Manchead - Triton shower problem

[manchead]

Hi

 

I recently had an visit from an triton engineer to fix my faulty shower and the engineer refused to do the job as he said there was limited access to the shower unit. I was a bit tricky but another elctrician has agreed to do the job. I thought a full refund would be issued but they said that they could only issue a partial refund and to get this a letter would need to be written. It was an absolute joke to be honest.

 

It seems like you had a similiar problem.

 

I am currently writing this letter and wandered if you please give me any tips or maybe even email me the letter so that I could see whats makes a successful letter of complaint.

 

Regards

 

James

[slick132]

Hi Manchead and welcome to CAG

 

I've moved your post into your own thread to avoid hijacking.

 

I assume you paid for the engineer's visit in advance so you now need to seek a full refund. You should write to Triton's HO along the following lines:-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

Engineer's visit on xxdate

 

Your engineer attended to repair my shower unit but refused to carry out any work, saying there was limited access.

 

I called in another electrician who carried out the repair successfully with no problem regarding access.

 

When I spoke to you by phone on xxdate, I was told I would only be entitled to a partial refund and that I would have to put my request in writing.

 

Because your engineer did no work at all, I now require a full refund of the amount paid by debit card on xxdate in the sum of £xx.xx.

 

I will not accept a partial refund and, if you refuse to refund in full within 14 days, I will take County Court action to recover the fee paid, court fees and Statutory Interest.

 

I look forward to your prompt reply.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Send the letter by Recorded Delivery and keep a copy of all letters. Do not deal with this by phone. Keep a copy of the invoice from the firm that carried out the repair.

 

If they fail to refund within 14 days, you can send the same letter, headed LETTER BEFORE ACTION. If they fail to refund within a further 14 days, you can issue County Court action using form N1. We can help with this if necessary.

 

8-)

[manchead]

Hi Slick thanks for the help and for moving my post.

 

I've nearly finished the letter but just a 2nd opinion would be good. So if you could just have a quick read through and tell me what you think that would much appreciated

 

cheers

 

 

To Mr Jacobs

 

I am writing to complain about the Triton engineer visit on Thursday 24th March. I have had the Triton shower for around 6 years and have been pleased that it has worked perfectly well throughout this time. However I have become dissatisfied with the level of service I received during the visit of a triton engineer.

 

After calling Triton on Monday 21st March to explain the problem with the shower, the Triton employee recommended arranging the visit of an engineer and implied that the problem would be fixed. This as stated on the website would cost £148 which would include labour and spare parts.

 

When the engineer Mxxxxxxxd arrived I assisted him in finding a parking space. After we had met in the car park, Mr xxxxxx spent several minutes questioning me about the problem with the unit and whether the access to it was good enough to be able to do the job. He already sounded rather sceptical about doing the job and I almost had to convince him to come and have a look at the unit for himself. Having inspected the unit, Mrxxxxxx said that he could see two or three problems with it but was reluctant to do the job. He said that although he could fix it, he did not have enough time to do it. He declared that the company allocates only an hour for each job and that he had had already spent half of that hour trying to find and the property. Mr xxxxxx left approximately 5 minutes after he had arrived at the property, having refused to do the job and reassured that the company would issue a refund (a full, not a partial refund).

 

At no point during the engineer visit did I feel he was prepared to undertake the work needed. Also, it was only after contacting the company when I found out that the engineer had claimed that the unit was ‘inaccessible’ (and therefore that I was only liable to a partial refund as stated in the terms and conditions) – whilst at the property, the only issue for Mr Sandford seemed to be the time.

 

Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 you should carry out the service with reasonable care and skill and for a reasonable price using parts that are both of satisfactory quality and fit for their purpose.

I feel that only a full refund would suffice due to level of service I received and the fact I had to take a day off work to be able give the engineer access to the property.

 

Yours Faithfully

[manchead]

Cheers

[manchead]

Thanks

[manchead]

If anyone else has a similar problem give me a shout

[slick132]

Hi Manc,

 

I've shortened it, changed a few bits and added the request for compensation for your time off work. Claim for 1 day's pay based on your gross daily pay, pro rata.

 

To Mr Jacobs

 

I am writing to complain about the Triton engineer visit on Thursday 24th March. I am very disappointed about the poor service I received.

 

After calling Triton on Monday 21st March to explain the problem with the shower, the Triton employee arranged the visit of an engineer to repair unit at a cost of £148 which would include labour and spare parts.

 

When the engineer Mxxxxxxxd arrived I helped him find a parking space. In the car park, Mr xxxxxx spent several minutes questioning me about the unit and whether access to it was good enough to be able to do the job. He already sounded rather sceptical about doing the job and I almost had to convince him to come in and look at the unit for himself. Having inspected the unit, Mrxxxxxx said that he could see two or three problems with it and was reluctant to do the job.

 

He said that although he could fix it, he did not have enough time to do so. He said the company allocates only an hour for each job and that he had had already spent half of that hour trying to find, and park at, the property. Mr xxxxxx left approximately 5 minutes later, saying he couldn't do the job and reassured that the company would make a full refund.

 

Before even seeing the unit, the engineer seemed unwilling to carry out the repair, due to his limited time. Only when I contacted Triton did I learn that the engineer reported that the unit was ‘inaccessible’ and, for this reason, I was only due a partial refund of the £148 fee.

 

In the circumstances, I require a full refund of the fee paid of £148 plus compensation for the day's leave I took, to allow access, of £xx making a total of £xxx.

 

If you fail to refund as requested within 14 days, I will take County Court action to recover my losses including the refund, compensation for my days leave, court fees plus Statutory Interest.

 

I look forward to your prompt reply.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

8-)

[perplexity]

You could lose the action because the Sale of Goods Act [Part 5A] is clear enough:

 

(3) The buyer must not require the seller to repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods if that remedy is—

 

(a) impossible, or

 

(b) disproportionate in comparison to the other of those remedies, or

 

© disproportionate in comparison to an appropriate reduction in the purchase price under paragraph (a), or rescission under paragraph (b), of section 48C(1) below.

Also:

 

(5) If the buyer has claimed to rescind the contract the court may order that any reimbursement to the buyer is reduced to take account of the use he has had of the goods since they were delivered to him.

It is also possible that you could win, technically, but not be awarded the costs.

[slick132]

Hi Perplexity,

 

Can you explain what you mean in the context of this particular case.

 

The OP has paid for a service including labour and materials which the repairer failed to carry out. OP therefore wants the fee refunded along with comp'n for lost wages. I don't follow your reasoning.

 

Thanks.

[perplexity]

I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but my understanding is that Triton's service is essentially an After Sales Service, so the starting point is the terms to cover the original purchase, the consumer protection legislation plus whatever a general warranty may have had to offer.

 

While it is then a mystery to me what exactly the "would cost £148" would allude to, this from Triton's terms and conditions is not so hard to spot:

 

Once inside your property, if any serviceable part of your appliance has been installed in an area where it is inaccessible and our engineer cannot gain clear and safe access, or it has not been installed in accordance with the user instructions, or the product has not been manufactured by Triton, we reserve the right to retain an inspection fee of £68 and refund the remainder of the fee.

 

 

Apart from Sale of Goods Act [Part 5A], perhaps, I fail to see what the grounds for an action are to be.

[slick132]

Hi Perplexity and thanks for the further info.

 

I was looking at this from the viewpoint that the Triton Eng'r seemed pushed for time from the outset, so used the "inaccessibility" excuse to justify not doing the repair. In this circumstance, OP is not entitled to the full refund and is left having to pay the Inspection Fee of £68.

 

As the repair was successfully carried out by another (non-Triton) engineer without problems, it would appear that the unit WAS accessible.

 

Accordingly, OP was treated unfairly, was charged £68 and lost a day's pay. I think OP should at least have a go at getting the full refund and compensation for the lost pay.

 

If Triton refuse, then consideration should be given as to whether OP has sufficient cause of action to proceed to court.

 

8-)

[perplexity]

If the complaint is that Triton's terms and conditions were unfair to start with, the ground would be this, which is especially defined as an unfair term, by Schedule 2 of The Unfair Terms in Contracts Regulations 1999:

 

(m) giving the seller or supplier the right to determine whether the goods or services supplied are in conformity with the contract, or giving him the exclusive right to interpret any term of the contract;

-----

 

The course of action should then be to refer the matter to Trading Standards, because of the general nature of the complaint, with every potential customer affected. Since the advent of the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 a criminal prosecution of this as a criminal offence is a serious possibility, while the opportunity to claim against the company remains in the mean time.

 

If all you do is claim a relief by arguing about facts of the particular instance, you could lose the action and watch them walk away.

[slick132]

Thanks Perplexity for the further useful input.

 

You've saved me some research time - it would've taken me ages to find the correct section of the CPUTR.

 

You are right saying court action is more likely to succeed if the appropriate legislation is used to support court action.

 

8)