Tesup Wind Turbine not fit for purpose *** Settled at Mediation***

[steven4064]

I purchesed an AtlasX wind turbine from Tesup UK but have never been able to get it to work as it is shodilly made. It turns out that many others have had the same problem - Trustpilot.

Their customer service is non-existant so I am going to take them to court under Sections 9(1) and 9(3)(a) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015

    I have sent them an initial letter whicg complies with Civil Procedure Rules:

Dear Sirs

 

Order Number XXXXX

 

I purchased an ATLASX wind turbine S/N xxxxxxxxxxxxxx on [date]. Despite numerous e-mails and calls to TESUP, the wind turbine has never worked as the turbine is too stiff to be turned by any reasonable wind speed.

A couple of months ago, I wrote to you asking for a refund of £xxxx and for you to supply me with a return address label so that I could return the faulty turbine to you. You did not reply.

I now repeat that request. Please refund me £xxxx and provide me with an address label to return the faulty wind turbine to you.

If I do not receive a reply complying with my request within 14 days, I will send you a Letter Before Action giving you a further 14 days. If you still have not complied, I will then commence proceedings in the county court, without further communication, under Sections 9(1) and 9(3)(a) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015:

9(1)  Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.  

9       (3)  The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods     

                   (a)     fitness for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;  

        Yours sincerely

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

dates?

 

[BankFodder]

I'm not sure which civil procedure rules they are – but it looks as if you have sent a letter before claim before claim.

Why don't you tell us the date you bought this and when you first bought it to their attention.

 

[steven4064]

I sent a letter before claim before but, unfortunately, didn't keep a copy (Doh!) so I'm starting again with the 28 days (hence reference to CPR, since I seem to remember is regarded as a reasonable timescale - I havn't done this for a while! - Hi both BTW)

 

I bought it in December and have been trying to get it working ever since. Tesup's customer service is particularly useless - getting any information is like gettig blood out of a stone.

[BankFodder]

You only have to give 14 days. Stand by for a further reply tomorrow

Meanwhile please set out the bullet pointed chronology of what has happened

[BankFodder]

Still waiting for a chronology

[steven4064]

TESUP wind turbine timeline

Purchased – 19 December 2022

Delivered 29 December, minus inverter

Inverter delivered mid January

During January I had a bracket made to mount wind turbine on my house, arranged scaffolding and ran wire from consumer unit

Installed wind turbine 28 January 2023

Found turbine didn’t rotate. Thought the brake was on so e-mailed TESUP on 1 February asking about this as charge controller and inverter were different from the instructions. It seemed that the inverter wasn’t switched on

TESUP replied saying that the inverter was compatible with my installation

E-mailed back on 2 February saying that it was not possible to go through the start-up sequence in the inverter manual as there was no switch. I also sent a diagram showing how everything was connected

I got no reply to this or to several subsequent emails. There was some urgency as the scaffolder wanted to take back his scaffolding

Eventually got a reply on 9 February – my contact had apparently been off sick. So OK. I was then sent an appointment to talk to a technician on the phone for 27 February

I talked to the same contact I had been e-mailing on 27 February. The only thing she said was to remove 6 of the 12 blades from the turbine, which I did a couple of days later

This had no effect and I was told on 2 March to take 3 more off

I didn’t do this as it seemed like a ridiculous suggestion, especially as I had now been up on the scaffolding and spun the turbine. It was very stiff and made a grinding noise which I had recorded and sent to TESUP

TESUP replied with a list of points about the braking system for the turbine. I replied answering each point and thus proving that the braking system was not the problem

On 8 March I e-mailed saying that, if the issues could not be resolved in the next week, I was going to return the system (I still had scaffolding up)

TESUP replied asking for photos and videos, which I sent. They also asked for wind speed data for my area (Manchester), which I found and sent. I also sent a video taken on 8 March showing an anemometer showing wind speed of 3.5m/s and the turbine not turning (the starting windspeed is advertised as 3m/s). I also sent a recording of the noise the turbine made when spun y hand and pointing out that there was obviously something fouling inside

On 9 March I got an out-of-office reply from my contact saying I could contact a colleague if anything was urgent.

Despite further e-mails from me, this is the last response I got from TESUP

At the end of April I took the turbine down and let the scaffolder have his scaffolding back

Once I had uninstalled the turbine, I measured the torque required to get the turbine moving and it came out as 1Nm (one newton-metre). The formula for the force on a body in a wind is

F = ½ C_Dρv²

Where C_D  is the drag coefficient, ρ is the density of air (=1.225) and v is the wind speed. The blades are in pairs opposing each other so the actual force is

F = ½ (C_D1 -  C_D2 ) ρv²

where C_D1 is the drag coefficient of the concave side and C_D2 for the convex side

Thus the wind speed required is given by

V = sqrt(2F/ ρ/(C_D1  -  C_D2 ))

The wind speed is smallest when the difference in drag coefficients is biggest, which is if they were half cylinders. Putting suitable data is gives a wind speed of 6m/s to give a torque of 1 Nm. The blades are much flatter than half cylinders meaning that the starting wind speed is a lot bigger than 6m/s. Remember that the advertised starting speed is 3m/s. In fact, whilst the turbine was installed, it never turned whatever the wind speed.

The basic problem is that the turbine itself is not free to rotate as something is fouling inside.

If you look on Trust Pilot, you will see that many other have had the same problem. The TESUP wind turbine is not fit for purpose.

[steven4064]

I have now sent a letter before action:

Dear Sirs

 

Letter Before Action

 

I purchased an ATLASX wind turbine S/N xxxxxxxxxxxx on xxxxxxxx - Order Number xxxxxx. Despite numerous e-mails and calls to TESUP, the wind turbine has never worked as the turbine is too stiff to be turned by any reasonable wind speed.

 

On 7 July 2023, I wrote to you for the second time asking for a refund of £yyy and for you to supply me with a return address label so that I could return the faulty turbine to you. Again, you did not reply.

 

I now repeat that request. Please refund me £yyy and provide me with an address label to return the faulty wind turbine to you.

 

If I do not receive a reply complying with my request within 14 days, I will commence proceedings in the county court, without further communication, under Sections 9(1) and 9(3)(a) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015:

 

9(1)  Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.  

 

9(3)  The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

 

(a)     fitness for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;

 

Yours sincerely

Steven4064

[BankFodder]

I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, a couple of weeks ago – it passed me by, I don't know why.
Anyway the letter of claim looks fine.

What have been your actual losses from this supply of an unsatisfactory wind turbine?

Did you incur costs fitting it? Uninstalling it? Scaffolding?

It seems to me that if you're going to make a claim you may as well claim for all expenses which were reasonably incurred by you on the basis that it was working and up until the moment that you discover that it wasn't working and then had to remove it.

[steven4064]

Claim issued today via MCOL - details of claim:

I purchased an ATLASX wind turbine on 19 December 2022 but it has never worked.

It is not fit for purpose under Sections 9(1) and 9(3)(a) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 19/12/2022 to 26/08/2023 on £xxxxx and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of £yy.

[steven4064]

UPDATE - TESUP defended the claim and it went to mediation. I can't give the details but it was resolved to my satisfaction. Thanks for advice.

[steven4064]

UPDATE

At mediation, TESUP agreed to repay what I paid for the turbine.

However, a few days later, I got an e-mail saying that the technical department said there was no manufacturing defect (apparently, they don't consider not working as a defect - but I digress)

they were not going to refund my money.

I don't know what part of "legally binding agreement" they don't understand but I submitted an Application Notice for judgement in my favour.

I have now received confirmation that the court has found in my favour.

We will wait and see what happens next.

[BankFodder]

Amazing. How much is the judgement for? Including the fee for your application notice and any other costs

[steven4064]

I think the terms of the mediation agreement mean that I shouldn't say. It's a reasonable amout though. The real issue is how a company can be so dumb.

[dx100uk]

mediation failed 

you can disclose what you like.

you've got judgement now?

so send in the BAILIFFS.

dx

 

 

[BankFodder]

By Reneging on the mediation agreement they have visited the confidentiality agreement and you are entitled to disclose anything you want

[steven4064]

The claim was for just over £2,000 plus £108 application costs.

I only get the notice of judgement yesterday and, because it was without a hearing, they have the right to apply to have the judgement set aside (it won't do them any good), which they have to do by the 15th.

The judgementg didn't give any timescales for them to pay but I presume it is 14 days. THEN I will send in the bailifs.

[BankFodder]

The judgement is for more than 600 pounds and therefore you should instruct high court in forcement officers and not bailiffs.

Start having a look at high Court enforcement officer websites and standby for a further reply tomorrow

[dx100uk]

the sheriff office

 

 

[steven4064]

Thanks - yes I know to instruct High Court Enforcement Officers rather than bailiffs - I already have it in hand, just waiting to give them chance to pay up after the judgement was issued

The judgement arrived on Saturday, today is the first working day after for TESUP to receive it.

I am half expecting them to contact me to ask to reopen the case so they can prove in court that there is no manufacturing defect! We will see. (To be clear - I won't).

[steven4064]

I have now applied for a Writ of Control - currently MCOL has 9-week waiting time

 

 

[AndyOrch]

Nice to see old Site Team hope your keeping well steven.

 

Andy

[steven4064]

Hi Andy

Yes, doing well, thanks. You too?

 

Steven

[AndyOrch]

Yes thank you all good still fighting the fight

[steven4064]

I just had a look and it's 11 years since I left the Site Team - doesn't time fly when you're having fun!