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I have signed contract for windows replacement with Anglian. Paid substantial deposit £5000. With the hindsight now I see that they used all the usual tricks to pressure me into signing without reading. In my defence, I had a 4 months baby in my arms, I'm sleep-deprived and they were prolonging their visit on purpose.
On 7th day of their final day of cooling-off period I visited the showroom as still was a bit unsure and same salesrep told me I can cancel any time until survey's signed (after which manufacture would start) which made sense to me.
Surveyor came and did the measurements, started writing it all down, it was taking a lot of time, in 2 hours I thought enough is enough, I'm still with baby in my arms, alone in the house with no help, needed to leave, he said he almost done we just need to check everything and sign. I felt I'm being pressured to sign something again on the spot as it was unrealistic for me to check everything with baby, I declined to sign, he was a bit reluctant but then agreed to send the documents by email. Then later when I received the docs and finally managed to read them - I found out he put a note which said that he couldn't determine if we had lintels installed or not on the second floor, and they have to be fitted if missing, and it will be £1200+ each, making it increase on the original price potentially by £10000.
I have responded to them asking to explain and demanded to cancel the contract if they cannot do it with original price - received a call with apologies and a 'kind' offer from their team saying they will install lintels for free if they will be indeed missing. By this time I no longer wanted to continue with them anyway, I felt like being conned and that they were exploiting my vulnerable state, and if only I were to sign that day I'd be then liable to pay this £10k and it really scared me. In 2 hours surveyor was at my house he never told me about this potential increase, and haven't mentioned in the email. So I found out only because I have carefully read the document later.
In the contract they have a clause about lintels that if at survey it is found they are missing, then the price can be modified and I would have 14 days to reject that increase in which case "the contract shall be cancelled and deposit returned in full (exlcuding some charges)". So I responded I don't want this intrusive works done on my house by them, I'm worried about structural integrity etc (I was indeed as it's installation of the heavy concrete bars for 8 windows, almost entire house perimeter), also Id need to hire some structural surveyour myself as no longer trust them, so it's an expense for me and they should cancel the contract (and return me deposit). They replied lintels fitting is standard practice in the industry, its not structural etc etc. I still wanted to cancel according to same clause as it would be an expense for me - they said cancelling at this stage would be costly for me as they retain my deposit.
So we're now in the cancellation phase and they are not returning my deposit.
How I can argue all this in court and get back the deposit?
So
1) salerep lied to me that I can cancel any time until the manufacture starts.
2) I also just found out he lied to me about trickle vents - I didn't like the look of them at the time and he told me nothing could be done and they (the ones they offer) are a regulations requirement. However in reality there are also hidden trickle vents, so the basic ones they are installing are not the regulations requirement.
3) also found out apparently he just put an A rating windows efficiency on the contract without even asking me which one I want, while my assumption was I'd get highest rating possible as I was replacing single glazed windows by double glazed, and the whole purpose of me replacing the windows was to achieve as better energy efficiency as possible (there are also A++ and A+ options in the contract)
4) the contract is sent as link to some website, and you need internet to access it each time, and when I tried on computer - it downloads as some sort of zip folder, which you then have to unpack as it contains 2 files, one of them is contract another is 'welcome' rubbish. This has genuinely made it harder for me to access it as you have to go through loops, I'm thinking they are doing it deliberately, instead of just sending them as attachments to email?
5) I only spent 2 minutes between first downloading that contract and then signing, and this is documented in their system. We were very short on time, I have 2 kids and a baby, and it was a busy day and he has spent hours at our house and was insistent we had to sign this very minute
6) the whole 'lost faith' in them after the situation with surveyor. I felt like being scammed, how can they expect me to proceed with intensive works on the house if I no longer trust them?
On 7th day of their final day of cooling-off period I visited the showroom as still was a bit unsure and same salesrep told me I can cancel any time until survey's signed (after which manufacture would start) which made sense to me.
Surveyor came and did the measurements, started writing it all down, it was taking a lot of time, in 2 hours I thought enough is enough, I'm still with baby in my arms, alone in the house with no help, needed to leave, he said he almost done we just need to check everything and sign. I felt I'm being pressured to sign something again on the spot as it was unrealistic for me to check everything with baby, I declined to sign, he was a bit reluctant but then agreed to send the documents by email. Then later when I received the docs and finally managed to read them - I found out he put a note which said that he couldn't determine if we had lintels installed or not on the second floor, and they have to be fitted if missing, and it will be £1200+ each, making it increase on the original price potentially by £10000.
I have responded to them asking to explain and demanded to cancel the contract if they cannot do it with original price - received a call with apologies and a 'kind' offer from their team saying they will install lintels for free if they will be indeed missing. By this time I no longer wanted to continue with them anyway, I felt like being conned and that they were exploiting my vulnerable state, and if only I were to sign that day I'd be then liable to pay this £10k and it really scared me. In 2 hours surveyor was at my house he never told me about this potential increase, and haven't mentioned in the email. So I found out only because I have carefully read the document later.
In the contract they have a clause about lintels that if at survey it is found they are missing, then the price can be modified and I would have 14 days to reject that increase in which case "the contract shall be cancelled and deposit returned in full (exlcuding some charges)". So I responded I don't want this intrusive works done on my house by them, I'm worried about structural integrity etc (I was indeed as it's installation of the heavy concrete bars for 8 windows, almost entire house perimeter), also Id need to hire some structural surveyour myself as no longer trust them, so it's an expense for me and they should cancel the contract (and return me deposit). They replied lintels fitting is standard practice in the industry, its not structural etc etc. I still wanted to cancel according to same clause as it would be an expense for me - they said cancelling at this stage would be costly for me as they retain my deposit.
So we're now in the cancellation phase and they are not returning my deposit.
How I can argue all this in court and get back the deposit?
So
1) salerep lied to me that I can cancel any time until the manufacture starts.
2) I also just found out he lied to me about trickle vents - I didn't like the look of them at the time and he told me nothing could be done and they (the ones they offer) are a regulations requirement. However in reality there are also hidden trickle vents, so the basic ones they are installing are not the regulations requirement.
3) also found out apparently he just put an A rating windows efficiency on the contract without even asking me which one I want, while my assumption was I'd get highest rating possible as I was replacing single glazed windows by double glazed, and the whole purpose of me replacing the windows was to achieve as better energy efficiency as possible (there are also A++ and A+ options in the contract)
4) the contract is sent as link to some website, and you need internet to access it each time, and when I tried on computer - it downloads as some sort of zip folder, which you then have to unpack as it contains 2 files, one of them is contract another is 'welcome' rubbish. This has genuinely made it harder for me to access it as you have to go through loops, I'm thinking they are doing it deliberately, instead of just sending them as attachments to email?
5) I only spent 2 minutes between first downloading that contract and then signing, and this is documented in their system. We were very short on time, I have 2 kids and a baby, and it was a busy day and he has spent hours at our house and was insistent we had to sign this very minute
6) the whole 'lost faith' in them after the situation with surveyor. I felt like being scammed, how can they expect me to proceed with intensive works on the house if I no longer trust them?
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