Can someone please help me on this one.....

I ordered a set of stairs off my local howdens joinery depot. When the stairs were delivered to our new house they were taken in through our patio doors (which had only been fitted 2 hours previous!) & dragged over the bottom of the frame causing the mahogany finish to be friction melted off down to the white upvc frame.

When i phoned howdens Chepstow(local branch i ordered from), all the branch manager could say was "you've gotta get in touch with the delivery company (MJP Couriers, Merthyr Tydfil), its nothing to do with howdens!

After many phone calls to the courier and howdens, i have reached a stalemate with the courier... All he is prepared to pay for is the replacement frame(£120) without the cost of getting it fitted(£170). All he is saying is..."It seems expensive for a patio door frame to be supplied & fitted" & " i cant prove his drivers caused the damage!!!!

I dont know where to go with this from now on as i dont really want to go down the small claims court route.

What i really need to know is, do i have a case to go back to howdens with? (as they supplied the stairs in the first instance)

I really dont feel i'm going to get any further with the delivery company due to the bad reports i have heard(even from howdens themselves!!!) about the company owner since this problem started (Delivery date Jan 23rd 2010)

Just to add to the misery, the stairs had to go back to Howdens Joinery as they would not fit into the stairwell opening!!!

Any help and advice on this one would be GREATLY appreciated!

Hi Paul and welcome to CAG:)

When you arranged delivery did Howdens tell you that another company would be delivering? If not then your claim should be with Howdens. You chose Howdens to supply the door and it was Howdens who sub-contracted the delivery to a third party.

We ordered something from Currys and DHL delivered and put items in wheelie bin. The items went missing. We complained to Currys who in turn claimed off DHL.

Hi Paul and welcome to CAG:)

 

When you arranged delivery did Howdens tell you that another company would be delivering? If not then your claim should be with Howdens. You chose Howdens to supply the door and it was Howdens who sub-contracted the delivery to a third party.

 

We ordered something from Currys and DHL delivered and put items in wheelie bin. The items went missing. We complained to Currys who in turn claimed off DHL.

Thanks for replying wino!

When i ordered from howdens they did not say anything about a third party delivering the stairs.

As strange as this may sound, i had a phone call out of the blue from the branch manager this afternoon saying the problem will be sorted out fully by the end of the week!!! Anyone know if howdens MD's or senior staff visit this forum???

As it stands, i'm not going to play the fault card at the mo'.

I cant say too much right now, but i will let you know the outcome if/when it happens! Should know more by end of week.

When you arranged delivery did Howdens tell you that another company would be delivering? If not then your claim should be with Howdens. You chose Howdens to supply the door and it was Howdens who sub-contracted the delivery to a third party.

Whether they told you, or not, in my opinion the couriers were contracted by Howdens, not by you. Therefore it is up to Howdens to put the matter right, then, if appropriate, claim against the couriers, themselves.

A lot of companies now view these forums on a regular basis, so maybe you've shamed them into action.

Please let us know the outcome of this.

Regards, Rooster.

Cheers Rooster!

Will let you know the outcome and the reasons behind it as soon as it happens....hopefully by friday!

Good news!

After going back to Howdens saying that my dispute was with them not the courier company, i am pleased to say that my window & door suppliers received a cheque from the courier last week and it has cleared! Result = New door frame ordered today.

Many thanks to all that replied to my question!

Lesson learnt by me with this problem? Become a poop that doesn't flush!

Nice to hear.Will move your thread.

Well done