ColdSeal - Poorly fitted upvc windows - offered full refund then rescinded - now threatening court for payment

[BankFodder]

You haven't responded to my understanding that they have seen the quotations – and commented – or not commented

[bittersweet]

They have the report but not responded as yet

 

Sorry no they have not seen the quotes for replacing windows

[BankFodder]

You also haven't responded to my question about the review which you apparently placed and they want removed.



 

[bittersweet]

I did remove the review as requested.

 

Thank you

[BankFodder]

But where was the review placed? I did ask you this.

Why did you remove it? How long ago?
Would you like to show us what the review said please.

[bittersweet]

It was on trustpilot, and I removed it, shortly after Ben offered the refund, it just said I was upset because I had not received my refund, it was only a short review.

 

Thank you

[BankFodder]

But you didn't receive your refund so why haven't you replaced it? It obviously matters to them.

So the situation here is that they threaten you with legal action to recover about £4000.
The cost of replacing everything is about £6700 or something.
They haven't seen the quotations.

If they go ahead and sue you – which seems to me unlikely as they have seen the report, then it also seems to me that they have only a very slim chance of success. On the basis of what you have told us and on the basis of the report I would say that you have a much better than 80% chance of success.
Furthermore, we would advise you to counterclaim for the cost of undoing their shabby work and replacing it with something, hopefully of a better quality.

The counterclaim would also include other costs including the costs of the surveyors report. You paid £360. I understand that you asked them several times to carry out a report and they either refused or didn't respond. It seems therefore to me that you were justified in commissioning your own report and on the basis that the report has proved that you were correct it is reasonable to expect them to pay the bill for it.
The only mistake that you made was that you didn't alert them in advance that you are going to seek a report that they would be held liable for the cost. So they didn't have an opportunity to object or to comment on your proposal to spend money which you eventually were going to recover from them.
I should advise you that it is good practice but also it is good defensive strategy to let the other side know whenever you are going to commission reports, quotations, or work which might eventually result in you requiring them to indemnify you for the cost.

You have obtained two quotes. How long ago was this?
 

[bittersweet]

The higher quote was 23/01/23, the one I am going with was 23/07/23

[BankFodder]

You haven't explained why you didn't replace the report.

In English law, if one is going to begin a claim, one normally begins a claim to recover money which has been spent.

You haven't spent the money get so if you are making a claim, the only money you could go for the moment would be your deposit money. I know it seems ridiculous but that's the way the court works. Although we can say that there was already a loss of value in terms of the chassis installation by Coldseal, it is simply value – but not money.

You will be best off spending the money in advance having the replacement carried out and then claim the money which has been spent.

On the basis of what you have told us, I would say that your chances of success are much better than 90% if you began the claim against them. I can imagine that they would probably put their hands up in order to avoid expense, publicity and damage to reputation on a case that they were likely to lose.
However, they might decide to go on the defensive and put in their own counterclaim for their outstanding money.

Certainly you have to disclose your two quotations to them. Why haven't you disclose them so far? And I'm very curious to know why is there such an extraordinary discrepancy in the proposed price of each quotation. Have you any idea?

And it would be helpful if you could answer all the questions at one time.

I think you first posted about nine hours ago and this is about the 27th message in our exchange and the whole time really has just been spent trying to drag bits of detail out of you.
 

[bittersweet]

There is no reason why I did not show them the quotes, trying to get them to communicate was not easy. 

I did not think I would be able to claim anything for the extra money, also communication has not been easy, they were constantly sending me round in circles,  so yes I am coming across in all angels, the experience with them has not been good.

sorry for any confusion

I did not replace the review as I hoped all would come good with them.

 

Thank you

[BankFodder]

And you still haven't told us why you didn't replace the review. Is it a secret?

I think the first thing you have to do is to send them the quotes.

I would suggest the following:

Quote

Dear Ben, thank you for your recent letter.

You've seen the survey. Don't threaten me. And also don't make your comments about who owns the windows which you installed with its undertones of a veiled threat that you might come along and remove them.

You know that your firm carried out a shabby job and the survey bears that out.

If you want, you know where I live. Get your own independent inspector, make an appointment and I'll be pleased to show them round.

You say that you're going to sue me. Let's do it and we will show all the reports to the judge. This is been going on for a year so it's about time that we brought things to a head.

I'm enclosing two quotes for the work of removing your poor standard installation and replacing it with an installation which matches the scheme which you and I had originally agreed – both in terms of materials and also quality of installation.

One of those is pretty expensive and I'm prepared to go for the cheaper one – but you had better make comments pretty quickly.

I'm waiting for your County Court claim form. Don't worry about a letter of claim and 14 day protocol et cetera. Simply issue the claim. I'm happy to defend and also to counterclaim against you.

Also, I removed a very mild review at your request on the basis that you are going to refund me my deposit. I carried out my part of the bargain and you didn't carry out yours.

This seems to be standard practice for the way your firm operates.

You can be certain that after you have tried to sue me and I get judgement in my favour plus the costs which I shall be claiming in my counterclaim, that I will make sure that a copy of the judgement as well as the entire story is put up on trust pilot and elsewhere..

I'm sorry it's come to this. I have lots of copy correspondence which shows how hard I tried to reach out to you and how generally speaking you have ignored my approaches or given me lukewarm and noncommittal responses in exchange.

Let me also say that if you don't sue me, then I probably will end up suing you. I'm not putting up with the poor installation that you have put up in my home. You wouldn't put up with it in your home. If you have a partner then I imagine that that person would find it unacceptable as well and would give you a bad time until you sorted it out.

I would suggest that you start off by returning my deposit as agreed. But if you do decide to do this then you better understand now that the return is unconditional and that I still intend to go ahead and recover the cost of replacing your installation plus the cost of my surveyors reported £360 and any other ancillary expenses.
Furthermore, once your installation is removed, it will be neatly stacked up at my address and I will give you seven days to remove it after which I shall be charging you a daily storage charge at a rate of which I shall inform you in advance.

You can be certain that whatever happens, I am preparing another but much more detailed review.

Believe me

Signed

 

I realise that the tone of what I'm suggesting above may not be to your taste but I think it's about time that you bared some teeth and stop mincing around and stop being led around by the nose.

Assert yourself and take control. We will help you.

 

[bittersweet]

Wow, thank you, it scared me that..

Regards

[BankFodder]

Let us know if you're going to use it or if not post up the version that you are going to use but these are sentiments which need to be expressed.

Also, we now need to start discussing whether or not you are going to bring an action.

It seems to me that the only action you can bring at the moment is for the return of the deposit.

If he doesn't respond within the next few days then we might propose that you begin a legal action which will begin by sending a letter of claim giving 14 days after which you see the claim.

None of this is a bluff. Once you set a deadline you follow it through. No room for mucking around. If you aren't serious then we are wasting our time.

If you had your deposit back, would that give you enough money to start the replacement work?

It's essential that the replacement work is underway and that the costs have been incurred. Of course there is a risk that you lose but I would say that the risk is minuscule – based on the survey that you have obtained.

I have already suggested that if they bring an action against you then you would make a counterclaim. Similarly, if you brought an action against them then they might come up with a counterclaim for the balance of the money.

I don't think that they would win – but at the end of the day it's up to the judge.

And once again, you still haven't told us why you didn't put the review back up.

Once again, we give help completely free of charge. We are trying to help lots of people and you've managed to use up nine hours of our time dragging a simple story out of you and you still aren't answering the questions.

If you bring an action or if you find yourself facing action then you had better resolve to start sorting out how you deal with things because once the claim is started – either way, there is no room for missing points, missing deadlines, or wasting everybody's time.

I suggest that you start off following the links about how to bring a small claim in the County Court.

Some of it is out of date but by and large the timescales et cetera are correct.

If you do bring an action or if you are facing a claim then we will help you draft the documents