Section 75 - bank asking for independent assessment

jamint

Hi all,

After a bit of advice. Long story short:

We purchased via credit card some flooring, and it was fitted by independent professional fitters. Once laid it was clear something was not right, and indeed the floor now creaks/moves up and down when walking on it. The fitters were able to prove to us that they laid this as per the manufacturing guidance (on the box) and yet the issues remain. Furthermore they were able to share conversations within the professional floor fitting profession that this type of product the official "install" advice should be ignored and a different course of action should be followed to prevent the issues we now have. The fitters at the time had no knowledge of this of course; they followed the official guidance.

We lodged a complaint to the retailer explaining that therefore, the product was either faulty (which is the opinion of the fitters) or we were not given the correct installation advice at the time of supply. Either of which has left us in this situation.
These cocnerns were outlined to the retailer, along with evidence to show the fitters abided by/followed the guidance they were supplied. As part of the lengthy email conversations over the past 3/4 months the retailer also asked us to try some remediation fixes which we paid to have done but made zero difference at all.

After wrangling with the retailer, they refused to offer anything more than a courtesy £90 refund.

As such we lodged a Section 75 complaint with the credit card company which is where we are up to now. They have now replied today to say that "as the payment is over six months old we require you to provide an independent report to support our claim that the product is faulty".
The issue we have with this is that after sending initial feelers out to independent assessors, this is going to cost us nearly 75% of the cost we've already paid out to have the flooring done! 

Does anyone know whether they can ask for the above? I was also unsure whether the "six months" limitation has any basis in legality, given there is no timescale within this short period for Section 75 cover ending.

Any advice/next steps would be gratefully received.

MorningcoffeeIV

Yes 

You're asking for them to refund you for your flooring. They're asking you to prove it's faulty.

eskbanker

I suspect the reference to six months relates to the fact that under the Consumer Rights Act, faults within the first six months are deemed to have been present at the time of purchase, whereas after that threshold, the onus is on the customer to demonstrate that.

The (reasonable) cost of an independent report can be added to the claim.

jamint

Thanks both for your reply. 
@eskbanker - would this still be the case even though we contacted the retailer before the 6 month period? (which we did).

It was only getting nowhere with them which prompted us to have to take the Section 75 route, which admittedly was after 6 months.

DullGreyGuy

jamint said:

Thanks both for your reply. 
@eskbanker - would this still be the case even though we contacted the retailer before the 6 month period? (which we did).

It was only getting nowhere with them which prompted us to have to take the Section 75 route, which admittedly was after 6 months.

That would be your claim against the retailer, if you wanted to drop the S75 and go to court instead then you can highlight the fault was highlighted within the 6 months. 

Your claim against the bank is separate, its made whenever its made, as it was after 6 months then you've to prove the item is faulty which is normally done with a independent expert/engineer report. As mentioned, if the report supports your case the reasonable cost of it can be added to your claim. If its inconclusive or doesn't support your claim then it's your cost to cover.