Formal complaint issued seeking compensation but how to escalate

Lea247

Long story short, the kitchen wasn't installed properly and they took about 6 months to fix it. Meanwhile, they broke their own terms and conditions that states payments will be taken once a certificate of completion has been signed. Closest I got was signed one that had been edited to say it was not complete. I had no conversation or email with Wren in lieu of signing a certificate of completion. When I submitted the formal complaint, it was along with around 30 pieces of evidence, inclusive, photos, emails, phone calls with Wren and bank statements. The compensation was seeking £4676.93 in compensation. This is the cost of installation (£3601.25) and the 6 payments (6 x 179.28) we have paid to Creation. Wren came back with with the following in their reply I would like to support you with your claim for compensation therefore I have reviewed your claim and account; I would like to offer a gesture of goodwill settlement of £795.00 in total, which I believe to be a fair and reasonable offer. My offer is made as a gesture of goodwill in recognition of your journey in full and final settlement and without prejudice.

The kitchen deposit was paid for on a credit card and the rest was taken out on Creation Finance. I've looked into raising a Section 75 claim with Creation, but it only wants a card number that I obviously don't have. Should I raise a Section 75 with the credit card company? Or can I go to the Financial Ombudsman?

elsien

Can you explain how you’ve reached the compensation amount that you have?

Having the full cost of installation back when the kitchen has been installed, (although, not in a timely manner) and why are you asking for the instalments back on top of that? 

DullGreyGuy

Lea247 said:

Long story short, the kitchen wasn't installed properly and they took about 6 months to fix it. Meanwhile, they broke their own terms and conditions that states payments will be taken once a certificate of completion has been signed. Closest I got was signed one that had been edited to say it was not complete. I had no conversation or email with Wren in lieu of signing a certificate of completion. When I submitted the formal complaint, it was along with around 30 pieces of evidence, inclusive, photos, emails, phone calls with Wren and bank statements. The compensation was seeking £4676.93 in compensation. This is the cost of installation (£3601.25) and the 6 payments (6 x 179.28) we have paid to Creation. Wren came back with with the following in their reply I would like to support you with your claim for compensation therefore I have reviewed your claim and account; I would like to offer a gesture of goodwill settlement of £795.00 in total, which I believe to be a fair and reasonable offer. My offer is made as a gesture of goodwill in recognition of your journey in full and final settlement and without prejudice.

The kitchen deposit was paid for on a credit card and the rest was taken out on Creation Finance. I've looked into raising a Section 75 claim with Creation, but it only wants a card number that I obviously don't have. Should I raise a Section 75 with the credit card company? Or can I go to the Financial Ombudsman?

Not understanding the logic of why you think you should get free installation and also 6 months of loan repayments for a poor install? Did you have to pay for another company to rectify the work?

You cannot go to the ombudsman until you have made a complaint to the financial services company about a regulated activity they have done wrong and you have received their response. From what your post suggests you've not even asked them to look at the issue yet let alone filed a complaint about their review?

Lea247

elsien said:

Can you explain how you’ve reached the compensation amount that you have?

Having the full cost of installation back when the kitchen has been installed, (although, not in a timely manner) and why are you asking for the instalments back on top of that? 

The installments because the kitchen was not completed when payments were started and are therefore in breach of their own Ts and C's. Which states Installation Services Conditions 3.9 On completion of the installation services, you will be asked to sign a certificate of completion and allow us to take photographs of the completed works. 6 payments were taken before the kitchen was finished. I contacted the finance company when payments were started, but I never got a response.

The installation because The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that work should be carried out with reasonable care and skill and within a reasonable time. It took them 5 times longer to fix the kitchen than the time between us signing the contract and the proposed final installation date.

Lea247

DullGreyGuy said:

Lea247 said:

Long story short, the kitchen wasn't installed properly and they took about 6 months to fix it. Meanwhile, they broke their own terms and conditions that states payments will be taken once a certificate of completion has been signed. Closest I got was signed one that had been edited to say it was not complete. I had no conversation or email with Wren in lieu of signing a certificate of completion. When I submitted the formal complaint, it was along with around 30 pieces of evidence, inclusive, photos, emails, phone calls with Wren and bank statements. The compensation was seeking £4676.93 in compensation. This is the cost of installation (£3601.25) and the 6 payments (6 x 179.28) we have paid to Creation. Wren came back with with the following in their reply I would like to support you with your claim for compensation therefore I have reviewed your claim and account; I would like to offer a gesture of goodwill settlement of £795.00 in total, which I believe to be a fair and reasonable offer. My offer is made as a gesture of goodwill in recognition of your journey in full and final settlement and without prejudice.

The kitchen deposit was paid for on a credit card and the rest was taken out on Creation Finance. I've looked into raising a Section 75 claim with Creation, but it only wants a card number that I obviously don't have. Should I raise a Section 75 with the credit card company? Or can I go to the Financial Ombudsman?

Not understanding the logic of why you think you should get free installation and also 6 months of loan repayments for a poor install? Did you have to pay for another company to rectify the work?

You cannot go to the ombudsman until you have made a complaint to the financial services company about a regulated activity they have done wrong and you have received their response. From what your post suggests you've not even asked them to look at the issue yet let alone filed a complaint about their review?

Please see my previous post for answer to your first question.

I'm posting to seek advice on what to do next after complaining to Wren and asking which finance company I go to. Kitchen is paid for with Creation Finance (not on a credit card) but based on their website, I can't do that. Please see my first post with the screenshot.

Aylesbury_Duck

You can do a S75 claim with the credit card provider, IF the total cost of the kitchen and installation is no more than £30k.

As others have pointed out, you need some logic to your claim.  Your card provider won't simply pay whatever you think is right, they'll expect to see some proper justification for the losses you've incurred.  What actual losses have you incurred?  If they're less than £795 you'd be best off accepting Wren's offer.  You might push them for more but be aware that as it's  goodwill offer, get too greedy and they may withdraw it.

DullGreyGuy

Lea247 said:

elsien said:

Can you explain how you’ve reached the compensation amount that you have?

Having the full cost of installation back when the kitchen has been installed, (although, not in a timely manner) and why are you asking for the instalments back on top of that? 

The installments because the kitchen was not completed when payments were started and are therefore in breach of their own Ts and C's. Which states Installation Services Conditions 3.9 On completion of the installation services, you will be asked to sign a certificate of completion and allow us to take photographs of the completed works. 6 payments were taken before the kitchen was finished. I contacted the finance company when payments were started, but I never got a response.

The installation because The Consumer Rights Act 2015 states that work should be carried out with reasonable care and skill and within a reasonable time. It took them 5 times longer to fix the kitchen than the time between us signing the contract and the proposed final installation date.

Those aren't a financial loss as they are still payments that need to be paid it's just they have been paid earlier than the contract says they should. As such you could claim lost interest for the early payment but not the payment itself, using the statutory 8% simple interest your claim is £25.10

The CRA does say so and presumably you have now signed it off so that has been met after rectification work which was done without extra expense, as it should. So you cannot say because it was 5x as long that you dont owe anything for the fitting because they did ultimate fit it to your satisfaction. 

If you can document actual losses because of it, eg you had to live on takeaway meals for 6 months because you didnt have any working kitchen then you could have an argument to claim the difference between the cost of takeaways and what your normal grocery bills are. 

You need to remember that in the UK our legal system is based on the concept of indemnity not punishing, ie the process is there to make sure the victim isn't out of pocket rather than punitive damages that they have in the US. Here a waitress spills a hot coffee on your trousers and with no actual injury sustained they cover the cost of dry cleaning your trousers. In the US it may be a $1m punitive damages because the business wasnt training its staff properly, had bought low quality cups prone to topping etc. Here those additional things would be considered by the HSE and fines rather than damages applied.