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Hi all
We had some laminated flooring supplied and fitted over the course of last year by Flooring Republic. This was for 49m2 of flooring for the entire downstairs so was over 800, plus fitting costs - came to almost 1500 with beading etc. They supplied the flooring, which we paid for in full. They also offered a fitting service via a subcontracted fitter - we paid a deposit to them of 100, & the balance to the fitter.
The flooring was fine - however the fitter was a cowboy. It was bouncing up and down by more than a centimetre in places. We confronted him with this: he said it was a 'floating floor' (not true, I know now) and that it was perfectly acceptable and would settle. We called BS on this having had a perfectly level laminated floor for over 10 years. He wasn't happy.
We argued with him; eventually he said he would screed the area that was moving and that would solve it, however the fitting cost didn't cover that - it would be an extra 90. We didn't want to pay anything but, after 4 months of having an extension and numerous other problems with plumbers etc, we wanted an end to the nightmare. So we agreed to pay him if it would mean it was sorted that day.
While he was getting the materials, we phoned the store and told them we weren't happy. They said they would sort something out for us (never did).
He did the work - we had to go out while he did this, we had places to be - and when we returned we found that while the first area was better, the problem had just moved elsewhere, and become worse.
We argued with the supplier and they came out to visit with another fitter. They agreed that the installation was inadequate and that the other fitter would rectify it.
Unfortunately, the new fitting company had some internal issues and the guy who was to sort it left the company, meaning his partner had to scrabble it together. In the course of this they relaid the floor inadequately and managed to damage several planks; the skirting boards were shoddily replaced; worst of all, they had re-installed our washing machine and left the washer out of the inlet pipe - which we didn't discover until the floor became waterlogged almost 4 weeks later - so we had to pull those boards up, and the surrounding planks were all water damaged too.
Back to Flooring Republic; calls and calls and emails later, and eventually they sent out an independent inspector (who was being paid for by the flooring supplier - so I suspect they were trying to claim the flooring was inadequate or something?). He agreed that it was a mess due to the fitters' actions and made a report recommending that all affected areas be replaced.
Flooring Republic agreed to do this, eventually - another fitter was sent around - and then nothing, as the director he was dealing with left the company. It now seems they have gone into receivership - no contact at the branch we used. This was about 3 months ago - we have been so busy we've been unable to deal with this.
Any suggestions on what to do next? We have home insurance including accidental cover, but as it wasn't us that damaged it, would our insurance cover us?
Thanks a lot
We had some laminated flooring supplied and fitted over the course of last year by Flooring Republic. This was for 49m2 of flooring for the entire downstairs so was over 800, plus fitting costs - came to almost 1500 with beading etc. They supplied the flooring, which we paid for in full. They also offered a fitting service via a subcontracted fitter - we paid a deposit to them of 100, & the balance to the fitter.
The flooring was fine - however the fitter was a cowboy. It was bouncing up and down by more than a centimetre in places. We confronted him with this: he said it was a 'floating floor' (not true, I know now) and that it was perfectly acceptable and would settle. We called BS on this having had a perfectly level laminated floor for over 10 years. He wasn't happy.
We argued with him; eventually he said he would screed the area that was moving and that would solve it, however the fitting cost didn't cover that - it would be an extra 90. We didn't want to pay anything but, after 4 months of having an extension and numerous other problems with plumbers etc, we wanted an end to the nightmare. So we agreed to pay him if it would mean it was sorted that day.
While he was getting the materials, we phoned the store and told them we weren't happy. They said they would sort something out for us (never did).
He did the work - we had to go out while he did this, we had places to be - and when we returned we found that while the first area was better, the problem had just moved elsewhere, and become worse.
We argued with the supplier and they came out to visit with another fitter. They agreed that the installation was inadequate and that the other fitter would rectify it.
Unfortunately, the new fitting company had some internal issues and the guy who was to sort it left the company, meaning his partner had to scrabble it together. In the course of this they relaid the floor inadequately and managed to damage several planks; the skirting boards were shoddily replaced; worst of all, they had re-installed our washing machine and left the washer out of the inlet pipe - which we didn't discover until the floor became waterlogged almost 4 weeks later - so we had to pull those boards up, and the surrounding planks were all water damaged too.
Back to Flooring Republic; calls and calls and emails later, and eventually they sent out an independent inspector (who was being paid for by the flooring supplier - so I suspect they were trying to claim the flooring was inadequate or something?). He agreed that it was a mess due to the fitters' actions and made a report recommending that all affected areas be replaced.
Flooring Republic agreed to do this, eventually - another fitter was sent around - and then nothing, as the director he was dealing with left the company. It now seems they have gone into receivership - no contact at the branch we used. This was about 3 months ago - we have been so busy we've been unable to deal with this.
Any suggestions on what to do next? We have home insurance including accidental cover, but as it wasn't us that damaged it, would our insurance cover us?
Thanks a lot
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