Missold windows Anglian claiming breach of contract.

majordifficulty

On 23 Sep 2023, I had an Anglian sales rep come to my house to give me a quote to replace the windows of my house. He arrived promptly in the morning and took roughly 8 hours to run through options and take some rough measurements for each window.

My intention originally was to just get a quote to see how much it would cost to replace all my windows and I would save up and pay for this next year. I made this intention very clear to the sales rep. Towards the end of the day, he told me I should price lock in the quote as inflation will almost certainly increase the price next year to which I gullibly agreed. At this point, I'm 5 hours into his visit and with 3 kids I just want to get it over with.

The initial quote was something around £50K, I told him theres not way I can afford this. To which he somehow applied a special discount for me and reduced the amount to £30155. He said to price lock I needed to pay a deposit of £249 which I did. He stated that the deposit was fully refundable at any time, whether you go ahead with it after this is your choice. I ended up signing his deposit which he did digitally on his tablet. My understanding was I was just price-locking and not committing to the order.

I did notice on this contract is a section for customer declaration and customer questions, one point being "Drawn my attention to the cancellation rights." which is set as "Yes". At no point did the sales rep do this, it didn't get a single mention.

Considering I have no intention to sort these windows out and the contract states "OUR ESTIMATED TIME TO COMMENCE INSTALLATION IS BETWEEN 8 AND 12 WEEKS". I left it dormant.

Fast forward to 7th March 2024, I realise I don't have the funds to pay for these windows and send them a cancellation request. I promptly get back a letter saying I had notified Anglian outside the 7-day cancellation period and was in breach of their contract and liable to pay an eye-watering 15% of the contract price which amounts to £4274.25 for literally doing nothing.

I later saw in their contract it states "15% of the total contract price where the Purchaser cancels prior to commencement of the survey;", at this point I felt like I was really missold and duped into this contract by their sales rep, he knew exactly what he was doing ... and I didn't.

I've since searched online and can see this is a reoccurring practice with other customers, they dupe you into signing their contract and then later fine you a hefty price for backing out. Their sales reps are dishonest and will do anything to get their commission, I feel like they can lie through their teeth and get off scot-free. Their practices are really sneaky and their contract unknown to the customer is almost like signing off a mortgage.

What can I do to sort this mess out? Whats the best way to proceed?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

This has come up before on here, I'm sure the windows are classed as made to the consumer's specification so the 14 day right to cancel doesn't exist but you'd be outside of that any way. 

Where one party breaches the contract the other can claim costs or loss of profit, whilst a flat 15% may not be fair I'd imagine their profit margin is fairly decent given the high prices they charge.   

I would assume they'd rather you purchased the windows than paid the fee, it might be worth trying to negotiate with them.

Other than have someone check over the paperwork to ensure you have a binding contract I'm not sure there's much to be done in this instance sadly but if you someone has better advice than me that would be great  

Okell

This probably isn't very helpful, but for the benefit of others who may read this thread in the future:

1.   NEVER EVER sign anything digitally on a tablet.  Tell them you want it on paper.

2.   NEVER EVER sign anything on paper unless you've read and understood it all.

3.  NEVER EVER believe a salesman who tells you something (eg "it's only a deposit and it's refundable if you change your mind") unless you have that something printed on paper.

Sorry...

(And if they quote a price of £50k and then knock it down to £30k when you say you can't afford it, KICK THEM OUT OF THE HOUSE IMMEDIATELY!

user1977

majordifficulty said:

I did notice on this contract is a section for customer declaration and customer questions, one point being "Drawn my attention to the cancellation rights." which is set as "Yes". At no point did the sales rep do this, it didn't get a single mention.

But you noticed it? Before you signed? So why didn't you then ask about, or read, the cancellation details?

CouldntResist

Is mis-sold an incorrect spelling of mis-bought?

8hr - Do you have hundreds of windows to measure? You don't need to sign a contract to get them to leave, you tell them to get out. 

The one time I had a firm like this round for a quote I made it quite clear that I wanted to hear one price and that if it wasn't acceptable that would be the end of it, no negotiation. Lo and behold quoted 20K for fascias at which point I threw them out and ignored all increasingly desperate offers since all that doeis tell you how much you were being ripped off in the first place

photome

Okell said:

This probably isn't very helpful, but for the benefit of others who may read this thread in the future:

1.   NEVER EVER sign anything digitally on a tablet.  Tell them you want it on paper.

2.   NEVER EVER sign anything on paper unless you've read and understood it all.

3.  NEVER EVER believe a salesman who tells you something (eg "it's only a deposit and it's refundable if you change your mind") unless you have that something printed on paper.

Sorry...

(And if they quote a price of £50k and then knock it down to £30k when you say you can't afford it, KICK THEM OUT OF THE HOUSE IMMEDIATELY!

Just to add, NEVER get one of the national window companies in that start high and then “ring” their office to get a discount

always go for a  recommended local company who will give you a price and stick to it

pinkshoes

majordifficulty said:

On 23 Sep 2023, I had an Anglian sales rep come to my house to give me a quote to replace the windows of my house. He arrived promptly in the morning and took roughly 8 hours to run through options and take some rough measurements for each window.

My intention originally was to just get a quote to see how much it would cost to replace all my windows and I would save up and pay for this next year. I made this intention very clear to the sales rep. Towards the end of the day, he told me I should price lock in the quote as inflation will almost certainly increase the price next year to which I gullibly agreed. At this point, I'm 5 hours into his visit and with 3 kids I just want to get it over with.

The initial quote was something around £50K, I told him theres not way I can afford this. To which he somehow applied a special discount for me and reduced the amount to £30155. He said to price lock I needed to pay a deposit of £249 which I did. He stated that the deposit was fully refundable at any time, whether you go ahead with it after this is your choice. I ended up signing his deposit which he did digitally on his tablet. My understanding was I was just price-locking and not committing to the order.

I did notice on this contract is a section for customer declaration and customer questions, one point being "Drawn my attention to the cancellation rights." which is set as "Yes". At no point did the sales rep do this, it didn't get a single mention.

Considering I have no intention to sort these windows out and the contract states "OUR ESTIMATED TIME TO COMMENCE INSTALLATION IS BETWEEN 8 AND 12 WEEKS". I left it dormant.

Fast forward to 7th March 2024, I realise I don't have the funds to pay for these windows and send them a cancellation request. I promptly get back a letter saying I had notified Anglian outside the 7-day cancellation period and was in breach of their contract and liable to pay an eye-watering 15% of the contract price which amounts to £4274.25 for literally doing nothing.

I later saw in their contract it states "15% of the total contract price where the Purchaser cancels prior to commencement of the survey;", at this point I felt like I was really missold and duped into this contract by their sales rep, he knew exactly what he was doing ... and I didn't.

I've since searched online and can see this is a reoccurring practice with other customers, they dupe you into signing their contract and then later fine you a hefty price for backing out. Their sales reps are dishonest and will do anything to get their commission, I feel like they can lie through their teeth and get off scot-free. Their practices are really sneaky and their contract unknown to the customer is almost like signing off a mortgage.

What can I do to sort this mess out? Whats the best way to proceed?

Do you live in a mansion with many many windows and posh doors?!?!? 

I would WRITE to them stating that on 23 September 2023, after enduring an 8 hour visit from one of their sales reps, you signed on a tablet to agree a price fix and paid a deposit of £XXXX which the salesman said was fully refundable at any time, so as per the verbal terms you agreed to, you no longer wish to go ahead with the windows so would like your deposit of £XXXX returning within 28 days. 

Next time you want windows and doors, use a local independent supplier and not a chain as their prices are much more reasonable!

km1500

as @pinkshoes  said...

brace yourself for the worst that can happen which is basically they invoice you for the 15% and when you refuse to pay they threaten to take you to court

whether do they do or not it doesn't matter because if they do then you will just have to put your side of the matter to the judge and explain what the salesman said and let the judge decide

Obsequent7

I have a very similar problem with Anglian. I was intending to go ahead with the purchase but then came the contract. I was given a link by the salesman. This was apparently for their online order placing. I was given no other details but the link. Anyway as I was using a smartphone there was no way I could see the form in its entirety so when I got to the signature box I told the salesman I was not going to sign until I have read it fully. At that point he said I didn't have to sign. He then proceeded to touch the form on my phone and a 'signature' appeared in the box. This was obviously pre written by the salesman on his computer. All he had to do was touch a field on the form to fill the box with a bogus signature. He then made a hasty departure. Anglia are now using this bogus transaction to insist there is a contract. At no point did I sign anything. The software for this process has obviously been written to make this trick available. I consider it to render the form meaningless.

Olinda99

km1500 said:

as @pinkshoes  said...

brace yourself for the worst that can happen which is basically they invoice you for the 15% and when you refuse to pay they threaten to take you to court

whether do they do or not it doesn't matter because if they do then you will just have to put your side of the matter to the judge and explain what the salesman said and let the judge decide

this is exactly right

write to then saying you were misled by the salesman, were told it was not a binding contract and you could cancel at any time and are now cancelling and want your deposit back. Just stick to this and don't go off onto any tangents.

If they go to court simply put your side to the judge, who I have absolutely no doubt would have had dealings with Anglian before

LightFlare

Olinda99 said:

km1500 said:

as @pinkshoes  said...

brace yourself for the worst that can happen which is basically they invoice you for the 15% and when you refuse to pay they threaten to take you to court

whether do they do or not it doesn't matter because if they do then you will just have to put your side of the matter to the judge and explain what the salesman said and let the judge decide

this is exactly right

write to then saying you were misled by the salesman, were told it was not a binding contract and you could cancel at any time and are now cancelling and want your deposit back. Just stick to this and don't go off onto any tangents.

If they go to court simply put your side to the judge, who I have absolutely no doubt would have had dealings with Anglian before

Thread is 9 months old -- OP never came back to update, so we will never know what did/did not happen