells should have been sounding! We signed the contract and paid a deposit by cheque. A surveyor from the company came out to measure  the windows and thought there might be asbestos in the soffits. A survey organised by the window company was carried out and the result was that asbestos was found .  Our only correspondence from them - all other contact had been instigated by ourselves - was to inform us of the presence of asbestos. They suggested several options - a company they sourced would remove the asbestos at our expense, a company we had sourced could remove it at our expense or once cost was established the order could be terminated  in line with clause 7 of their terms and conditions . Their clause 7 is "We will contact you after the survey has taken place if we believe we are unable to provide the products and/ or service set out in  the purchase order. At this stage we will either offer an alternative solution for your acceptance , or we will cancel the contract and refund any sums paid by you to us". We have contacted the company several time and managed to speak to someone and advised them that due to the asbestos we wished to cancel the contact, without pausing he said that the asbestos would be removed by them with no charge. We no longer want to continue with the contract, we want to cancel it and get whatever deposit back that we can from them . At the time of writing we are still waiting for them to get back to us. This whole situation has been stressful and we really wish now knowing the bad reports that the company have that we could just turn the clock back. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you .

DullGreyGuy

Given they are now saying they can provide the products/services set out in the purchase order (plus an additional one) the ability to cancel under clause 7 has gone

powerful_Rogue

What company is this?

A timeline would help, however even if this is a distance sale, appears you would be too late to cancel the contract. As such, you'll be relying on the terms of the contract.

As it stands, they are going to remove the asbestos free of charge and fit the windows. if that's correct, what's the issue?

spanielmum

Thanks for replying . We felt coerced into signing and are now aware that the company doesn't have a good reputation.

powerful_Rogue

spanielmum said:

Thanks for replying . We felt coerced into signing and are now aware that the company doesn't have a good reputation.

What was the timeline, who is the company?

Did you sign up at your address?

Was this a cold call or did you arrange for them to come out?

What do you mean you felt coerced?

For a sale such as this, your going to have to give a lot more informationt o get any relevant advice. As it stands on what you've said, you've got no rights to cancel bar that outlined in the contract.

eskbanker

Is the deposit small enough to write off, or large enough to be able to construct an argument that it's excessive compared with their actual losses if you cancel?

DullGreyGuy

spanielmum said:

Thanks for replying . We felt coerced into signing and are now aware that the company doesn't have a good reputation.

It sounds a little like buyers remorse and looking for exit routes. Assuming you are over 14 days from the sale your cost free exit routes are closed.

Manxman_in_exile

If I were the OP I think that I would want to satisfy myself that the window company was licensed to remove asbestos itself (which is what I presume the OP means when he says they've told him they will remove it) and that they could do so safely and competently and in accordance with whatever the relevant regulations are.

At no cost to the OP...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Manxman_in_exile said:

If I were the OP I think that I would want to satisfy myself that the window company was licensed to remove asbestos itself (which is what I presume the OP means when he says they've told him they will remove it) and that they could do so safely and competently and in accordance with whatever the relevant regulations are.

At no cost to the OP...

They either have a very good mark up or are cowboys, hopefully for the OP it's the first being the lesser of two evils.