Tweet
In February 2017 I signed a contract with a local multi-branch replacement window company which has been operating for of many years (for ease of reference I shall refer to it as CW). I wanted my old Everest aluminium windows and front door replaced with modern aluminium equivalents.
Work didn't start until May 2017, because it took so long for CW to prepare the order. At one point CW almost ordered the wrong windows; but I noticed the error in time. I seriously considered pulling out of the contract at that stage, but I had paid half the cost and wouldn't have got it back.
To say that the installation has been a disaster would be a massive understatement. CW's surveyor mis-measured the two largest window openings and, as a result, CW fitted windows of the wrong size. That has resulted in numerous orders for replacements and, since I opted for a "premium" colour, every time a replacement has been ordered, the lead time has been over 2 months. That is why the job has dragged on for so long. The upstairs bay window was installed and taken out three times, before they got it right at the fourth attempt. One hinge gave up the ghost and snapped, because the window had been messed about with so much, and we haven't been able to open that window since July. One of the downstairs windows had to be ordered three times before they got it right.
We wanted the front installation to match the one we had done at the back of the house in 2016; so we specified the same make and frame colour and the same handles. But the new windows were installed with handles that were a totally different size and shape from the ones at the back. The company said that it would change them; but because it delayed so long, the original ones were discontinued. We are therefore faced with having mis-matched handles or replacing the whole house (which the company have said that they will do, although using handles that we don't like as much as the originals).
The big problem now is with the new aluminium front door, which is covered with paint faults and doesn't fit together properly. It is a bright red front door, and every point at which two panels meet is marked with a white line where the bare aluminium edges show up against the red paint. CW inspected the door, agreed that it was too poorly made to repair and ordered another new door before Christmas, telling me that it would be installed "early in the new year". However, the door manufacturer insisted on inspecting the faulty door before starting work on the replacement and the site visit didn't take place until this morning (with a CW representative and two representatives of the door maker present). The door maker agreed that there were problems with the door but said that they could be corrected. As regards the white lines across all the joints, he said that this was more obvious because of the door colour I had chosen. (This has been a familiar refrain during this saga, if I had chosen a different material or colour, everything would have gone fine). The door maker said that he did not consider the white lines to be a fault and that any replacement door he provided would have the same lines.
I declined to agree the proposal, which the CW representative supported, that the door maker should attempt to fix the door and I asked CW to write to me setting out what they were now proposing. My main concern is that adjusting the door and re-spraying parts of it in situ is not going to provide me with an acceptable solution, when door maker does not believe that a dozen or more white lines on a bright red door constitute a fault. All it will achieve is to delay the completion of an installation that has already seriously overrun.
When the installation started in May, I was were told that it would last three days. So far it has taken 11 days spread over 8 months. Many of those 11 days were wasted because the installers turned up either with the wrong parts, defective parts or no parts at all. The worst day of all was at the end of August, when two days had been earmarked to finish off the job and the installers left an hour after arriving, because they didn't have any of the parts they needed. Had my partner and I been in employment, we could have quantified the cost of this mismanagement in terms of wasted annual leave. CW know that we are both retired, however, and as a result they seem to have taken the view that they can turn up as and when they want and we will make ourselves available. For example we found an answerphone message on Thursday evening of last week telling us that the door maker wanted to come and inspect the door the following morning at 10am. We didn't take a holiday last year because we never knew when CW would want to come back to do more work and we didn't want to add to the lengthening delay. We couldn't have anybody to stay with us between May and July, because our bedroom window was unfinished, the bedroom was unusable and we were sleeping in the spare room.
So, 8 months after the installation started, all the windows and door are in place. But two of the leaded light glass panels still need replacing because they are marked, a hinge has been broken since the window was finally installed in July; none of the windows have the handles we ordered, there are numerous paint blemishes that need touching up (but this can't happen until the weather warms up enough to spray outside) and we have a front door that we have rejected because it looks so awful yet the door maker says any replacement will look the same because that's just the way it is.
I threatened the company with legal action for breach of contract last summer, but didn't follow through, because I couldn't see how that would get the job completed any quicker. What's different now is that CW and I will soon be in dispute over the faulty door, if they renege on their agreement to replace it. I am struggling to know how best to proceed.
I complained to the Glass and Glazing Federation and they gave CW 56 days to sort things out. However, no further work has been carried out and we are even further away from solving the problems with the door following this morning's site visit. I could now elevate my complaint through the Glazing Arbitration Scheme (the Ombudsman); but this specifically excludes grievances related to stress and inconvenience and I am not sure it will help much. The alternative is legal action.
1. Since the door maker is saying that he won't be able to make a door that I will find acceptable (he acknowledges that I am unhappy with the white lines on the door but says that they are merely part of the manufacturing process and not a fault), am I within my rights to demand either that CW orders a new door from a different supplier who will be able to deliver an acceptable product or, alternatively, if the problem lies in the way this particular brand of door is made, demand that CW replaces the defective door with a different make of door which won't have the same problems? (The 2016 back door is aluminium but displays none of the problems evident on the front door.)
2. If CW refuses and insists that the door maker should be given the opportunity to repair the door, can I tell them that I intend to employ another company to install a new front door assembly using the 50% of the cost that I still owe to CW?
3. If I were to sue CW now, would I be likely to achieve a better outcome than working with the company to get the job finished. This is the argument I used on myself last year and it didn't do me much good.
I am sorry that this post is so detailed; but it is actually a very abbreviated version of what has happened. The supporting documentation I sent to the Glass and Glazing Federation was 150 pages long. My problem is that I can no longer see the wood for the trees and I feel totally powerless. Any advice would be very gratefully received.
With thanks.
Work didn't start until May 2017, because it took so long for CW to prepare the order. At one point CW almost ordered the wrong windows; but I noticed the error in time. I seriously considered pulling out of the contract at that stage, but I had paid half the cost and wouldn't have got it back.
To say that the installation has been a disaster would be a massive understatement. CW's surveyor mis-measured the two largest window openings and, as a result, CW fitted windows of the wrong size. That has resulted in numerous orders for replacements and, since I opted for a "premium" colour, every time a replacement has been ordered, the lead time has been over 2 months. That is why the job has dragged on for so long. The upstairs bay window was installed and taken out three times, before they got it right at the fourth attempt. One hinge gave up the ghost and snapped, because the window had been messed about with so much, and we haven't been able to open that window since July. One of the downstairs windows had to be ordered three times before they got it right.
We wanted the front installation to match the one we had done at the back of the house in 2016; so we specified the same make and frame colour and the same handles. But the new windows were installed with handles that were a totally different size and shape from the ones at the back. The company said that it would change them; but because it delayed so long, the original ones were discontinued. We are therefore faced with having mis-matched handles or replacing the whole house (which the company have said that they will do, although using handles that we don't like as much as the originals).
The big problem now is with the new aluminium front door, which is covered with paint faults and doesn't fit together properly. It is a bright red front door, and every point at which two panels meet is marked with a white line where the bare aluminium edges show up against the red paint. CW inspected the door, agreed that it was too poorly made to repair and ordered another new door before Christmas, telling me that it would be installed "early in the new year". However, the door manufacturer insisted on inspecting the faulty door before starting work on the replacement and the site visit didn't take place until this morning (with a CW representative and two representatives of the door maker present). The door maker agreed that there were problems with the door but said that they could be corrected. As regards the white lines across all the joints, he said that this was more obvious because of the door colour I had chosen. (This has been a familiar refrain during this saga, if I had chosen a different material or colour, everything would have gone fine). The door maker said that he did not consider the white lines to be a fault and that any replacement door he provided would have the same lines.
I declined to agree the proposal, which the CW representative supported, that the door maker should attempt to fix the door and I asked CW to write to me setting out what they were now proposing. My main concern is that adjusting the door and re-spraying parts of it in situ is not going to provide me with an acceptable solution, when door maker does not believe that a dozen or more white lines on a bright red door constitute a fault. All it will achieve is to delay the completion of an installation that has already seriously overrun.
When the installation started in May, I was were told that it would last three days. So far it has taken 11 days spread over 8 months. Many of those 11 days were wasted because the installers turned up either with the wrong parts, defective parts or no parts at all. The worst day of all was at the end of August, when two days had been earmarked to finish off the job and the installers left an hour after arriving, because they didn't have any of the parts they needed. Had my partner and I been in employment, we could have quantified the cost of this mismanagement in terms of wasted annual leave. CW know that we are both retired, however, and as a result they seem to have taken the view that they can turn up as and when they want and we will make ourselves available. For example we found an answerphone message on Thursday evening of last week telling us that the door maker wanted to come and inspect the door the following morning at 10am. We didn't take a holiday last year because we never knew when CW would want to come back to do more work and we didn't want to add to the lengthening delay. We couldn't have anybody to stay with us between May and July, because our bedroom window was unfinished, the bedroom was unusable and we were sleeping in the spare room.
So, 8 months after the installation started, all the windows and door are in place. But two of the leaded light glass panels still need replacing because they are marked, a hinge has been broken since the window was finally installed in July; none of the windows have the handles we ordered, there are numerous paint blemishes that need touching up (but this can't happen until the weather warms up enough to spray outside) and we have a front door that we have rejected because it looks so awful yet the door maker says any replacement will look the same because that's just the way it is.
I threatened the company with legal action for breach of contract last summer, but didn't follow through, because I couldn't see how that would get the job completed any quicker. What's different now is that CW and I will soon be in dispute over the faulty door, if they renege on their agreement to replace it. I am struggling to know how best to proceed.
I complained to the Glass and Glazing Federation and they gave CW 56 days to sort things out. However, no further work has been carried out and we are even further away from solving the problems with the door following this morning's site visit. I could now elevate my complaint through the Glazing Arbitration Scheme (the Ombudsman); but this specifically excludes grievances related to stress and inconvenience and I am not sure it will help much. The alternative is legal action.
1. Since the door maker is saying that he won't be able to make a door that I will find acceptable (he acknowledges that I am unhappy with the white lines on the door but says that they are merely part of the manufacturing process and not a fault), am I within my rights to demand either that CW orders a new door from a different supplier who will be able to deliver an acceptable product or, alternatively, if the problem lies in the way this particular brand of door is made, demand that CW replaces the defective door with a different make of door which won't have the same problems? (The 2016 back door is aluminium but displays none of the problems evident on the front door.)
2. If CW refuses and insists that the door maker should be given the opportunity to repair the door, can I tell them that I intend to employ another company to install a new front door assembly using the 50% of the cost that I still owe to CW?
3. If I were to sue CW now, would I be likely to achieve a better outcome than working with the company to get the job finished. This is the argument I used on myself last year and it didn't do me much good.
I am sorry that this post is so detailed; but it is actually a very abbreviated version of what has happened. The supporting documentation I sent to the Glass and Glazing Federation was 150 pages long. My problem is that I can no longer see the wood for the trees and I feel totally powerless. Any advice would be very gratefully received.
With thanks.
