What are my rights? Defective front door replaced with defective front door under warranty.. TWICE!

[dx100uk]

36 minutes ago, BillyGoat22 said:

Approach Solidor themselves?

yes as i said. i doubt its costing thistle anything which is why they are soo happy to do it. i will guess solidor pay them to swap for replacements too. and at an inflated price, thistle will not be losing over this only solidor will.

[BillyGoat22]

33 minutes ago, dx100uk said:

his elder next door neighbour has been in the estate since 1962 and says they've done this for about 20yrs! 

Madness! So if it is as you say, this situation could repeat itself for quite a while.
 
I'll get in contact with Thistle and Solidor and see if I can get some more information out of them regarding warranty replacements and their guarantees.

[BillyGoat22]

So interestingly  @dx100uk Thistle have come back and said that they are the ones who cover the replacement fitting costs.

As I thought they have also confirmed that the manufacturer 10 year guarantee is from the date of purchase and NOT for each new door.

 

[dx100uk]

sorts that one out...thought so...

dx

[BillyGoat22]

With Thistle being the ones who cover the cost of the installation rather than the manufacturer Solidor, I was surprised they are happy to keep replacing the door for the next 5 years.

So now I need to figure out the next step. Do I;

- Approach Thistle and remind them how much man time its using to replace the door each time in the hopes I can negotiate a for a door that works.

-demand a door that works and threaten to get a Solicitor & Ombudsman involved as is my rights by law.

(my only concern here is that Thistle argue that they are doing the right thing and replace it every year - then after that period I'm left with a defective door again)

 

[BankFodder]

Compared to many companies, this will seem to be attempting to do the right thing although it is clear that they don't really understand what the right thing should be.

The right thing should be that they provide you with a door which is of satisfactory quality and remains that way for a reasonable period of time – starting from the date of the initial installation. I think we have already agreed that that is probably in the region of 40 years and I'm sure that there are doors which lost an awful lot longer.

You are talking about getting a solicitor and an ombudsman. There is no ombudsman for this kind of thing and it will be very interested anyway. Are you really serious about getting a solicitor? Have you any idea what this will cost you?
You have come to us for help and we can help you all the way on this if you want.

It is scarcely surprising that they intend simply to honour 10 year guarantee from the date of original installation. But it is about time that you stopped talking about guarantees and started talking about satisfactory quality and the length of time that an item that you buy should remain satisfactory.

We have already dealt with this earlier on in this thread but you don't seem to have taken the point quite yet.

I think you need to work out a position and then we can decide on a plan.

I asked you earlier on have you found any equivalent doors made by other manufacturers. I'm not sure that you have addressed this question

[Nicky Boy]

On 21/10/2023 at 14:07, BankFodder said:

The consumer rights act 2015 requires that when you buy goods, they are satisfactory quality and that they remain that way for a reasonable period of time.

59 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

But it is about time that you stopped talking about guarantees and started talking about satisfactory quality and the length of time that an item that you buy should remain satisfactory.

As has already been said, guarantees are trumped by the consumer rights act. You must now stop thinking in terms of guarantees and start thinking in terms of your Statutory Consumer Rights.... Law overrules "guarantees".

A guarantee/warranty is only actually useful if it offers you more than your legal rights.

i.e. Some shops allow you to return an item just because you "changed your mind".

You aren't entitled to this in law. (Unless it's mail order).

[BillyGoat22]

Understood. So I should be focusing more on the Satisfactory quality of the product and consumer rights.

@BankFodder I'll get some quotes together for similar doors at that price point.

Obliviously I would like to tackle this myself, though this is all new to me so your help is much appreciated.

I just need to figure out where to start.

[BankFodder]

Get the quotes and come back here.

Make sure the quotes are at least for doors and installations which are at least of the quality that you originally contracted for – even if they are a bit more expensive.

Then your approximate first step will be to contact the supplier of your existing door and explain to them that although you appreciate their efforts to deal with the problem, you purchased a door which you expected by any reasonable standard to last for at least 40 or 50 years and that clearly hasn't happened.

You are coming up with a number of alternatives.

The first alternative is for them to replace your door with the very much more expensive one at no cost to you. You would explain that contractually this is what they are bound to do. However you appreciate that there is a great discrepancy in price so that you have looked around and you have found the following alternative solutions:
number one – blah blah blah £XXX
number two – blah blah blah £XXX

Et cetera

Number XXX value £XX is your preferred solution. You are inviting them to agree to cover the cost of that purchase and installation in order to bring the problem to an end and to mitigate everybody's losses.

Get your quotes. Come back here. We will help you draft a letter and see what happens.

If they won't play ball then we will help you go ahead and sue them for the more expensive door.

[Nicky Boy]

As well as looking at quality of replacements, also consider the aesthetics.

You obviously chose a particular style of door for a reason.

You want it to be (and are entitled to have) a very similar design.