Warning. Had render from The Wall Coating Company? Your insurance might be usless

[captaincinders]

Have you had render by the The Wall Coating Company (TWCC). Did you get a 20 year insurance policy for the work? Your insurance policy may be worthless.

 

I contracted with the The Wall Coating Company who (6 months and many many problems later) completed the work and sent a Guarantee certificate and an Insurance Policy Document. My insurance policy policy stated that contractor was WCC Systems Ltd.

 

The contract, work and payments are all to The Wall Coating Company, so who is WCC Systems Ltd? I have been told that The Wall Coating Company is a trading name of WCC Systems Ltd and they, but neither I, the broker and the Insurance company have any paperwork that shows that. The address and phone numbers for the Wall Coating Company are totally different to WCC Systems Ltd. I queried this with the Policy Broker and they confirmed that, because of the different names on the different paperwork, the Insurance Policy is (or could potentially be) invalid.

 

After some discussion, the broker will be sorting out he situation by amending the policy document to reflect that The Wall Coating Company is the trading name of WCC Systems Ltd.

 

So. Have you had render done by The Wall Coating Company (TWCC)? Take a close look at the part of the Insurance Policy Document which states who the Contractor is. If it says WCC Systems LTD and your guarantee certificate is by The Wall Coating Company, it may be invalid.

 

If anyone is thinking of contracting with The Wall Coating Company, be prepared for poor quality render (wonky, corners uneven, not level, not straight etc.) with the render dropped over your brand new windows and your paving slabs. Then be prepared for 6 months of trying to get the render to be put right. Eventually you may get hold of the Director Michael Richard ACKROYD who will deny any problems, accuse you of nit-picking and nagging and then threaten to send a team to remove the render from your walls.

Edited January 19, 2017 by captaincinders

[BankFodder]

Thanks for this.

 

We've had lots of trouble with wall rendering companies on this forum - https://cse.google.co.uk/cse?cx=partner-pub-8889411648654839:6449422593&ie=UTF-8&q=wall+rendering&sa=Search+CAG#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=wall%20rendering

 

Although it's gone rather quiet since the main operator and it all – Harvil Shaw – was banged up for about a couple of years – about a year or two ago. Maybe he's out now.

 

Have you got any idea who is it that runs TWCC? Where are they based?

 

Let me say that any lifetime guarantee which is offered by any company in respect of its work, is only as good as the lifetime of that company. The wall rendering companies which we have been hearing about on this forum typically lasted for a couple of years and then we folded and then mysteriously reemerged as something else with a similar name. In every one of these cases, the lifetime guarantee was useless.

 

We had quite a lot about some of these companies saying that their lifetime guarantees were insurance backed, but we have never come across anybody who checked up with the insurance to see if it was really in force and whether it would be really valid.

 

We tended to form the impression that there may not have been any insurance in place.

[BankFodder]

Doing a check on Michael Ackroyd and wall rendering turns up this:-

https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/director/18780951/michael-ackroyd

 

A succession of dissolved companies - each one in the same kind of business, dissolved 2 or three years apart.

 

Very much the same kind of pattern which we found with Harvil Shaw's companies.

 

I wonder if there is any connection between then or it might simply be a coincidence

[BankFodder]

Also, I think that you might be protected by https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300129/bis-14-693-consumer-protection-amendment-regulations-2014.pdf which I think give you a direct right of action – although I haven't looked at the regulations very carefully yet.

 

Incidentally, by making a single post in the way you have, it's pretty clear to me that you simply posted to do a hatchet job on this company without particularly looking for or expecting any help.

 

We very used to this kind of thing and it's not what we do here. If you want to discuss it and find solutions – then that's what we do

[captaincinders]

"Have you got any idea who is it that runs TWCC? Where are they based?"

 

Their address is N1 Buffalo Court, Salford Quays, Manchester. If you google the address you will find other companies including, Myhouse, Alldaypa, Matrix Student Living Ltd, The Protection Hut Ltd, Transworld, Check Ltd, Ripe Design Studios, J11 Ltd, Zorin Industries Ltd, Phat Professionals, etc etc. Basically it is not a real address, just a mail drop.

 

The same goes for the phone number. It goes to a secretary who tells you (no matter how may times you ring) that "no-one is available but someone will ring you back". It is just an answering service.

 

There is zero information about it on the web except one webpage. It is not a real company (despite its name), but I am told that it is a Trading Name for WCC Systems Ltd. I soon hope to have a document that actually says that because not a single document from TWCC nor any information on the web gives you that information.

 

"we have never come across anybody who checked up with the insurance to see if it was really in force and whether it would be really valid."

 

Fortunately I did. It is a real policy but it only comes into force if WCC Systems ltd goes out of business.

[dx100uk]

this problem rings a 'bell' ....:lol:

 

I wonder if a certain guy might come and join us..............

 

dx

[captaincinders]

My main concern was to warn people their 20 year insurance may not be valid and posted a solution. ( Check your policy and if there is an issue contact your broker who can amend the details to make it valid.) If this is the wrong place, do you have a suggestion where better to go to do that?

Edited January 19, 2017 by captaincinders

[silverfox1961]

this problem rings a 'bell' ....:lol:

 

I wonder if a certain guy might come and join us..............

 

dx

 

Doubt Mr Bell will have any interest in this case however, Mr Ackroyd was a director of All Seasons Wall Systems who used to be the main contractor to Never Paint Again. That speaks volumes.

[BankFodder]

If the issue with the insurance is simply a technical matter of the incorrect name being used when in fact it is acknowledged that the company in its alternative name is covered, then there is no issue because the FCA regulations – ICOBS make it unlawful to decline a claim on the basis of merely a technical defect.

 

If on the other hand this defect really does affect the validity of the insurance, then you would be protected by the Consumer (Protection from Unfair Trading) Regulations as amended which now confers a right of direct action upon an agrieved consumer.

 

I'm fully aware of what your main concern was.

[BankFodder]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/409334/bis-14-1030-misleading-and-aggressive-selling-rights-consumer-protection-amendment-regulations-2014-guidance.pdf