Flooring deposit refund

resassured

I paid £3000 deposit for flooring.  The total cost of flooring plus install is £5000 plus another £885 for floor levelling.

I assumed the deposit was for the floor to be delivered to acclimatise for 2 weeks before laying so thought it ok.

Since then I have found many issues (drain and door heights) with the floor which makes it unsuitable for wood plus they have given wrong advice about height for the fireplace hearth to be laid to accommodate the floor below.  

I have asked for my deposit back so that I can buy carpet but it is not seeming straight forward with them and wondering where I stand legally if they refuse.  Anyone know?  Thank you

km1500

it will entirely depend on the contract you agreed when ordering and the terms and conditions therein.

What does the contract say?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

How did you form this contract OP?

Did they visit your home? If so did you agree whilst they were there?

eskbanker

resassured said:

I paid £3000 deposit for flooring.  The total cost of flooring plus install is £5000 plus another £885 for floor levelling.

I assumed the deposit was for the floor to be delivered to acclimatise for 2 weeks before laying so thought it ok.

Since then I have found many issues (drain and door heights) with the floor which makes it unsuitable for wood plus they have given wrong advice about height for the fireplace hearth to be laid to accommodate the floor below.  

What work, if any, have they actually done so far?  How have all of these issues come to light?

resassured

Thanks for comments ..

They have done no work yet and all I have is a receipt for the deposit paid.

They visited the home to measure and survey.  I later went into the shop and thought to go ahead.  

Since then rising damp is coming through the concrete and I don't want to cover the drain in the extension with wooden flooring since may need access.  They also give wrong information to lay the hearth at 20mm above floor so that timber floor can fit below.  It now turns out that the floor thickness with underlay is 23mm .. easiest solution is to just go carpet but losing £3000 for no work or product is a bit too much to swallow.

MorningcoffeeIV

Both those issues are easily resolved. Have you spoken to the fitters about them?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

resassured said:

They visited the home to measure and survey.  I later went into the shop and thought to go ahead.  

This is classed as an "on-premises" contract with no right to cancel. 

In the event you breach the contract through your own fault (which is what you are attempting to do ) they may retain either costs or loss of profit.

They should mitigate those losses meaning they keep costs to a minimum or if seeking loss of profit attempt to find another customer. 

Trades people are very busy so the labour aspect should be covered by them finding another person, if they ordered materials those that can't be readily used on another job (such as the flooring itself) might attract some kind of fee for them to return to their supplier.

Overall a retention from the "deposit" should be relatively minimal. 

resassured said:

They also give wrong information to lay the hearth at 20mm above floor so that timber floor can fit below.  It now turns out that the floor thickness with underlay is 23mm 

If the hearth can easily be lifted out then this is an easy fix. Did they give the information about the height verbally or in writing? If verbally they'll probably deny it, if in writing and it's a small fix you'd hope they would be pragmatic and add it to the job without charge. 

resassured said:

Since then rising damp is coming through the concrete

Do you mean you have damp coming up through your concrete floor? 

If so a separate post on the matter (solely the damp, the rights issues will be covered here ) on the DIY board 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39 

might be an idea as you'd ideally want something like this resolved regardless of flooring cover type. 

On the topic of the deposit you should see what they say first, the answers to the sitution are covered here

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450440/Unfair_Terms_Main_Guidance.pdf

Covered by 5.13 on page 87 which is worth reading if they want to keep the full £3000 in the event you stick the with decision not to go ahead. 

To enforce this you are looking at a letter before action followed by small claims if the letter doesn't do the job.