Kitchen consumer rights help

JVRMac

Hi
We bought a kitchen from a local bathroom and kitchen place that has several shops in the NE. 
At the point of purchase I was pursuaded to use their kitchen fitters, although we already had a builder and a joiner onsite building our extension, as it would be more secure for them to do the whole job.
The fitter came out the end of May worked 4 days but then couldn't finish the job as some items were damaged. The replacement items were sent out and then I had to wait until the 8th July before he came back to finish the job. Unfortunately I paid him the final balance at this point and it was a few days later that I noticed he hadn't replaced the damaged plinth and he had failed to put the backs on 2 cupboards. I messaged him several times but he never responded. So I contacted the kitchen company who basically told me my contract was with the fitter and not them. I told them that's not what the sales rep had led me to believe and they responded that all sales reps are self employed. I took my complaint up with the sales rep and he emailed me to say their fitter would come out to finish the job. That was 3 months ago and I'm still waiting.
I paid for the kitchen half cash and half finance. The finance company keep sending me an email to say if I am happy to complete my purchase and I keep replying that I am still waiting for my kitchen to be finished. I have now received a letter from the kitchen company saying their contract was to deliver the goods only and if I don't respond they will be seeking the remainder of the balance in cash.
Do I just give in and say I'm happy with it, or is there anything else I could or should be doing?   
Any advice would be appreciated thanks 
.

tacpot12

You can't legally refuse to sign off the delivery of the kitchen if it has all been delivered. Have you received the replacement plinth (and the backs to the cupboards if they were not fitted because they were missing)? 

The issue you have is with the self-employed Sales Person who purported that the fitter either worked for them or for the supplier of the kitchen company OR with the fitter. 

I don't see why you couldn't start a small claims court case citing both the Sales Person and the Fitter to be the defendants in the case. However, for the work to fit the plinth and the backs, I wonder if you are just better off  getting the work done by someone else. You take a legal route of getting three quotes from others to do the work, and send these to the fitter saying that they have three weeks to come back to remediate the problems or you will use others and sue him for the cost. I suspect the cost will be so low as to not be worth it. 

If you have Home Insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, you should talk to the legal helpline provided by your insurer before you do anything else. 

JVRMac

Yes we did receive the replacements. Just feel really disappointed that we have been mislead as we were not told the sales reps were self employed. We went to a store, spoke to the sales rep in store and he convinced us we had the backing of a large local company should anything go wrong and as soon as something did go wrong the company denied any responsibility.

redped

Personally I'd just get someone else to fit the replacements, as it shouldn't be a big job - I know it's frustrating, but if you're not careful you could end up spending too much time and emotional energy on this, which will detract from your enjoyment of the actual kitchen.

I'd also make sure I left a full and honest review on as many review sites as possible (I usually check Google reviews for restaurants & businesses in advance, so I make sure to follow up with a review afterwards).