Collapsed drain - guarantee for work?

winkowinko

We have a collapsed drain (on our private drive way), which 2 independent contractors have confirmed. Our insurance will not cover the cost of repair as it's classed as wear and tear

Contractor 1 (Happy Drains) is offering to do the work for £3100 and it comes with a 5 year guarentee.

Contactor 2 (A Lings Group, which is the one our insurance company instructed to investigate) has quoted significantly less at £2100, however only comes with a 28 day guarantee. 

Naturally I am tempted by the cheaper price, but also concerned by their lower guarantee.

Any know what kind of guarantee should be expected for this kind of work? 

grumpy_codger

What actually has collapsed? Antique ceramic pipes? If replaced correctly (that's what I expect from professionals) with modern plastic pipes, the drain will last for decades whatever the guarantee.

That said, what exactly do the warranties cover? 2 yeas guarantee for this sort of work surprises me as suspiciously short for this sort of work. It's like the company declaring that you can't expect any quality from them.

Doozergirl

Your consumer rights cover you for 6 years.  

Unless it's an insurance backed guarantee then you're operating on their promise anyway.  

winkowinko

They haven't been able to get a camera down there as the water (and err, you know what else) is backing up.

Here is a description of the works required according to the cheaper quote..

Scope of works: + An urgent excavation is recommended as all facilities are currently blocked. + Excavation will be required at the front of the IC chamber, digging approximately 1.5 meters through a concrete slab to reach the defective section of the drainage line. + The damaged section will be removed and replaced with a new section of PVC pipe. + The repair will be secured using plastic band seals to ensure a proper and watertight connection. + Supply and install 1x straight patch

It's a 1940's house

They are offering 28 days guarantee on their work, not 2 years!

winkowinko

They have referred me to their t's and c's

. A Lings Group Limited will provide a 28-day guarantee for all labour provided in the Quote. All parts supplied by A Lings Group Limited will be covered under the manufacturer's warranty - extended warranties may be available at an additional cost to the Client. Any parts or fittings supplied by the Client have no guarantee from A Lings Group Limited under parts or labour

They are a reputable company looking at hundreds of their reviews.

Is it possible that I have misunderstood the difference between a guarantee and a warranty, or are they really only offering to cover us for 28 days?

winkowinko

I've had a bit of a result.

Called the first people back to see if they could lower their quote, and also informed them the insurance company were refusing to pay as the second lot had mentioned on their report that the damage was a result of wear and tear. He advised me to contact my insurance people and tell them that due to the location of our drain (on the driveway), it was more likely that the damage was caused by regular vehicle movement, not wear and tear.

They put me on hold for 2 minutes, came back and completely changed their mind. They are now willing to cover the cost of repair.

jj_home_80

For drainage work, a guarantee of at least 5 years is fairly standard, especially if pipes are being replaced. A 28-day guarantee seems low and could suggest less confidence in the repair. If going with the cheaper option, I’d ask for more details on what’s covered and maybe see if they’ll extend the guarantee. Also worth checking reviews for both companies before deciding.

Section62

winkowinko said:

I've had a bit of a result.

Called the first people back to see if they could lower their quote, and also informed them the insurance company were refusing to pay as the second lot had mentioned on their report that the damage was a result of wear and tear. He advised me to contact my insurance people and tell them that due to the location of our drain (on the driveway), it was more likely that the damage was caused by regular vehicle movement, not wear and tear.

They put me on hold for 2 minutes, came back and completely changed their mind. They are now willing to cover the cost of repair.

If you've successfully argued that the drain has failed because it is under your driveway then nobody in their right mind should guarantee a repair without first confirming the cause of the fault.

If the driveway and drain are both constructed properly then regular vehicle movement shouldn't cause damage to the drain.

If they can't do a CCTV survey because the pipe is surchaged then the cause of the fault must be unknown at this point in time?  If so, you've been incredibly lucky to get the insurers to accept liability.

winkowinko

Both contractors attempted to unblock the drain by using rods and a jet.

The first guy was called out by us, and was literally there to attend what we thought/hoped was just a blocked drain. He didn't put a camera down because that wasn't part of the call out. He did manage to get the waste flowing a fair bit, although his rods kept on hitting something solid, which lead him to beleive that the drain had collapsed. How/why it collapsed is still unknown and wasn't put on the report.

2nd guy (who the insurance company instructed to come) was supposed to do cctv but couldn't because the waste level had become much higher when he attended. He came to the same conclusion that the drain had collapsed (rods hitting something solid) and marked the cause down due to wear and tear. 

On speaking with the 1st guy again this morning to try and get their quote down, (as they were offering a much longer guarantee for the work) he couldn't believe that the 2nd lot had put it down as wear and tear, and advised me to go back to the insurance company and reiterate that the drain is under a shared driveway that has 3 cars moving in and out at least once a day, and therefore it was likely (or at least could be argued) that the drain had collapsed because of regular vehicle traffic, and therefore would come under 'accidental damage'.

After speaking with the insurance company again, they changed their mind immediately and even apologised for not noticing that the drain is located under an area where cars frequently drive over, which therefore would suggest that the damage has occurred accidentally rather than through wear and tear.