Bathroom - Work Not Started - Refund Rights?

sheramber

Late 2022, I went to a bathroom fitting company and arranged for a bathroom to be supplied and fitted by them in May 2023

Is this a company you visited?

trevormax

born_again said:

trevormax said:

born_again said:

How did you pay?

Hi,  I paid with a debit card transfer. I am kicking myself for not paying with my credit card though as at least I'd have s75 protection then.

Do you mean with just your debit card, or transfer via their sort code & acc details.

Makes a lot of difference. As a debit card payment has chargeback rights.

Although if you want the bathroom doing, you may find that no one else can do it sooner.

I went to their store and used a card payment machine with my bank card, entered my PIN and paid the deposit. 

I didn't have my credit card with me at the time, or I would probably have used that I think to provide S75 cover. I think for bank payments though, I read that only a small amount is covered. 

trevormax

Brie said:

I would definitely be checking if they are still in business as the first step.  If they are on line does it look like they're still taking orders?

And then I would ring them to find out what's going on.  The phone will be answered (or not) but hopefully you'll get through to a human who might be able to answer some questions for you.  Emails are very easy to overlook/avoid/delete.

They appear to still be trading and recently advertised that they were expanding their business to new areas, which bugged me a bit since they aren't even completing their current orders and yet are expanding. 

I considered ringing them, however I wanted a record of the contact as possible evidence should this escalate to arbitration or small claims. 

trevormax

sheramber said:

Late 2022, I went to a bathroom fitting company and arranged for a bathroom to be supplied and fitted by them in May 2023

Is this a company you visited?

It is. They have business premises, a show-room, company records etc. They still appear to be trading from what I can see. 

eskbanker

trevormax said:

born_again said:

trevormax said:

born_again said:

How did you pay?

Hi,  I paid with a debit card transfer. I am kicking myself for not paying with my credit card though as at least I'd have s75 protection then.

Do you mean with just your debit card, or transfer via their sort code & acc details.

Makes a lot of difference. As a debit card payment has chargeback rights.

Although if you want the bathroom doing, you may find that no one else can do it sooner.

I went to their store and used a card payment machine with my bank card, entered my PIN and paid the deposit. 

I didn't have my credit card with me at the time, or I would probably have used that I think to provide S75 cover. I think for bank payments though, I read that only a small amount is covered. 

Debit card payments can be charged back in full, provided of course that there's valid justification for initiating a chargeback.  Perhaps the confusion arose from your terminology - you refer above to 'debit card transfer' and 'bank payment', whereas it would be more typical to refer to 'debit card payment' (with a card) and 'bank transfer' (to a specified account)....

TELLIT01

You really need to go into their showroom and find out what is going on.  e-mails can get buried in the system where a face to face conversation won't be.

HillStreetBlues

TELLIT01 said:

You really need to go into their showroom and find out what is going on.  e-mails can get buried in the system where a face to face conversation won't be.

If doing that I would suggest the OP sets phone to record any conversations.

trevormax

Just a quick update. I sent a final email requesting either a date for the work to start (preferably starting within a month) or a refund of my deposit. I gave them 5 working days to respond, which they failed to do. 

I gave a further week for them to respond, and after that, I sent them a letter before action. Funnily enough, they responded on the day they received the letter, and offered a refund, which has since been paid. They apologised and say they did not receive any of my emails (which I do not believe). As such, the matter has now been resolved. I've not left any feedback for them (positive or negative) as I do not have any desire to affect their business.

Although I'm back to square one with the work, I think given their track record, if I had continued pushing for them to start the work it would have resulted in more delays, more ignoring of emails, and potentially the work stalling half way through leaving me with no bathroom or toilet, so I feel I've done the right thing.

Thanks for all your help and advice.   

HillStreetBlues

trevormax said:

Just a quick update. I sent a final email requesting either a date for the work to start (preferably starting within a month) or a refund of my deposit. I gave them 5 working days to respond, which they failed to do. 

I gave a further week for them to respond, and after that, I sent them a letter before action. Funnily enough, they responded on the day they received the letter, and offered a refund, which has since been paid. They apologised and say they did not receive any of my emails (which I do not believe). As such, the matter has now been resolved. I've not left any feedback for them (positive or negative) as I do not have any desire to affect their business.

Although I'm back to square one with the work, I think given their track record, if I had continued pushing for them to start the work it would have resulted in more delays, more ignoring of emails, and potentially the work stalling half way through leaving me with no bathroom or toilet, so I feel I've done the right thing.

Thanks for all your help and advice.   

Personally I don't understand this, but everyone is entitled to do what they think is best.

Why I would leave a honest review? is maybe it will stop someone going though what you have.