URGENT- Howdens are trying to make us pay twice

Hi. I know Howden's are trade suppliers and consumer law does not apply in the same way but I am hoping you can help.

We agreed on a design done in the warehouse back in November (thankfully we haven't paid a penny yet but it will go on our account). At the time we made it painfully clear that we did not want missing units and mistakes so what could we do to avoid this. They said order it early have it delivered early and check it so we can fix any problems before fitting. We did this and now we are missing the pull out wire component that goes inside our tower larder unit. In their defence nothing else appears to be wrong... However, when we approached the office they said that the wire unit was not in the original 'pick list' and it was our responsibility to check this. The unreasonable thing is that the catalogue they supply does not provide codes or prices for all the products (only some) so you are responsible but you are not given the information to base your checks on... Also the codes used when buying are different to those on the delivery note.

Now the designer and assistant manager have admitted to the mistake but are demanding almost £200 for the wire pull out and are arguing that 'it is your word against his' and 'we are being reasonable by offering a good discount'.

Obviously this was the mistake of the designer that forgot to add the pull out to the list and hence to the quote but we had agreed to pay the price on the premise that the unit included the pull-out. We haggled but could have pushed it further, we felt it was a fair price (they only applied 50-65% discount in all items and I know they regularly offer 85%). What they are asking us to pay raises the overall cost by 10%!!

Can they get away with refusing to supply the unit based in the fact that it was not on the pick list? Does this classify as 'not as described' within our statutory rights? Are they breaching the terms of our contract since the agreement was verbal and no paperwork was ever signed or approved by us?

We are happy with what we have and can't afford to reschedule the fitting (next week) so what will happen if I fit it? Do I have the legal obligation to still pay the balance despite receiving an incomplete order?

We are trying to arrange a meeting with the depot manager who has been described as 'not very lenient' by the asst. manager and being prepared would be useful. Your advice would be much appreciated. Thanks is advance.

Thanks for your reply.

Well, we checked with consumer direct and they said in our case he 'thought' that the differences in our case are very few (i.e. between trade & public) but could not give us much useful info, just recommended to mention our statutory rights and send a letter to head office.

They call it an estimate but the sales man designed the kitchen and added the items to the list himself, at no point was it up to us to look at a comprehensive list of items and tell him what we wanted by calling out codes or similar. We did ask if everything was included (fixings, cornice, plinth, etc...) and he said not to worry cause he would make sure he added everything we needed. He did ask things like 'Do you want wood filler?' so little things like that were on the list as extras that needed to be paid for. That is the list that was ordered so I suppose it became a quote... we were never given anything to sign or check.

Since we asked for a pull out larder and the estimate read '300mm larder tower unit' we assumed that was the complete item because the other 2x 200mm pull out units we ordered also came on the estimate as one item only, not a unit and inside as separates. These have arrived with no problems.

I have the meeting with asst. manager (they have said there is no point in meeting with the manager as it will not change anything) on Tues and I am aiming to go Citizens Advice tomorrow. Anything you recommend me to ask?

Thanks.