Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

[saphus1007]

Have written a letter with all of the relevant information to my credit card company requesting a refund under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. What happens from here on in?

[miliitant]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

you normally do not have to quote legislation

if you wish to make a claim against a retailer through your credit card provider, the credit card provider will handle everything

you only start quoting legislation if the credit card provider gives you a sod off letter

or am i barking up the wrong tree

[saphus1007]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

you normally do not have to quote legislation

if you wish to make a claim against a retailer through your credit card provider, the credit card provider will handle everything

you only start quoting legislation if the credit card provider gives you a sod off letter

or am i barking up the wrong tree

Am claiming for a refund on a service which went totally wrong and for which I paid a £1000+ deposit by credit card. My letter was to the credit card provider claiming a refund under Sect75 of the CCA.

[miliitant]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

you need to define what went wrong

did the trader fail to fullfill his part of a contract or fail to provide what he was contracted to do by you making a payment

has the credit card company sent you a sod off letter

[saphus1007]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

you need to define what went wrong

did the trader fail to fullfill his part of a contract or fail to provide what he was contracted to do by you making a payment

has the credit card company sent you a sod off letter

The claim is regarding a bathroom makeover.When I signed the contract, I naturally assumed that the work involved would:· becarried out by a competant plumber;· complywith the strict requirements of Water Regulations and Byelaws;· becarried out in a “workmanlike manner with “reasonable care and skill” inaccordance with the Sale of Goods and Services Act and; · thatall equipment would be installed correctly in full compliance with Manufacturer’sInstructions.I was wrong on allcounts. On completion of the work, I asked the plumber if the pipeworkinstalled in the loft had been insulated. He replied that these were specialplastic pipes which could withstand very low temperatures and therefore did notrequire lagging. When he had gone, I decided to take a look in the loft and wasshocked, not only at the lack of lagging, but also at the amateurish way thatthe pipework had been installed with no support and totally devoid of clipping.I then discovered that the pipework in the airing cupboard was just as bad withinsulating tape being used to hold pipes together, pipework installed againstelectrical installations, and a totallack of servicing valves to and from the newly installed shower pump. Icontacted the pipe manufacturer who confirmed that the pipework would require lagging given the lowtemperatures we can get here, (-16C two years ago). I also contacted ScottishWater by e-mail and in their reply they confirmed that “Any water pipes would require to be insulated and installed in a‘workmanlike’ manner, the pipes in the cupboard have not been”. Lastly, I contacted the pump manufacturer who suggested that Ishould “ask the fitter to read, digestinstallation booklet and make adjustments to correct installation”.These ‘adjustments’ wouldinclude the replacement of 15mm plastic pipework with 22mm copper; the fittingof servicing valves on hot and cold pipework connected to the pump and;insulating, clipping and fitting supports to pipework.The fitting of the bath and panel, sink and pedestal, toiletand cistern, pump, towel warmer and outside piping were all substandard and I completely lost confidence in the company. I thereforerefused to have the same fitter back in the house and insisted that remedialwork be carried out by a SNIPEF registered plumber to the high standard that Ihad the right to expect when entering into the contract.Despite the fact that the registered plumbers called in toremedy the extensive list of faults did an excellent job in correcting many, but not all of the defects, the factremains that the original fitter did not carry out the installation in anythinglike a ‘workmanlike manner, displayed a complete lack of care and skill, andcontravened Scottish Water Byelaws. The plumber claims to be a fullytrained and qualified plumber with some 25 years experience and if that is thecase, then he must have known what he was doing and that some of the work hewas carrying out was contravening Scottish Water Byelaws and that his otherwork fell far short of the reasonable skill and care as defined in the Sale ofGoods and Services Act. Moreover, I believe that since the Scottish Water, the pipe manufacturer, pump manufacturer and perhaps the bathpanel manufacturer, have agreed with my concerns, it ismy opinion, based on my own experience, that the plumber did not have or did not demonstrate theability required to complete the contract in a workmanlike manner with due careand skill.The following defectshave been rectified:amateurish pipeworkinstallation;the installation ofpipework which was not adequately supported;the installation ofpipework which was not adequately clipped with insulating tape being used tohold pipes together;the installation ofpipework which was not adequately insulated to protect against heat or frost;a failure to fitisolating or servicing valves to pipework where required by Water Regulations;against manufacturersinstallation instructions, the fitting of the cold feed to the pump above thefeed to the hot water tank in the cold tank in the loft;a basin which was notproperly secured because fixing screws were not put in place;a pedestal which wastotally free-standing with no fixings whatsoever;a bath which took 20minutes to empty and which resulted in loud clunking noises from the sink whenbeing emptied; a failure to replacethe old painted pipework when fitting a towel warmer; a failure to ensurethat the gap between the old existing pipework matched the gap required to fitthe new towel warmer exactly; a failure to colour matchthe outside pipework to the existing pipes and; the fitting ofpipework against electrical installations. The following defects havenot been rectified:a bathpanel which is too narrow to fill the gap between the bath top and floor andfrom which a decorative vertical curved edge has been cut and which is nowconcave at that cut end;water lyingalong the top edge of the bath panel and eventually disappearing down the backof the panel. After contacting the manufacturer, I received a reply statingthat, ““We believe that the bath panel has been fitted incorrectly”;a wide gapbetween the bottom of the bath panel and the floor which has been filled with clear mastic.The company agreed to replace the bath panel but has not;a bathshower screen which tends to hang outsidethe bath;a showerwhich can only be used on gravity feed because the new pump functionserratically;a dualbutton toilet flush which is faulty; wide bandsof clear mastic around the bases of the toilet pan and sink pedestal, and belowthe bath panel;the failureto fit a raised shelf quoted for, and finally;aflush-to-the-wall toilet which, despite the fact that it was totally unsuitablebecause the wall was out of plumb, was fitted nevertheless. When the fitter sat the pan on the floor forthe first time, it would have been immediately obvious that the wall was out ofplumb because the back of the pan at floor level would be touching the wall butat the top of the pan there would be, and is, a very noticeable gap. This beingthe case, it would be impossible to fit the complete unit in a workmanlikemanner flush to the wall because of the resulting gaps between the toilet andcistern and the wall, and between the cistern and toilet pan, the latter nowproving to be most unhygienic.At that point, exercising dueskill and care, the fitter should have brought this to our notice and the toilet and cistern type changed from a back to the walltype to one more suitable. When asked later why he went ahead and fitted thetoilet regardless, his reply was, “You picked it”. Prior to fitting the toiletand cistern, the plumber installed the cold feed and it was only after the feed wasin place that he discovered that it was a back to the wall toilet. Theresult was that the fitted pan is too near the cold feed and the cut-off valveis at floor level.

It is now abundantly clear that the company have no intention of completing the bathroom and it for that reason that I have decided to invoke Section 75. Far from telling me to sod off, the CC company will be totally unaware of the situation until they receive my letter on Monday first. I trust that this clarifies the situation.

[miliitant]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

i will be blunt

i think this is going to go noware as they did start the work/contract /obligations

i think this would be heading towards the small claims court for damages myself

have you had an independant plumber etc do a report on the dodgy work

ime just covering all the angles

[saphus1007]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

have you had an independant plumber etc do a report on the dodgy work..................I dont have to. I have 23 photographs which clearly illustrate the lack of care and skill as well as e-mails from the water board, pump manufacturer, pipe manufacturer and bath panel manufacturer all agreeing with me.

You may well be right! However, given that I have sent the letter, the question remains the same. What happens now (or next)?

[miliitant]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

the problem is

even with a thousand photographs

you are not qualified to make a decision on a tradesman work

an example of this would be

a plumber fits a loo, then another tradesman, say a plasterer finsishes off, then another tradesman, painter and decorator.

this to me is a simple breach of contract but you have to quantify any loss suffered

i would think the credit card company will reject this claim and tell you to use the county court for redress

if you take your credit card company to court under section 75, you will prob be hit with a large bill for costs

that is just my opinion but speak to either the CAB or your local trading standards who may have a file on this company

no matter what

its a waiting game on how your credit card company responds

[saphus1007]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

Can I just reiterate, I have an e-mail from the water board confirming that the work should be insulated and installed a 'workmanlike' manner and that the piping installed in my house was not; an e-mail from the pump manufacturer stating that the pump as installed would not be guaranteed and that the fitter should re-read the installation instructions prior to completely re-installing the pump; an e-mail from the pipe manufacturer stating that the pipes require insulating, and finally; an e-mail from the bath manufacturer suggesting that the bath panel has been fitted incorrectly. I may not be qualified to make a decision on a tradesman work but those that sent these e-mails are and copies have gone to my credit card company.

[miliitant]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

thats fine on what you are saying and it is down to your credit card company to make the ultimate decison

you mention pump

is the water pump, i take it thats a grundfos, is that connected to your gas central heating
stupid question i know but their are reasons

[saphus1007]

Re: Claim underSection 75-What Happens Now?

Hi again. The pump is a Techflow and it is used solely to give the gravity fed shower a boost - it is not therefore connected to our gas CH thank goodness. He could have blown the house up.