Dispute with wooden flooring company

fuggym

New Member
Feb 22, 2012
2
0
0
Hi,

Having had a wooden floor successfully fitted, after a couple of years one of the boards started to shift, leaving a gap. We contacted the company from whom we bought the floor and asked them to visit. They visited and explained that we would need to pay for a fitter to remove the board and replace it as it was stuck fast and no amount of persuasion could move it back.

This is all fine so far. I remember being told when the floor was fitted that they can move over time and that this isn't covered by the warranty. I accepted that when I bought the floor, I expected to have to pay for the repair and I was happy to do so. The company quoted £50 and arranged to send a fitter round.

Unfortunately the fitter, rather than fixing the floor, damaged one of the floorboards by trying to lever the board with a screwdriver. He delved a big chunk out of one of the boards and then tried to cover it up by glueing the chunk back into the hole. My wife refused to pay him (he was expecting cash).

This is where the problem started. I contacted the flooring company but they are refusing to solve the problem. They claim that we need to deal with the fitter directly, who is self-employed, and that this is nothing to do with them. The fitter is refusing to return to fix the damage (presumably because he will lose money on the deal now).

Unfortunately I don't have anything in writing from the flooring company. My wife verbally agreed that they would send round a fitter to solve the problem and they said it would cost £50. My understanding, though, is that this IS the flooring company's problem to solve:
> We contacted them to look at the problem
> They quoted the price
> They arranged for the fitter to visit (and chose which fitter would do the work)

I believe that this constitues an oral contract with the flooring company and that they are legally bound to resolve this issue. At no point did we make any contract with the fitter.

Would you agree that I need to pursue the flooring company for this? And that potentially if they refuse to cooperate I could have the floor repaired by another company and then pursue them through the small claims court for the money I spend on the repair?

Thanks for your help
Chris
 

ALewis

Moderator
Nov 23, 2010
691
4
0
South Wales
Hi there Chris,
You are completely right with everything.

You deal with the company not the fitter.
You can if they decide to cut off communications with you, get it repaired by another company (at a reasonable price) and claim this back from original company . If they fail to pay up, take them to SCC.
 
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