Am I being unrealistic?

[davec2019]

Hello everyone

I recently had my bathroom refitted and it wasn't till two weeks after it was completed that an issue came to light with the shower unit, Unfortunately it is a slightly more complicated affair as Ill explain.

So when our bathroom fitters came round they suggested that we could go to the supplier who they use regularly to get a quote as they get a good discount, after the consultation with the supplier we were provided a quote but even with the fitters discounts they were pretty pricey on several items.

we decided to only order the items that we definitely couldn't get elsewhere and meticulously went through the rest of the quote finding the other items online cheaper.

The issue as mentioned above started not long after the refit was completed, as the unit was under guarantee we contacted the manufacturers and they confirmed that there policy is to arrange a site visit to inspect the item and diagnose if it's a fault with the unit or a fitting error, if its deemed a fitting error then you have to pay the call out charge of £80.

within a few minutes of the engineer being on site he confirmed that the shower unit we have had installed is incorrect for the setup we have and was surprised this wasn't picked up by the fitters, as it was deemed a fitting error we were charged the £80 fee, they also confirmed that the warranty would now be voided and couldn't be passed on even if fitted correctly elsewhere.

When we contacted the fitters about the wrong unit they were adamant that the engineer was wrong and it was not something they had done wrong, they agreed to contact the engineer to discuss it as the technical aspects were something that meant nothing to myself, After a few days I chased the fitters just to see if there was any update as I hadn't heard from them, it was at this point that they confirmed they had spoken to him and it was in fact the wrong shower unit.

so here is where I would massively appreciate help :-)

The initial quote we received from the supplier had the wrong shower unit, The fitters initial response was we only fitted what you supplied and were trying to shift blame on to us, they offered to fit the replacement item for free but we had to pay for it, the correct replacement is nearly £500 and we felt that this was a lot to ask considering that we only ordered what was quoted.

I went back to them and confirmed that I didn't feel this was a fair resolution as we felt that they as the experienced professionals should have noticed the incorrect shower unit was quoted, I offered to pay £200 towards the cost of the shower and would still like them to refit at no extra cost, I felt this was a good compromise factoring in the £80 I had already paid.

The fitters came back with the following response

"It is unfortunate that you had been given the wrong information by ******** on the selection of shower for your family bathroom.

As previously discussed we want any issue to be sorted weather it be from us or a 3rd party on one of our jobs. With this being said we have already offered you a free installation to rectify the incorrectly purchased shower unit.

We are willing to pay half the amount of the shower purchase costs as you have mentioned in your email and then install the replacement free of charge which will include new pipework into the loft & re configuring of the airing cupboard pipework to suit. We would then wish to keep the existing installed box and wireless button."


I feel like there proposal still benefits them more than us as they will be able to sell the shower unit on and cover there costs (it cost £500), but Im not sure if I am just being unrealistic with the resolution I want and should just suck it up as a bad experience pay them to do the work and just move on, the actual work they carried out was very good so I cant fault them on the quality side, they were very attentive so it has made it slightly more awkward but I feel that should be put aside in this matter.

Any help would massively be appreciated as it has caused a fair bit of stress in my house.

Thanks

Dave

[R0b]

So correct me if I am wrong, in order to settle the matter you wanted them to cover £300 and re-fit at not extra cost which they appear to have agreed to according to their email, and now you want to go back on what you've offered? Sounds like you are being unreasonable (but see further comments below).

You don't get to keep the existing goods and to keep the replacement goods - it's irrelevant whether or not they can cover their costs elsewhere, they are a business - are you trying to deliberately cause them a loss?! Again, wholly unreasonable on your part if that's your intention.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 allows you to obtain a refund within the first 30 days if you find out that they are not fit for purpose. You can also request a repair or replacement of the goods as an alternative to a refund. If a repair or replacement fails, then you can reject or get a price reduction of up to 100% of the price.

In your case, it sounds like you were happy with their work generally and the rest of the goods supplied so the only issue is a shower unit which doesn't conform according to the agreement. In that case, it would be a partial rejection but you've instead opted to make an offer to the bathroom fitters to resolve the issue.

Now, you could go back on your word and say, actually you have considered your legal rights and in fact as the shower unit is not fit for purpose, I am entitled to have the unit replaced and installed free of charge. Going down this route might cause friction between you and the fitters and they may simply refuse to engage any further.

Equally, if the fitters had any savviness to them, they counter-argue that you made an offer to contribute to half of the cost of the shower unit provided they install at no additional cost, and they will say that their email is an acceptance of that offer and therefore this is legally binding upon the parties, having settled the dispute. Therefore, you can't renege on the agreement and insist upon them doing it all for free.

[ostell]

The awkward bit I think is that you supplied the shower unit and they obligingly did what the customer wanted and fitted what you supplied. I think that the fitter has actually made a very good offer, he is offering to contribute towards the cost of remedying a problem that was of your own making. If the fitter had supplied all the items then yes you would have a very good case for a remedy at no cost to you.

[davec2019]

Thanks for your responses, my title should have also said am I being unreasonable.

The element I missed out in my post should have been about the fitter keeping the incorrect unit as part of the potential agreement.

It's that part where I feel unsure as it just seems as if they are coming out of it with a better deal, ie new shower worth £500 but again maybe I am just not seeing the offer for what it is worth

[R0b]

Put in simple terms, where breaches of contract occur, the law seeks to put the innocent party in the position had the contract been properly performed.

In light of that, why should you be entitled to keep the incorrect shower unit and have a new shower unit installed - putting you in a better positon than you would have been had the contract been performed properly (you could sell that unit and make a profit).

Breach of contract does not allow for betterment i.e. to put you in a better position than you would have been originally. It sounds like you are trying to punish the fitters financially for installing the wrong unit.

Here's another example, if you buy a washing machine that has a certain function but it turns out that function was on that particular model, do you think its right that not only you should get a replacement of the model but also keep the existing model purchased? Common sense would say no, and the same applies to your case.

Whilst you shouldn't be worse off financially, that doesn't give you the right to make sure the fitters are finacially worse off.

[davec2019]

Put in simple terms, where breaches of contract occur, the law seeks to put the innocent party in the position had the contract been properly performed.

In light of that, why should you be entitled to keep the incorrect shower unit and have a new shower unit installed - putting you in a better positon than you would have been had the contract been performed properly (you could sell that unit and make a profit).

Breach of contract does not allow for betterment i.e. to put you in a better position than you would have been originally. It sounds like you are trying to punish the fitters financially for installing the wrong unit.

Here's another example, if you buy a washing machine that has a certain function but it turns out that function was on that particular model, do you think its right that not only you should get a replacement of the model but also keep the existing model purchased? Common sense would say no, and the same applies to your case.

Whilst you shouldn't be worse off financially, that doesn't give you the right to make sure the fitters are finacially worse off.

Thank you for your response it is appreciated.

You are right I just couldnt get the fact out of my head that we had already paid nearley £500 for the first shower and now we are having to pay £200 towards another and we didnt get to recoup our expenses, Unfortunatley the fitter in this scenario will be able to recoup theres as they can sell the shower they take out and all that we will have been left with is £200 more on our overall cost :-(

[R0b]

Like I said in an earlier post, you can always go back on your offer and insist that the fitters do it all free of charge if they are responsible. However, if you can't come to an amicable agreement then you will likely have to find someone else to do the work, re-fit a new shower unit and then recoup your losses possible through legal proceedings.

I have been assuming that the error lay with the fitters but as Ostell pointed out, you placed an order with the supplier who you say carried out a consultation. It's not clear what the 'fitting error' is but if the error was that the type of shower unit was incorrect then surely the blame must lay with the supplier and not the fitters? Unless the fitters have somehow suggested that the unit you were looking to get would be fit for its intended purpose based on the dimensions of the bathroom.

Either way, if you reject what the fitters are prepared to do, then you could be living much longer with the problem and with no immediate resolution. It's best to pick your own battles and what is it worth to you in terms of time and money - if this was a case of a dispute over pair of headphones I don't think it would be as stressful and you could quite happily persist, but as we are talking about bathroom revovations, that is an entirely different story.

If you still feel that you are being hard done by, then go back to the fitters and insist (in a polite way) that they replace it all free of charge since they had fitted the incorrect unit and, having considered your consumer rights, it says you are entitled to have it replacement at no cost to yourself. You may want to flower your response a little by suggesting that you have no issues with their service and installation as a whole has been great, and that you would really like to resolve this in an amicable way.

Alternatively, you could think outside the box a little and see if they are prepared to give you something on top as a sweetener e.g. a free upgrade on something like the taps, units, shower door or bathroom mirrors. Sometimes businesses might not be prepared to give you cold hard cash but they may agree to throw in something that doesn't necessarily cost the cash equivalent to them but still keeps the customer happy.

[ostell]

If the fitter kept the shower who would want a second hand shower for £500? Especially one now without a guarantee. He is putting in his time for free, whereas he could be doing another job and earning some more money. If he does have the shower then the scrap value/spares va.ue ould be offsetting a small portion of his loss

[davec2019]

Thanks again for all your valued feedback, I definateley think I am in the midset to suck it up and move on with my life (and enjoy my new bathroom :-) )

Rob

Not that it matters now but just to clarify what happened as it may not have been obvious in the OP

Our fitters suggested we get a quote from Plumb base
we did this but they were very expensive on a number of items so we used there quote and order the exact same items online.

the tricky bit was the fact that we were advised to get a quote from Plumbase and it was there quote that had the wrong item, so essentially neither ours or the fitters fault but maybe vicarious liability at a long shot as they suggested plumbase and we may not have gone then had they not of suggested it.

obviously that is a messy way to go and as I said above its time to move on :-)

Thanks again

[R0b]

In that case I think what you are being offered is probably a steal because it doesn't sound like the fitters are in the wrong here, and the fact you decided to order the products yourself rather than through Plumbase, that is likely to shift the risk and liability from them to yourself. Even if you could somehow prove liability on Plumbase's part, it wouldn't be easy.

If I was in your position, take what you can from the fitters, soak up the £200 loss and like you say, move on and enjoy your bathroom.