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Well, if anyone is interested ...
I went to see the kitchen company today. They haven't been responding to emails so I've started to take copies in to them and asking them to sign a receipt just to confirm that they have had that printed copt of the email. So the husband part of the owners told the woman, who we've mostly been dealing with, not to sign anything. I try to explain that it's only to confirm that they've had this copy and I won't leave until they've signed for it. Long story short the husband starts kicking off, swearing and shouting at me to get out the shop, claiming I've been a pain, claiming that they've never had complaints before, saying take them to court. All this was going on while they had a rep from some company in the shop.
Shame no customers were in there.
saying take them to court
In that case, get another electrician in to make it good/safe
then https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/going-to-court
If you haven't paid them in full yet, don't. Not until everything is signed off, preferably by someone not employed by them.
Sound like a nasty lot.
Yeah, nasty, we've only had to deal with the woman so far, she just seems incompetent, but now we've seen what the husbands like.
From what I've heard their sons have taken over the work and things aren't going well, the husband used to do quality work and their son's are not chip off the old blocks so the company id under a lot of stress. If that's the case don't take on the work! Mental!
But have you paid in full?
go see them on a saturday and sunday early in january when there are customers 😉
No, not paid in full, but they have had a large chunk (which I'm so annoyed at myself about)
They also claim to be a member of something they are not (not going to say what), so that's going to be under investigation.
I'm trying to get other kitchen companies to have a look and quote for the work to be brought up to standard so I can put it in writing to the company, not having much luck so far. I understand why companies don't want to do this but it's draining trying to sort all this out 😥
iKBBi? If so I wouldn't worry about that too much as it's a bit of a money making exercise as far as I can see, no real benefits for with installer or customer.
I think the best thing you could do is what you've already proposed. as long as you have the stock on site already, don't pay them anymore money, get quotes from independents to sort out and then small claims to original firm or offer them the chance to sort out to your satisfaction.
I've had some advice from a solicitor.
Basically I can only claim for anything above the original quote that it costs to get it put right. I have to get quotes so I'll be looking for the best fitter I can find! I have a recommend electrician coming tomorrow so I'll get a cost for putting all that right. But, we do still need to give them a chance to put things right 👿
Looks like the kind of shit DIY job I used to do when I was 20 and knew no better. Does the spark actually have any qualifications?
Yeah, sparky does have qualifications - according to his website. But he and the guy that did our kitchen were both young, we've complained about their work a few times and nothings been done about it. Our kitchen is quite shocking, I've had a few kitchen fitters to come in to have a look and one said it looks like amateur diy. Another said that the electrics have not been done by a qualified electrician.
We have a long list of faults we want dealt with but I just don't think they are capable of it, it just seems odd that the owner shouts at me telling me I've been a pain and that I got what I signed for. If it was all ok I wouldn't be complaining!
How did you pay? The credit card company will have an interest here (if you used credit)
You could consider involving LA building control, feeding into trading standards, for any electrical issues. This might open other cans of worms too
You need to post pictures of shoddy work on here.
Then tell them you'll name and shame. This place will finish them. ha.
We had a bad do with a "kitchen fitter" a few years ago , who I sacked after 3 days.
Super stressful times if i recall...
I was thinking about Building Control yesterday. I'm not 100% but I think if you move the consumer unit you're supposed to notify them unless a qualified electrician does it and certifies it? Maybe someone on here might be more clued up on this than me?
Yes its all a bit stressful at the moment, unlikely we'll have a finished kitchen by Xmas, they started back in October. We just don't want to go in there 😐
I feel your pain - ours was meant to be finished 6 weeks ago, finally completed on Sunday and got our Christmas tree up.
Now in a whole new world of mess as now our windows are being replaced!
Hope you finally get a positive outcome.
For those interested here's the latest news..
Electrician been around and was really apologetic, says he's going to sort it all out and that he doesn't usually work like this, no excuse really!
We had a letter from the company confirming our meeting today, noticed they'd cc their solicitor in it too, first bit of proper communication we've had from them, they must be worried.
We've got them on fraudulent misrepresentation so contract is basically null and void, but that doesn't help us with getting our money back as it's still down to us to take them to court. It's so frustrating that there isn't some legal body or government department that can just make them accountable for what they've done and make them pay up or sort it out. What's the point of having regulations, laws or codes of practice? 👿
Playing devils advocate. If the electrician doesn't normally work like that, why did he this time? Or is it just because normally no one flags it up?
Hope you get it all sorted with the minimal amount of stress.
Or is it just because normally no one flags it up?
Yeah, had me wondering this too! If I wasn't around to check on things and the kitchen finished and all the plinths had been put in place anything could have been hiding. There was someone earlier that posted some class work from BandQ. And, if you get a little old lady that knows know different they'll believe a so called professional.
The company has agreed to sort the kitchen out and we've got it detailed in a proper letter. This will include re-doing some pipework, moving cupboards and fitting filler panels, changing a cupboard size to accommodate our washing machine better, end support panels, retiling, sorting the floor out, sorting the sink out, a few other bits and pieces and a good tidy and clean up.
We feel a bit better, but it shouldn't have got to this messy stage in the first place!
We had building work done and the electrician was employed by the builder rather than us. Everything seemed fine but when the builder received the certification he wasn't happy, looked to him as if it had been printed at home. He did a bit of digging and discovered it was all dodgy and he'd used the details of a company in Yorkshire to issue the certification, he wasn't part P registered at all. We had everything then rechecked by another local company who were able to sign everything off. They found one small issue that needed changing but nothing dangerous and they commented that it was a lot better than much of what they see in similar situations. Trading standards got involved and we gave statements but for whatever reason they decided not to prosecute him. Looking at the wiring in your kitchen I'd be straight onto them.