Problem with a conservatory. Advice needed.

[Oliver220704]

This could be a very long story but I will try and keep it as short as possible.

 

About 6 months ago we decided to have a conservatory built. After receiving several quotes we opted to go with a local company who had an excellent reputation and had been in business for over 25 years and who built my parents conservatory and they were very impressed both with the actual conservatory but also with the excellent customer service they had received.

 

One of the main reasons we went with this particular company was because they told us that they would sort everything out for us, from all the building work, glazing work, plumbing work, electric work and everything else.

 

This appealed to us because we just wanted one company to do everything for us.

 

Anyway, after the building work was finished my brother in law who is a builder came to have a look to make sure everything was OK. He spotted several problems with the building work, some quite serious.

 

Needless to say we brought these to the attention of the company who apologised and offered to take £500 off of our bill. We refused this initial offer and they then increased this to £1000 which we accepted.

 

Everything was fine for a few months until the 28th of December when we started having problems with our toilet. To cut a long story short we had a blockage in our soil pipe.

 

The soil pipe concerned was one that we had to have re-sited because where it was before it would have been inside the conservatory so we decided rather than leave it where it was and have it boxed in we wanted it moving.

 

The company arranged for this for us but told us that they had allowed £150.00 for this in our quote so if it cost any extra we would have to pay the plumbing company direct.

 

We were more than happy to do this because as far as we were concerned they were the plumbers for this company who we trusted and were the ones who told us they would do everything for us.

 

The plumbers completed the job and we paid them £180.00 directly rather than through the conservatory company.

 

Anyway, back to the blocked soil pipe. I actually spent a full day trying to sort the problem out myself but was unable to do so. I then contacted the conservatory company and told them of the problem to see if they could help.

 

They told me that as it was Saturday the 29th of December they would not be able to get hold of anybody to come out but they assured me that the following day was a normal working day for them so they would definitely get somebody to come out and have a look.

 

By 11.00am the next day when I had not heard anything I called them myself and they told me they would get hold of sombody to come and have a look and get back to me.

 

This continued for most of the day with me making several phone calls only to be told that were trying to sort something out. I explained that we had not been able to use our toilet for over 24 hours and as we had a 3 year old boy this was unacceptable.

 

They then told me that they were not drainage experts and would therefore not be able to help me. At this stage I told them that if they were unable to rectify the problem I would have to arrange for somebody to come and fix the problem and I would be passing the costs on to them. They told me that was up to me.

 

I therefore called DynoRod to come and fix the problem as I did not want to go any longer without access to a toilet.

 

DynoRod came out but informed me that they could not do anything because they could not get access to the drains because they were underneath the conservatory and he had no had no access to them.

 

This was despite the conservatory company telling us that a trap door would be fitted in the conservatory giving us access should we need to get to the drains.

 

DynoRod charged us £217.00 for the pleasure of letting us know they couldn't do anything.

 

The next day I apoke to the conservatory people again and told them what had happened and asked them to come and try and sort the problem out for us. They once again told me quite categorically that we did have a trap door fitted and by now their attitude was one that was as far as they were concerned this was not their problem and we would have to sort it out ourselves.

 

I told them I was happy to do this but if the problems were their fault they would have to reimburse us any costs incurred.

 

We had now been without a toilet for 3 days so we wanted this sorting out immediately. We therefore arranged for a Surveyor to come out and look at the conservatory and the plumbing work.

 

The surveyor very kindly came out on New Years Day and basically had to saw a hole in our conservatory floor because there was not a trap door fitted despite their insistence that there was one.

 

We then found that there was a leak underneath the conservatory caused by the building and plumbing work and the surveyor told us that the standard of the work carried out was shocking and we even had electric cables resting in the waste that was leaking out of the soil pipe.

 

Overall he told us that standard of the work was totally unacceptable.

 

For his services we received an invoice for £405.37. This meant that we were now over £600.00 out of pocket.

 

The following day was the 2nd of January when the offices of the conservatory company were finally open again so I could go and see them face to face to try and resolve the matter.

 

They told me that they would come to my house the next day with the builder and the plumber to try and sort it out.

 

After talking the problem through the conservatory people agreed that they would sort the problem out for us.

 

We received a letter the next day which included the following quotes:

 

"We should like to apologise unreservedly for the situation in which you have found yourselves and assure you that we shall resolve the problem as a matter of urgency.

 

We would be grateful if you would forward copies of any receipts detailing expenditure incurred by yourselves in attempting to resolve this problem in order that we can reimburse you."

 

Also on this day the builders came and fixed the drains so that after 6 days we could finally use the toilet in our own home.

 

In doing so they had to dig up our patio to put in a new manhole so that all the drains were now outside the conservatory so we would have access to them if we had any further problems.

 

We were told that the builders would be back in a couple of days to tidy up and finish the job.

 

We had now received invoices from the surveyor and from DynoRod so as requested in their letter, on the 17th of January I sent them copies of the invoices requesting payment within 7 days as we had already paid these invoices in full. I also told them that I wanted the building work which they had started 2 weeks ago completing

 

After making several phone calls the builders finally came round and have now completed the building work to my satisfaction.

 

However I have still not received a reply to letter dated the 17th of January and I am still waiting for a cheque for reimbursment of our costs which they told me they would refund in their letter of the 3rd of January.

 

I am now thinking of taking this matter to the Small Claims Court as they have told us that they will refund us our costs but they have not done so yet and they appear to be ignoring my letters and phone calls.

 

I would appreciate it if anybody could give me any advice on where we stand legally.

 

Would we have a case should we proceed to the Small Claims Court?

 

In my letter to them I have also suggested that we should be entitle to some form of compensation for all the hassle that this has caused us. How do you go about claiming compensation in a situation like this?

 

I am also worried that they may try getting out of this by passing on the blame to their builders and plumbers who they sub-contracted the work out to.

 

As far as I am concerned we have a contract with them and not with their subcontractors so they are responsible for any problems and it is up to them to sort them out.

 

Am I right in thinking this?

 

Sorry for going on and please feel free to ask any questions and I will reply as soon as possible.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nick.

[Michael Browne]

Seems to me you have an open and shut case. They have admitted their error in writing, have done the remedial work and offered to pay the expenses you incurred which were a direct result of their initial refusal.

 

Send (or preferably take) a Letter Before Action stating that unless you receive payment within 14 days you will issue a claim in the County Court.

 

As for compensation, if this was the only toilet in your house, it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for compensation for loss of use of a basic amenity

[Oliver220704]

Thanks for your reply.

 

I certainly think it is an open and shut case but sadly they don't.

 

I have received a letter from them today saying that the problem has been caused due to poor work from the plumber.

 

When we first decided to have the soil pipe resited they told me that they had not budgeted for that in their quote. Their quote was for leaving the pipe where it was and boxing it in.

 

However, they told me that they could arrange to have the soil pipe moved. What they told me was they could get a plumber in for us and they would pay him £150.00 which is what it would have cost them to simply box the pipe in and that I would simply have to pay any costs over £150.00 direct to the plumber.

 

We agreed to this as far as we were concerned the plumber was working for Global and we had no reason to doubt that the work would be carried out without any problem.

 

When the work was completed we paid the plumber £180.00 direct.

 

The conservatory company are now telling me that this means the contract for any work carried out was between me and the plumber and had nothing to do with them.

 

I believe that this may technically be the case but at no time were we told we could get our own plumber in. We were simply told this is the plumber who will be doing the work and we wll pay half of the money and you will have to pay the other half.

 

I believe that this makes it a grey area. I would appreciate any advice on what the law is with regards to this.

 

Anyway, regardless of if the work carried out by the plumber caused the problem or not I believe the real problem is 100% the fault of the conservatory company.

 

The main reason we have had such problems is becuase we had no access to our inspection chamber which they built the conservatory over. They told us when they were designing the conservatory that there would be a trap door in the floor so we could gain access should we have any problem with a blocked drain.

 

When the problem occured they told me repeatedly that we had a trap door in the floor. It turns out that they lied to me as we never had a trap door fitted.

 

If we had a trap door we could have gained access to the inspection chamber and simply rodded the drains ourselves and the problem would have been solved without any problems.

 

It was because we had no access that we were forced to call out DynoRod and eventually the surveyor.

 

I therefore believe that they haven't got a leg to stand on because they have not left us with any kind of access.

 

I have been trying to find out about building regulations with regards to building over manholes and inspection chambers and from the little that I have been able to find on the internet and from what I can find everything tells me that they should not have built over the inspection chamber in the first place let alone left us with no access to it.

 

I would be grateful if anybody could let me know what the law is with regards to building over inspection chambers. When DynoRod came out they told me that it was illegal to build over manholes or inspection chambers and not leave access.

 

Is this true??????

 

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

[uPVC-Man]

Hi Oliver

I am a conservatory divisional manager for a national company of over forty years. (The 'Best' one;) )

Assuming that the soil waste pipe and manhole cover is private and not public (it's in your garden and you're responsible for any problems with it), then the company contracted to build the conservatory over the above pipes etc are responsible for providing access through the conservatory floor or to move the manhole outside the unit. The only way they can wriggle out of their responsibility is to have you signed an indemnity document switch responsibility...

The plumber is only responsible for the work you paid him for.

The trapdoor is called a 'raise and seal'... Raised to the conny floor level and sealed!

Any waste pipes beneath the founds should have bridging lintels over them to protect them from crushing.

Good Luck