Faulty door replaced by manufacturer - what about fitting?

cba123

My husband fitted an £600 oak door purchased directly by customer.  He fitted it but  It turned out to be faulty and customer sorted out with supplier and a new door will be sent.  What about the cost of re-fitting, obviously my husband can’t afford to loose a day re doing this and nor should the customer have to pay him again.  Is the door manufacturer responsible for fitting costs for second door?

turnitround

I would have thought that it depends on why a faulty door was fitted in the first place. What was the faut?

tightauldgit

cba123 said:

My husband fitted an £600 oak door purchased directly by customer.  He fitted it but  It turned out to be faulty and customer sorted out with supplier and a new door will be sent.  What about the cost of re-fitting, obviously my husband can’t afford to loose a day re doing this and nor should the customer have to pay him again.  Is the door manufacturer responsible for fitting costs for second door?

Presuming they bought a door without fitting then i can't see how your consumer rights would cover you for anything other than a replacement of what you bought. There may be a question as to whether a fitter should have spotted it as faulty before fitting depending on what the fault was but if not then it's the customer's responsibility.

PHK

turnitround said:

I would have thought that it depends on why a faulty door was fitted in the first place. What was the faut?

I agree with this, unless your husband should have spotted the fault when fitting then it's not his fault and this is just a new fitting that should be paid for . Its then up to the consumer if they try to get the cost of fitting back. 

If he wants to, he could do the fitting at cost price?

cba123

There was a veneer on the door which didn’t start to bubble up until about six weeks after fitting so neither the customer or my husband were aware there was a fault

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The supplier of the door is responsible to bear the reasonable costs of their replacement:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/23

(2)If the consumer requires the trader to repair or replace the goods, the trader must—

(a)do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and

(b)bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

Customer pays your husband to fit new door and claims the cost of this back from door supplier. This assumes when you say "door purchased directly by customer" that the customer didn't buy the door from your husband  

cba123

Thank you but the door was ordered by my husband on his Howdens account, the customer paid Howdens directly.

tightauldgit

cba123 said:

Thank you but the door was ordered by my husband on his Howdens account, the customer paid Howdens directly.

I suspect that's probably rendered it a B2B purchase and exempt from any consumer rights anyway. 

cba123

what does what does B2B mean olease

tightauldgit

cba123 said:

what does what does B2B mean olease

A business to business transaction rather than a business to consumer one. If the item was bought by a business then there are no consumer rights and the rules to apply are basically whatever the terms and conditions of the sale say. I suspect that making the purchase through a trade account (regardless of who pays) would have rendered it a commercial transaction rather than a consumer one. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

cba123 said:

Thank you but the door was ordered by my husband on his Howdens account, the customer paid Howdens directly.

That does complicate matters somewhat. 

I've not seen an answer as to how this works exactly, if the customer had just gone to Howdens themselves then it would be no different to going to say B&Q really however I would suggest as your husband ordered the door and most noticeably it was through his account it could be taken that the contract to supply the door was between Howdens and your husband meaning the customer had a contract for the door between themselves and your husband despite the customer paying Howdens directly. 

If your husband spends a fortune with Howdens they might offer something to keep him as a customer, no harm in asking. 

Ultimately if Howdens won't pay for the fitting it does seem the correct thing for your husband to refit the door without charging the customer as they appear to be the "innocent" party in all this. 

If it can be shown the contract for the door supply is between Howdens and the customer then consumer rights would apply to the customer but they are going to have a hard time getting Howdens to agree to that, I appreciate the cost of lost time but if the customer voiced their dissatisfaction publicly does that not cost more in the long run or equally does a happy customer not earn further business through word of mouth?