Section 75

Cake252

Ive had a poorly fitted and planned bathroom less than a year ago. I paid the deposit by credit card. I've rung the credit card company today to start to reclaim the total cost of the bathroom not just the bit paid by card and been told I cant, I can only reclaim the deposit although Google says I can claim the whole amounf. Any experts out there that can clarify please?

Worried_fool

There are two ways in which card companies can deal with this situation:

Chargeback: they pull back the money paid to the contractor. Obviously this doesn't cost them anything, so it is their preferred route. They can only pull back the deposit, since that is all that they paid;

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act: the card company is legally liable in the same way as the contractor, and this extends to the full cost, not just the deposit.

Cake252

Is there a time limit to do the chargeback?

Aylesbury_Duck

You need to tell the card company you are holding them liable under section 75. They are currently treating it as a chargeback.

What's happened to date, in terms of any dispute with the installer? Anything at all, or have you just gone straight to the credit card company?

Grumpy_chap

It is not clear whether the OP is trying to seek remedy for the bathroom being poorly fitted or for the bathroom being poorly planned (I assume poor layout).

If the company provided a layout for the bathroom and installed it to that layout, then the poorly planned part has, presumably, been agreed by the OP.

If the unsatisfactory concern is about the quality of the installation, what is unsatisfactory and in what way? That will make a difference to what remedy is available.

With regard to the CC being liable under S75 for the full cost, not just the deposit, then, yes, the CC could be liable for the full cost as the CC is equally and severally liable with the supplier. However, there could be nuances if, for example, the deposit was for "parts" and the "labour" was paid separately under a separate contract.

eddddy

Cake252 said

I've rung the credit card company today to start to reclaim the total cost of the bathroom not just the bit paid by card

It sounds like you're asking for the wrong thing.

Section 75 makes the credit card company jointly liable for breach of contract (and misrepresentation) - and the resulting losses.

So using some hypothetical examples, you should be saying something like this to the credit card company:

"The company breached the contract because:

• The toilet is badly installed, and needs to be re-installed
• The taps are poorer quality than the ones agreed to
• The waste pipe from the sink is leaking
• The sink they installed was cracked
• etc, etc

I have a quote from another bathroom fitting company for £2,000 to put these breaches of contract right, so I am claiming £2000 from you under section 75."

Continuing with that example, it's irrelevant whether the deposit you paid by credit card is more or less than £2,000, and it's irrelevant how much the total bathroom installation originally cost.

In an extreme case, you might have paid £6000 in total for a bathroom installation but it would cost £8000 to put right the mess (i.e. put right the breach of contract) made by the supplier. So in that case your claim would be for £8000.

The credit card company will want to look at the contract with the bathroom supplier etc, to see what was originally agreed. And they will almost certainly want a report from an independent expert, who will look at the contract, and look at the bathroom to decide whether or not a breach of contract has occurred.

And if the expert agrees there has been a breach of contract, the expert would also need to specify what needs to be done to rectify it.

(Note that… as well as the explicit contract terms described in your contract, there are also 'implied contract terms' - like goods being "fit for purpose" and services being carried out with "reasonable care and skill". So you would also potentially have a valid claim if those implied terms were breached.)

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82025660#Comment_82025660

In effect120 days from date of debit & only get you back the amount paid on the CC. There is a extended timelimit for future purchased goods such as holidays.

S75 may get the whole cst back subject to not being over £30K.

Which will require a independent 3rd party report on the bathroom.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6671431/section-75

It's fairly unlikely you will get the full amount back, you may get the amount required to fix the issued.

Presumably it was under £30k?

Do you have the terms of the contract you entered into? Presumably you signed off the plan?

Do you have any form of report on the issues? Certainly the bank will ask for one, it may cover off the cost of repair or they may want to have quotes on top of that.

S75 covers breach of contract, the fact you dont like the layout having now seen it in the flesh doesnt necessairily mean there is a breach of contract. Even if the contract doesnt state it there is an implicit contractual term that due skill is used and so a leaky toilet probably will be a breach of contract by comparison.