Rights With Works Already Completed

nycolee28

Hi All,
We have had a leak in our roof for a couple of years now, and only just this year gotten around to getting it fixed. We had a bucket up in our eaves (on second floor) to catch a leak we had, but we noticed in two rooms (our bathroom and spare bedroom) on our first floor had a leak coming through the ceiling. We are not experts and didn't know if they were related/the same leak.
This year we decided to get this leak fixed, and put our details on trustatrader to get someone to quote us. We had two quotes, both from highly rated companies. One company came round and gave us a quote by looking at the leaks in our rooms, then insisted they go outside and look from the back on the outside (so not looking at the leak in the eaves). They instantly said the issue was with our flat roof on our rear dormer, and said it needed a new roof. They quoted the work and said for us to get it for that price we had to sign up that day and have the work done the following day as he had tradesmen spare.
We had another company call up and quoted us over the phone without looking, and it was cheaper than first quote very slightly. 
We called up the first company and negotiated the price halfway between their first quote and the other phone quote. Happy, and they were returning the next day to carry out the work.

Work carried out the next day, professional tradesmen and no issue there. Finished the work the same day, and paid via cash with an invoice signed for £1300.

Since, we have checked back in the eaves and we still have the leak. No further leak in either of the first floor rooms, but they only tend to leak when we have torrential rain, which we haven't had since the roof was fixed.

Tradesmen called back and they came the next working day. Took a look in the eaves and back outside, at which point one of the tradesmen went back up on the roof and came back down with a broken tile and said "this was your problem" and replaced it. 

My questions is: what are our rights in terms of getting any money back for the roof repair? The tile replacement took all of 5 minutes and would have cost us MUCH less, if they had done that in the first place. I'm annoyed we have paid £1300 for a roof repair which (may) not have fixed the issue. 
It's hard to prove that it hasn't, as there hasn't been enough rain to drop through to the first floor, but then we don't know it isn't related to the drip in the eaves.

Any advice much appreciated.

Aylesbury_Duck

How did the second company quote without visiting?  Had you told them what the first company had proposed and asked them to compete for the same job?

I think it's too early to know if the roof replacement was necessary.  As you say, until you have experienced the 'right' weather, you don't know if the job has helped.  As for your rights, it will depend upon whether the leak has been fixed or not.  You have at least benefitted from a new flat roof, and you can hardly ask them to undo the work.

This could get quite messy, being difficult to prove exactly what was needed and why.  You may need to get another tradesman in to provide an independent verdict, but they won't be able to see the state of the old roof.

I'm afraid the lesson here is not to be rushed into agreeing to work until you have at least two comparable proper quotes and schemes of work, and some decent contractual terms and conditions.  What does the contract with the tradesman actually say in this case?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I think you'd have to show that the roof replacement was unnecessary 

nycolee28 said:

We are not experts and didn't know if they were related/the same leak.

With this seeming to be the main point. Obviously in an ideal world they would have replaced the broken tile first and if the leak continued then the roof, it might be too late to tell now, if it is possible to tell you'd need an independent inspection via a third party expert to clarify the situation before approaching the company to seek some form of redress.