Scotland legal advice Debt collector Please

happyclapper

Hi there,

Im looking for some legal advice please. I own a flat which I rent out and went to a double glazing place to ask if they could cut 2 circular holes in a double glazed window so that an extractor fan could be fitted. They told me this was impossible so I asked that someone come to the flat to advise what best to do / quote me if I needed a new window. I left my mobile number and asked that they call me to meet them at the flat.
Instead of calling me they turned up,my tenants answered the door and they proceeded to cut 2 holes in the glass, popped my fan in and left. This took 10 mins. They then started billing me for £170 for the cost of fitting a new window. I have been ignoring the letters but now i have one from a debt collector asking me to call and make payment or ill be in court within 7 days. I have a couple of days left.
Please advise what I should do.
I must point out I have not kept a copies of the letters the glazier sent out asking for payment for a new fitted window.
Thanks in advance

loulou88

i cant advise you but I just wanted to say that is shocking and Im sure as they have no contract withyou this cant be right surely they cant just do work without your do ahead i'd fight this one good luck

Incisor

happyclapper wrote: »

Hi there,

Im looking for some legal advice please. I own a flat which I rent out and went to a double glazing place to ask if they could cut 2 circular holes in a double glazed window so that an extractor fan could be fitted. They told me this was impossible so I asked that someone come to the flat to advise what best to do / quote me if I needed a new window. I left my mobile number and asked that they call me to meet them at the flat.
Instead of calling me they turned up,my tenants answered the door and they proceeded to cut 2 holes in the glass, popped my fan in and left. This took 10 mins. They then started billing me for £170 for the cost of fitting a new window. I have been ignoring the letters but now i have one from a debt collector asking me to call and make payment or ill be in court within 7 days. I have a couple of days left.
Please advise what I should do.
I must point out I have not kept a copies of the letters the glazier sent out asking for payment for a new fitted window.
Thanks in advance

This is blatant opportunism. If I understand this correctly, they will have destroyed the vacuum on the sealed units. I would be taking the line that you wanted a quote and advice but now they have damaged your window. Get the ball roling for a counter claim now.

happyclapper

They did put some black rubbery type sealer around the edges where they cut the 2 circles. It does seem to be sealed

LilacPixie

I dunno I guess you will need to get prober legal advice.

I was under the impression that double glazed units had gases betwene the panes and thats what made them effective in reducing noise and heat loss. Surely if you cut the glass you loss the gas

Incisor

happyclapper wrote: »

They did put some black rubbery type sealer around the edges where they cut the 2 circles. It does seem to be sealed

But if it started out as a vacuum sealed unit, it will now have air in it.

Incisor

LilacPixie wrote: »

... I was under the impression that double glazed units had gases betwene the panes and thats what made them effective in reducing noise and heat loss. Surely if you cut the glass you loss the gas

It's a vacuum, which is destroyed when the glass is cut.

ibrooks

It was naughty of them to do work without your say-so but....... It depends on what the tenants said to the person who turned up. The person who came out might have acted in good faith if the tenants told them that you wanted a hole cut in the window for the fan to be fitted - that's what they did.

I think you've been foolish in "ignoring the letters". You should have responded - even if it was to tell them that you weren't prepared to pay for work you hadn't asked for and that they should feel free to come and put the original window back (they've billed you for a replacement). You'd likely have been given a more reasonable price for the work done which you could have accepted or stuck to your guns for them to put it back the way it was when they arrived. Ignoring it has let it escalate.

Double glazed units don't "contain" a vacuum - atmospheric pressure would force the pains together in the middle and glass doesn't like to flex very much. They contain a dry inert gas which is "sucked" in during manufacture. I can't imagine that they've managed to replicate this as a mobile service so I can well imagine the window will now get condensation inside the unit.