Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982
The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 aims to protect consumers against bad workmanship or the poor provision of services. It covers contracts for work and materials, as well as contracts for pure services, and remember, this still applies even in everyday situations – such as going to the hairdressers or the dry cleaners – where you have no physical contract at all. Just as with Sale of Goods, Supply of Goods and Services legislation contains statutory rights, which don’t have to be specifically mentioned in any contract, but cannot be excluded. These are:
- That the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill
- That the work will be carried out in reasonable time (unless timeframe has been specifically agreed)
- That the work will be carried out at reasonable cost (unless cost has been specifically agreed)
The legislation also details the remedies which are available to consumers in the event that any one of these statutory terms are breached. These can be found in the following sections.
Common complaints:
- He was a complete cowboy!
- They are taking forever to do the work!
- It cost me a fortune!
- The price was significantly higher than the estimate
- The job was done as a ‘foreigner’. Do I have any rights?
- How much can I claim in damages?
How can I resolve the situation?
Using the Small Claims Court
Related posts:
Hi,
As a recipient of a disability allowance my home was assessed as part of the Governments Warmfront scheme. I had cavity wall insulation fitted and a new boiler also which I paid a percentage towards. The condense pipe on my new boiler was incorrently fitted, drew in rainwater and subsequently flooded the boiler and my kichen…..the result of standing water (I was away at the time)has blown the electrics and has impacted on a large area of wooden floor too. I have noted recent adverse publicity re this scheme and as Government providers are they also subject to the Supply of Goods and Services Act? Is there a restriction if some funding is granted? If I have lost faith in the installers who seem to think that they have the absolute right to pick up the remedial repair work, do I have to us them?
Dee, yes your statutory rights will always apply where you are dealing with traders. Unfortunately you do have to give the original traders the opportunity to put the work right in the first instance, but make it clear that if anything else is found to be faulty you have the right to commission alternative traders and recover the cost through the small claims court. Insist on an assessment of their work after they have finished, the traders should be members of a trade body you can also contact.
There was water leaking from underneath pavement part of our shop. We rang Thames Water who recommended a company called Leakbuster. We invited Leakbuster to come to repair the leak. Another company called Blocked Drains Uk which we never spoke to or heard of came. Blocked Drains UK charged £450.00. They took 3 days to change the burst pipe and charged a further £1180.00. We paid them a total of £1630.00. They put the tarmac on but it is not finished. The tarmac is uneven. The surface is uneven. There is a block of concrete that is uneven and is dangerous because any member of public could trip over. There are ten bags of dirt rubbish they dug up and those bags are just left there. They put cones over the work. We have telephoned them to return to do the tarmac properly but they refused and want a further £400.00 paid in advance. We wrote to them to give them one month to do the tarmac but they have not replied to our letter. We have asked another plumbling company to give an independent estimate of the cost and they came up with £1280.00 which is £350.00 cheaper than what Blocked Drains UK charged us. Blocked Drains Uk is a member of NRSWA. We do not know what NRSWA stands for. On the invoice my collegue signed there is a small print which reads “I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE INFORMATION HEREWITH AND MY SIGNATURE ABOVE CONFIRMS MY FULL SATISFACTION WITH THE WORK CARRIED OUT AND THE CHARGES MADE ACCORDINGLY.” What can we do?
Mr Cee, NRSWA stands for New Roads and Street Works Act, it is not a trade body so I can’t see how they can be ‘members’ of it! The fact that you have signed this piece of paper cannot overrule your statutory rights under the Supply of Goods and Services. Write to them giving them reasonable notice to get the rest of the work done, or you will contract an alternative supplier and pursue them for the additional costs through the small claims court. See the section on making a small claim on this site for more info about this.
I recently signed a contract for my daughter’s nursery place and she attended for two weeks before I removed her due to her coming home with soaking wet nappies, hungry and a filthy face not to mention very unhappy. I paid the nursery for the time she has been there but they want me to pay for the months notice period even though I have not taken her back there. They have asked for £750.00. I have had to place her elsewhere immediately as I work full time and she is now happy, content and clean. Should I have to pay them???
We purchased a brand new van from volkswagon in 2007 within this time we have had 2 new engines, 5 turbo replacements and various otr faults which have caused the van to be of the road for many days the van has done 54000 miles.
We did take them to court and settled through arbitration and agreed a 3000pound credit note to be used with there services the court case finished 2 months ago . we have had a full service on the van 4 weeks ago and yet again required another turbo 2 weeks later. then only 3 days after this they have had to replace the engine again.
Can anyone advise what our position is to hand the van back?
What were the terms of the settlement
Hi tony we took them to court for the loss of work caused by the van being of the road as it is specially fitted. we worked the costings out at a day rate but made sure we only claimed for the downtime for the second repair ie if a turbo failed, then failed again within a short period of time we claimed for the amount of days the van was of the road for that second repair not the first.so thats what the settlement was for days lost the original claim was for 5000 but we came to an agreement. but since this we are back to the same position again. we have had enough of the van as it is to unreliable and will be looking at taking them to court about the vehicle this time.
hello,
I would appreciate some advice re. a problem with exterior doors. We ordered a set of bifold doors from a UK manufacturer to fit to an extension that we had built on the side of the house. We informed them on the phone of the purpose of the doors – to be fitted as exterior doors to an extension.
We received a quote, and some drawings, one drawing showing the doors from the outside of the building – clearly showing a door handle, a lock and two arrows indicating door opening. After the doors were fitted by our builder, we found that the doors can not be opened from the outside. We have already tried mediation with the manufacturers who claim that we did not ask if the doors would open from the outside. We have also tried to get redress from the credit card company under the supply of goods and sales Act 1982 and the Consumer credit act 1974, but the credit card company has rejected our dispute.
We feel that it is reasonable to expect a set of doors to open from both sides, and feel aggrieved with both the manufacturers and the credit card company. We don’t really want to take the matter to the small claims court but don’t know what else to do. Do we have a good case here or not? What do you advise us to do? Is the credit card company right to reject our dispute? Many thanks in advance. Grace
Hi,I contracted with Air Works plc for the supply and installation of an air-conditioning system for my flat. I paid £7,500 for the supply and installation. I signed Air Works plc’s standard term contract, which contained, inter alia, the following term:
“Air Works plc accepts no liability for any loss damage or injury to person or property caused by the installation and/or use of this air-conditioning unit.”
Air Works delivered the air-conditioning unit and installed it in my kitchen. Air works connected the unit to a vent in the outside wall of the flat by a short pipe running from the unit to the vent.
Air Works had not removed a stopper from the short pipe when the unit was installed (the stopper was there to keep the pipe clean during transport). This caused a build-up of moisture in the unit, leading to a short-circuit.
In consequence of the short-circuit, the unit caught fire, causing considerable damage to my kitchen. I was at home at the time of the fire, and i suffered injury by smoke-inhalation.
What terms or terms implied by that act might assist me?
and also whether Air Works plc will be able to avoid any liability to me for my injury or for the damage to his kitchen in reliance on the above term???
any help will be appricated as i am arguin my own case, Thank you