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Back in September last year (2021) my partner and I purchased a hot tub from a company online, we made the purchase over the phone on a sunday and it was agreed it would be delivered within a week, which it was after much calling in to find out what was happening as they were not very communicative.
On the install day, the following Saturday I recall, the install team turned up about 6pm in the evening, they still had 2 more installs to do that evening after ours, when they were completing the install damage was caused to the panels, the cover lifter was fitted incorrectly causing damage to the cover itself and there were no locks or keys provided and the screws used to affix the clasps for the cover were botched and not mounted correctly.
We immediately reported this damage by email to the company with accompanying photos, along with a bill for the electrician I had to call out to wire the hot tub into the mains as the install team were clueless and had no idea what they were doing, and with water and electricity we weren't comfortable with what their team was doing.
On the monday morning we spoke to them as they weren't responding to emails, and eventually we agreed that they would replace the panels, the corner panel that was damaged and provide a new cover lifter (I have this in writing) they also had failed to send the steps and chemical kit which they did eventually despatched via parcel force and they arrived a couple of weeks later, they did refund the installation fee and paid my electricians invoice.
I had informed them that I really wanted them to take the hot tub back and to come collect it as they had damaged the item and I didn't feel happy with a damaged item if they couldn't provide the replacement parts in a timely fashion.
They assured me things would be put right.
So far so good, fast forward 3 months and no new parts so I started a chargeback via my bank because they hadn't met the agreement with me and the goods were faulty/damaged - the chargeback failed for one reason and one reason alone - the retailer had said they would rectify the problems and the bank/mastercard deemed this to be good enough so declined my chargeback request - I continued to chase the new panels and cover lifter only to be told I needed to be patient as they had to be shipped from china and with the current pandemic related issues this was taking quite a lot longer than normal, but to be patient and they would put everything right.
Many follow ups later and needing to threaten taking them to citizens advice and the office of fair trading they offered to 'fly' the panels from china at 'considerable' cost to their company to get things rectified (we are now at the 5month mark) I agreed seeing as my chargeback opportunity had been rejected and that I had few other avenues, on January 27th their installer (a different one from the original install team) arrived to fix everything - Hurray!
But no.... they had not sent all the panels, they had sent 3 of the 4 panels that needed to be replaced, they had not ordered/supplied the corner that needed replacing and had not sent a new cover lifter as agreed, also the locking clips could not be replaced as they come with the actual cover and neither were there new locks or keys as had been reported needing replacing. On discovery of this I had simply had enough, having waited 5months for them to put this right, promise after promise I decided things had gone too far.
At this point I had made them coffee, lent them tools they didn't have etc etc....
I emailed the company with the below:
"EMAIL OF INTENT BEFORE ACTION
Paul has arrived however you have not supplied all the parts that were agreed, he has brought:
Your installer has decided to use a cover lifter from the tubs on his van but you did NOT provide him one as we had agreed. Additionally you have not provided the 4 panels required nor the corner panel, given we've been dealing with this shambles since the day your team installed it and notified you immediately of the problems I am at a loss to understand how you can fail so utterly in your obligations to me as a customer.
To confirm YOU XXXXXXX had agreed IN WRITING that you would supply 4 panels, 1 corner and a new cover lifter, the replacement of the cover was agreed on the phone, which you appear to have chosen to forget.
YOU XXXXXX have NOT supplied the items agreed to rectify the damage done by your team on installation.
I hold you, Wildwater Spa's responsible entirely for this situation and for you recitfying it to MY satisfaction.
I did talk to your sales team on the phone this afternoon who promised the hot tub would be collected and refunded and then conveniently got disconnected before he could confirm to Paul.
I EXPECT A RESPONSE WITHIN 48HRS CONFIRMING YOU WILL COLLECT THE HOT TUB AND PROVIDE A FULL REFUND FOR THE HOT TUB AND ACCESSORIES AS PURCHASED. FAILURE TO RESPOND WILL RESULT IN ME PURSUING YOU AND YOUR COMPANY VIA THE SMALL CLAIMS COURT PROCESS WHICH I WILL INSTIGATE ON THE 1st FEBURARY 2022. I URGE YOU TO BE REASONABLE AND ARRANGE FOR COLLECTION AND REFUND AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY."
There was then a conversation between ourselves, the installer and with the seller on the phone the retailer, where a sequence of events was agreed (effectively they would arrange for hot tub to be collected, and give me a full refund for the hot tub) this was captured on my home CCTV cameras and microphones so no one can deny it happened, the installer left without reassembling the hot tub and having helped us empty it ready to arrange for it being collected at some point in the not too distant future.
I followed up to my email quoted above with a summary of our discussion (I've used 'XXXX' instead of any names)
"To confirm the discussion between XXXX, ourselves and yourselves - you have agreed to arrange for XXXX to collect the hot tub and refund in full the purchase, I have attached the original invoices for reference, once you have arranged the collection you will process the refund prior to Paul removing the hot tub, once the refund has been processed and we have confirmation that the refund has been issued in the form of a transaction record, refund authorsation slip or screenhsot, he will then remove the hot tub. (we acknowledge that the actual funds will take 2 - 3 business days to clear back into our account)
To be clear I expect the full amount to be refunded, the payment you made to me for my electrician to complete the electrical work should not be discounted against this invoice."
I had thought I would get a confirmation the following day, Friday 28th January, however I didn't so I called to find out why not as it seemed all pretty straightforward to me, I was happy they had agreed to what I has wanted and everything was simply a matter of logisitics at this point, surely? I heard nothing on Friday, their customer services number didn't pick up the phone to me all day and then it was the weekend....
Nothing on Monday during the daytime, I'd given up after calling on Friday so I didn't call them either, just sat patiently awaiting their response which only came after again I prompted them at 16:38 this evening Monday 31st January and at 17:10 this evening I received the below:
"Greetings, management has looked into this situation, our first priory is our employees safety. We have had reports back from the drivers attending your premises of intimidation as they said they were put in a situation where they could not leave under their own free will. Along side this we have received harassing phone calls and a threatening voicemail. We will not allow this treatment of our staff to continue.
Although we do not agree with the severity of the problems you reported with you hot tub, we refunded money towards the install and ordered four new panels. One of the panels was forgotten on delivery and would have been fitted on a return visit. At no point was it stated you would get a new lifter or lid. These problems would be sorted by the fitters when they came to install the panels. Therefore we will not be dealing with your issues going forward as you refused to follow the return policy on our website which you are out of time anyways. We would have refunded you when the item comes back to us and you would need to sort this and pay for it. This will now be passed on to our legal side.
XXXXXX"
I have stated that I will now pursue them in small claims court as they had agreed, admittedly on the phone, to return and refund as per my summary however it appears the courts are my only avenue - at no time have their staff been intimidated or prevented from leaving my premises at will or anything else they state. The only element of 'harassing phonecalls' could be due to me calling them because they wouldn't communicate with me when I emailed or called so as an aggrieved customer I kept calling until I could speak to someone.
I have not been intimidating or insulting (my partner may have been in the background sounding off but then again we have been waiitng 5months and they still messed up, I feel we have been more than reasonable and given them every opportunity to put things write only for them to fail miserably at EVERY turn and being unable to deliver basic customer service, communicate in a timely manner and be clear and transparent with me throughout all of this sorry situation.
Do I have a leg to stand on here taking them to court for my money back or am in cloud cuckoo land here and I should simply write off the £6000 I've spent? (yes yes I know I should have used a credit card but I don't have one so that wasn't an option)
Comments, thoughts???
On the install day, the following Saturday I recall, the install team turned up about 6pm in the evening, they still had 2 more installs to do that evening after ours, when they were completing the install damage was caused to the panels, the cover lifter was fitted incorrectly causing damage to the cover itself and there were no locks or keys provided and the screws used to affix the clasps for the cover were botched and not mounted correctly.
We immediately reported this damage by email to the company with accompanying photos, along with a bill for the electrician I had to call out to wire the hot tub into the mains as the install team were clueless and had no idea what they were doing, and with water and electricity we weren't comfortable with what their team was doing.
On the monday morning we spoke to them as they weren't responding to emails, and eventually we agreed that they would replace the panels, the corner panel that was damaged and provide a new cover lifter (I have this in writing) they also had failed to send the steps and chemical kit which they did eventually despatched via parcel force and they arrived a couple of weeks later, they did refund the installation fee and paid my electricians invoice.
I had informed them that I really wanted them to take the hot tub back and to come collect it as they had damaged the item and I didn't feel happy with a damaged item if they couldn't provide the replacement parts in a timely fashion.
They assured me things would be put right.
So far so good, fast forward 3 months and no new parts so I started a chargeback via my bank because they hadn't met the agreement with me and the goods were faulty/damaged - the chargeback failed for one reason and one reason alone - the retailer had said they would rectify the problems and the bank/mastercard deemed this to be good enough so declined my chargeback request - I continued to chase the new panels and cover lifter only to be told I needed to be patient as they had to be shipped from china and with the current pandemic related issues this was taking quite a lot longer than normal, but to be patient and they would put everything right.
Many follow ups later and needing to threaten taking them to citizens advice and the office of fair trading they offered to 'fly' the panels from china at 'considerable' cost to their company to get things rectified (we are now at the 5month mark) I agreed seeing as my chargeback opportunity had been rejected and that I had few other avenues, on January 27th their installer (a different one from the original install team) arrived to fix everything - Hurray!
But no.... they had not sent all the panels, they had sent 3 of the 4 panels that needed to be replaced, they had not ordered/supplied the corner that needed replacing and had not sent a new cover lifter as agreed, also the locking clips could not be replaced as they come with the actual cover and neither were there new locks or keys as had been reported needing replacing. On discovery of this I had simply had enough, having waited 5months for them to put this right, promise after promise I decided things had gone too far.
At this point I had made them coffee, lent them tools they didn't have etc etc....
I emailed the company with the below:
"EMAIL OF INTENT BEFORE ACTION
Paul has arrived however you have not supplied all the parts that were agreed, he has brought:
- 3 Replacement side panels
Your installer has decided to use a cover lifter from the tubs on his van but you did NOT provide him one as we had agreed. Additionally you have not provided the 4 panels required nor the corner panel, given we've been dealing with this shambles since the day your team installed it and notified you immediately of the problems I am at a loss to understand how you can fail so utterly in your obligations to me as a customer.
To confirm YOU XXXXXXX had agreed IN WRITING that you would supply 4 panels, 1 corner and a new cover lifter, the replacement of the cover was agreed on the phone, which you appear to have chosen to forget.
YOU XXXXXX have NOT supplied the items agreed to rectify the damage done by your team on installation.
I hold you, Wildwater Spa's responsible entirely for this situation and for you recitfying it to MY satisfaction.
I did talk to your sales team on the phone this afternoon who promised the hot tub would be collected and refunded and then conveniently got disconnected before he could confirm to Paul.
I EXPECT A RESPONSE WITHIN 48HRS CONFIRMING YOU WILL COLLECT THE HOT TUB AND PROVIDE A FULL REFUND FOR THE HOT TUB AND ACCESSORIES AS PURCHASED. FAILURE TO RESPOND WILL RESULT IN ME PURSUING YOU AND YOUR COMPANY VIA THE SMALL CLAIMS COURT PROCESS WHICH I WILL INSTIGATE ON THE 1st FEBURARY 2022. I URGE YOU TO BE REASONABLE AND ARRANGE FOR COLLECTION AND REFUND AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY."
There was then a conversation between ourselves, the installer and with the seller on the phone the retailer, where a sequence of events was agreed (effectively they would arrange for hot tub to be collected, and give me a full refund for the hot tub) this was captured on my home CCTV cameras and microphones so no one can deny it happened, the installer left without reassembling the hot tub and having helped us empty it ready to arrange for it being collected at some point in the not too distant future.
I followed up to my email quoted above with a summary of our discussion (I've used 'XXXX' instead of any names)
"To confirm the discussion between XXXX, ourselves and yourselves - you have agreed to arrange for XXXX to collect the hot tub and refund in full the purchase, I have attached the original invoices for reference, once you have arranged the collection you will process the refund prior to Paul removing the hot tub, once the refund has been processed and we have confirmation that the refund has been issued in the form of a transaction record, refund authorsation slip or screenhsot, he will then remove the hot tub. (we acknowledge that the actual funds will take 2 - 3 business days to clear back into our account)
To be clear I expect the full amount to be refunded, the payment you made to me for my electrician to complete the electrical work should not be discounted against this invoice."
I had thought I would get a confirmation the following day, Friday 28th January, however I didn't so I called to find out why not as it seemed all pretty straightforward to me, I was happy they had agreed to what I has wanted and everything was simply a matter of logisitics at this point, surely? I heard nothing on Friday, their customer services number didn't pick up the phone to me all day and then it was the weekend....
Nothing on Monday during the daytime, I'd given up after calling on Friday so I didn't call them either, just sat patiently awaiting their response which only came after again I prompted them at 16:38 this evening Monday 31st January and at 17:10 this evening I received the below:
"Greetings, management has looked into this situation, our first priory is our employees safety. We have had reports back from the drivers attending your premises of intimidation as they said they were put in a situation where they could not leave under their own free will. Along side this we have received harassing phone calls and a threatening voicemail. We will not allow this treatment of our staff to continue.
Although we do not agree with the severity of the problems you reported with you hot tub, we refunded money towards the install and ordered four new panels. One of the panels was forgotten on delivery and would have been fitted on a return visit. At no point was it stated you would get a new lifter or lid. These problems would be sorted by the fitters when they came to install the panels. Therefore we will not be dealing with your issues going forward as you refused to follow the return policy on our website which you are out of time anyways. We would have refunded you when the item comes back to us and you would need to sort this and pay for it. This will now be passed on to our legal side.
XXXXXX"
I have stated that I will now pursue them in small claims court as they had agreed, admittedly on the phone, to return and refund as per my summary however it appears the courts are my only avenue - at no time have their staff been intimidated or prevented from leaving my premises at will or anything else they state. The only element of 'harassing phonecalls' could be due to me calling them because they wouldn't communicate with me when I emailed or called so as an aggrieved customer I kept calling until I could speak to someone.
I have not been intimidating or insulting (my partner may have been in the background sounding off but then again we have been waiitng 5months and they still messed up, I feel we have been more than reasonable and given them every opportunity to put things write only for them to fail miserably at EVERY turn and being unable to deliver basic customer service, communicate in a timely manner and be clear and transparent with me throughout all of this sorry situation.
Do I have a leg to stand on here taking them to court for my money back or am in cloud cuckoo land here and I should simply write off the £6000 I've spent? (yes yes I know I should have used a credit card but I don't have one so that wasn't an option)
Comments, thoughts???
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