Deposit paid against Double Glazing

AngelinaBallerina

Hi, can someone advise please i am frantic.  We paid a deposit against buying double glazing.  On the night we felt it was too high but the rep managed to get a good deal and told it was for this night only and felt rushed into making a decision to buy.  We agreed (although i still wasnt too happy about it) the contract was sent to my email where the rep got me to open and he went through thoroughly the items to be ordered but then rushed me down to the signature part.  At no time was i told about cancellation terms.  I thought about it and thought about it and after a phone call from the company (not going into that too long) i decided i dont want to buy.  i cancelled on the 12th day.  I have now been told no refund as it was not within the 7 days as in the contact.  I WAS NOT INFORMED OF THIS BEFORE I SIGNED.  So now they have £1290 of my money for doing nothing.  What can i do??  any advice would be welcomed, sorry its so long i am in bits....

eskbanker

AngelinaBallerina said:

...the contract was sent to my email where the rep got me to open...

Was the whole deal set up remotely by phone/email, or did you visit their premises (or they yours) at any point?  Distance sales have better cooling-off provisions....

QrizB

AngelinaBallerina said:

... the rep managed to get a good deal and told it was for this night only ...

Huge red flags there, in my opinion.

As a general rule, reps dont "get good deals", it's all part of the patter to make you think you're getting a bargain.

Being told that the price is good for this night only is one of the "Commercial practices which are in all circumstances considered unfair", item item 7 in Schedule 1 of The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/schedule/1/made

Read through the list, I suspect the scammer will have contravened more than one of those.

Edit: also listed as dirty tricks on this double glazing website - see numbers 1 and 7!

https://www.bebingtonglazing.co.uk/article/69/double-glazing-sales-dirty-tricks-

diego_94

Ah the old 'one day only' deals. You should of run away very quickly!

Aylesbury_Duck

Did he have to ring his manager to see if he could get a massive discount that he himself wasn't authorised to offer, by any chance?

Desmond_Hume

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Did he have to ring his manager to see if he could get a massive discount that he himself wasn't authorised to offer, by any chance?

“*beep* *beep* *beep* At the third stroke the time sponsored by Accurist will be…”

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The question is what type of contract does OP have? if it's distance or off-premises then the normal cancellation period is 14 days.

OP to answer that question we need to know were you agreed (at home, at a shop, over the internet/telephone) and if at home we need to know whether you agreed there and then or was left a quote and agreed later.

Regarding the point raised by @QrizB, it is valid and would give you the right to unwind the contract, however there is possibly an issue if this action was verbal and if a company were to be undertaking such tactics it begs the question of their general integrity which likely has an effect on the ease and ultimate ability to reclaim the money.

soolin

diego_94 said:

Ah the old 'one day only' deals. You should of run away very quickly!

I'm surprised they are still doing that- it was about 35 years ago that a kitchen company tried that with me! I've had it several times since and my OH just says before we start negotiating price, if you go down the 'one time price if I phone my manager' route then you can leave straight away. You give us your price and we will phone you within 48 hours to say yes or no, anything else and we stop talking. 

sheramber

My husband's forst statement to  arep, as soon  as they come in, is 'I can tell you now I am not signing up to anything tonight.'

Alderbank

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

AngelinaBallerina said:

This was done at home but the contract came over via email, where the agent stood over me.  Went through want we were buying but quickly ran down to the sign area to get a signature.  I thought a 14 days period was allowed but reading the contract (which we were never informed of or given time to read) it is a 7 days period.  Not lookig good so all i can say DONT buy from Everest they arecrooks

Thanks OP

Apologies I should have thought earlier, the windows are presumably made to your specification (i.e right size for your window openings) which rules out the standard right to cancel. 

They will eventually be made to size, but that doesn't happen immediately.

The sales rep is not a surveyor, he will measure each interior window opening (so not necessarily the frame size) for the purpose of quoting a price. At a later date, usually after any cancellation period has expired, a surveyor will visit who will take the accurate measurements necessary to make the frames and also to discuss technical aspects such as number size and hinging of opening lights. Manufacture cannot begin until after this visit.

Do you think there would be a case for arguing that the sales rep's visit is just to compile a shopping list and the customisation does not begin until after the surveyor has taken detailed measurements?
The rep's pricing guide is probably something like 'window up to 1sqm = £x, window 1-2sqm = £y, window 2-3sqm = £z', which is just choosing from a pre-set list. 

Okell

Alderbank said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

AngelinaBallerina said:

This was done at home but the contract came over via email, where the agent stood over me.  Went through want we were buying but quickly ran down to the sign area to get a signature.  I thought a 14 days period was allowed but reading the contract (which we were never informed of or given time to read) it is a 7 days period.  Not lookig good so all i can say DONT buy from Everest they arecrooks

Thanks OP

Apologies I should have thought earlier, the windows are presumably made to your specification (i.e right size for your window openings) which rules out the standard right to cancel. 

They will eventually be made to size, but that doesn't happen immediately.

The sales rep is not a surveyor, he will measure each interior window opening (so not necessarily the frame size) for the purpose of quoting a price. At a later date, usually after any cancellation period has expired, a surveyor will visit who will take the accurate measurements necessary to make the frames and also to discuss technical aspects such as number size and hinging of opening lights. Manufacture cannot begin until after this visit.

Do you think there would be a case for arguing that the sales rep's visit is just to compile a shopping list and the customisation does not begin until after the surveyor has taken detailed measurements?
The rep's pricing guide is probably something like 'window up to 1sqm = £x, window 1-2sqm = £y, window 2-3sqm = £z', which is just choosing from a pre-set list. 

If what you say is correct (and I have no reason to think it isn't) then I don't see how the windows can be said to be made to the consumer's specifications until after a surveyor has measured up etc

But I'm a bit surprised that this hasn't come up before...?