Hillarys blinds

[maca_s_2000]

Just been scanning through the supply of goods and services act and the sales of goods act and noticed that you can claim for faulty work up to 6 years ago and just wanted some advice on this.

 

In Dec 2003 I got Hillarys blinds to replace the blinds in my new house, they came out and fitted the new blinds to the existing track, but one of the connectors on the track broke whilst he was fitting it, he said not to worry and he would come back in Jan 04 to fix it. He never did. Along with this the blinds he fitted in my sons bedroom has a huge triangular gap down the middle and won't close properly.

 

After several phonecalls to my rep he began ignoring my calls or putting the phone down on me. So then I complained to Hillarys and after much toing and froing they sent an area manager round to have a look. He said that they could not do anything about the broken track because they had not fitted it, even though one of their reps broke it and he tried to fix the upstairs one - unsuccesfully again blaming the track.

 

I sent several letters which were ignored and made many many phonecalls which advised me to put it writing... ha

 

So eventually got sick of getting nowhere and gave up, this must have been around Sept 04.

 

I get so infuriated with them everytime they send me a dear customer letter, as well as having a missing slat in my living room window which is pretty noticable and the upstairs blinds has a dog leg down the middle.

 

Is there anything I can do about this now or has too much time passed?

[Movingon]

Nope... Statute of Limitations says that you have 6 years from a "cause" (or from discovering one) to "bring an action". (12 years in some cases but not this). Also the Sale of Goods and Services Act will be useful in your case; I suggest you read the Acts (look in the Statutes Library) and pull out the bits you can use. Specifically you brought the faulty work to the attention of the provider in "a reasonable time", and the work was not "of an acceptable quality", nor was the finished item "fit for it's purpose".

 

I think you could have a good case here...

 

YOU MIGHT HAVE TO EXPLAIN however why you did not bring an action earlier, if it does go to court; this is where the advice of a qualified and insured professional - or the CAB - will be really handy.

[maca_s_2000]

Nice one - will start preperations for another letter me thinks, doubt they can ignore me this time as am a lot more knowledgeable with regards to my rights and also have the brilliant backup of this site.........its a godsend to the consumer.

[Guest Lueeze]

Good Luck

 

Lou xxx

[maca_s_2000]

OK have managed to find my letters to Hillary's blinds, do you think I should write again to them and let them know of what I intend to do?

[Movingon]

errr... where did we get to? A month ago you were preparing for another letter and we've heard nothing since... LOL

[maca_s_2000]

Oops, guess I should read my own thread before I post again.

 

All the letters, well both of them anyway, were on my old PC, had to drag it out of the garage and get it up and running again.

 

Have got some advice from the dti website but not sure how this relates. It says that the onus is on them to prove faulty goods within 6 months but after 6 months it's up to me to provide proof. I reported the fault within the 6 months but because I'm taking this up again almost 2 years later not sure what I should quote to them in my letter. Should I also treat it as a final letter giving them one last chance to comply and what should I request, repair, replacement or compensation?

 

Oh and I can't find my receipt, I know I have it somewhere but how important is it to have it. All the information as to dates, price and the agents who came out to me are listed in the original letters.

[Movingon]

The original letters should be proof enough to be honest... as to this six months/not six months thing I'm not sure which Law they're quoting there.

 

If you can reasonably expect an item to last 6 years from purchase, and it lasts less than two years, you have a case under the SoGaS Act. If it lasted five and a half years, forget it; no Judge is going to be THAT nice to you. So as far as I'm concerned you have a case, and you have proof that it was drawn to their attention in a reasonable time, and so on.

 

The reason that you let it lie dormant this long was that you thought you had no case but "someone" has recently brought the SoGaS Act to your attention and you now believe them to have been unreasonable etc etc etc.

 

That's my view on it; it would be nice if someone could critique it however.

[maca_s_2000]

Drafted a letter but it's a bit weak and don't know how to bumpf it up, can one of you god's amongst consumers have a read and offer me some suggestions to let them know I'm going all the way with this.

 

"I enclose a copy of 2 letters that were sent to you in 2004 regarding the unsatisfactory installation and damage received to property when we had blinds from your company installed.

After chasing this up with yourselves for several months after the letters were sent and getting nowhere, I decided to drop the matter as was unsure of how to proceed. However since that time I have become aware of the Sales of Goods and Services act and believe you are in breach of this as “the supplier must carry out the work with reasonable care and skill” and “Any goods supplied in the course of the service must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for their purpose”

As you will see from my previous correspondence neither of which terms have been met and as such I seek repair or replacement of the items.

Should I not hear from you in the next 14days, I will seek full re-imbursement of the £185 paid to you as well as any consequential losses in getting the blinds replaced through the small claims court."

Mind you it's probably not the best time to try and draft a complaint letter at 2.20am in the morning, but I'm impatient and want to get the wheels in motion asap. Good job I'm not at work in the morning.

[maca_s_2000]

Well it looks like nothing has changed at Hillary's blinds in the last 2 years, no response to this letter either. I'm going to ring them tommorrow and make sure the address hasn't changed even though I tracked the delivery and it was signed for 2 weeks ago. Then will send a 'before action' letter advising them of my intention to sue, had better start getting some quotes so I claim for consequential loss.

[Movingon]

Sorry, I missed this. Your first letter's fine. If the letter was signed for it reached it's intended recipient; I would send your letter before action and be done with it; if it's not them they will soon let you know! LOL.

[maca_s_2000]

Yeah, I guess your right, I'll draft my letter tommorrow and get it sent straight off by recorded delivery again.

 

The sooner I get it posted the sooner I can issue my money claim online.

[maca_s_2000]

OK, couldn't help myself, have drawn up the following letter:-

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

With reference to my letter of 29th June 2006, which you have suitably ignored, I am now writing to give you one final chance to rectify the problems with my blinds.

If I do not hear from you or one of your representatives within the next 14days to seek a resolution to this matter, then I will have no choice but to serve you with a summons through the small claims court where I shall be seeking re-imbursement of the £185 paid to you plus consequential loss plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

Do you think I should put a copy of my last letter in with it, or should I pad it out with the SOGA etc?

[Movingon]

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

As per my previous communications, I believe that you have failed to carry out your work on my property with reasonable care and skill - which you are required to do under the Sale of Goods and Services Act 1984. I find that the work is not, and has never been, of satisfactory quality, nor does it meet any requirement of fitness for purpose.

 

I therefore require either replacement of the product or a full refund of the purchase price of £185 immediately.

 

If you fail to respond, or to respond positively, within 14 days of receipt of this letter then I will have no further option but to seek redress via the courts and will have no hesitation whatever in doing so, without further notice.

 

Yours .....

 

The good bit you did was to tell them that you "...had since become aware of the Sale of Goods and Services Act..." which effectively rules out them complaining about time in any way.

[maca_s_2000]

Thanks for that, I'll get that sent out first thing in the morning.

[maca_s_2000]

Just checked Royal Mail site and letter was delivered yesterday, 13 days and counting till moneyclaim.

[maca_s_2000]

Received phone call from Hillary's today, they said the only info on file they have is in 2004, I said that was correct. She said they sent a representative out to have a look and informed me that the track wasn't theirs, I told her no the track wasn't fitted by them, just broken by them. She got a bit snotty after that and said they had no complaints about it in 2005 and why had I decided to pick it up again now. Informed her of SOGA and statute of limitations etc, she said as so much time had passed Hillary's would not be taking any further action with this. I said fine and informed her that I would be filing a claim with the small claims court once the 14days were up.

 

Oh and apparently this is the first letter they have received, I've got proof that both letters were signed for but don't have the recorded delivery slips from the 2004 letters, I'm not sure how much this matters as they have acknowledge that my telephone complaints are logged on the system.

 

Should I issue them with a DPA, do you think, so I can have access to my notes should it go to court?

[Movingon]

No, not at all. If you have copies of all the letters sent to them, that's enough. They are deemed to have been received 2 days after sending regardless. If you receive any further correspondence from them, post it here; but failing that after 14 days it's moneyclaim. The key points:

 

1. What work they did, exactly.

 

2. What was wrong with it.

 

3. What you did at the time to try and rectify it, letters, calls etc.

 

4. Why you have left it until now to bring this action - you have only just discovered the SoGaS Act and what it means for you; you had no idea these rights existed until now. Don't mention the Statute of Limitations. The idea is, you've only just discovered the SoGaS Act, and therefore the six years starts from the date you discovered it.

 

5. What you require from them - full refund, or rectify the faults, or redo the work... etc etc etc.

 

6. If you're claiming a refund, interest under s.69 of the County Courts Act, from the date you first drew their attention to the faulty work, to the date of your hearing.

[maca_s_2000]

In my letters I have asked for repair or replacement, however if and when it gets to moneyclaim time, I will be requesting a full refund plus consequential loss for getting the work repaired by another company, oh and the interest of course. I'm arranging for 2 co's to come out and give me quotes, but will hold off getting the work done until after court just incase.

 

If it goes to court there should be enough evidence hopefully to suggest I have done everything to get them repaired.

 

I just wished I'd asked them to put yesterday's conversation in writing to me.

 

Should I cover the below points on the moneyclaim form?

[Movingon]

Not necessarily in full; obviously outline that you have attempted to resolve this issue till you're blue in the face, and have had no help from them whatsoever.

 

The real detail will need to be in your case that you present to the Judge.

[maca_s_2000]

Have had a quote for repairing my blinds, both have said that they will have to replace the whole of the blind downstairs as the track is an old system which they will be unable to repair, as for the upstairs one of them said that the problem with the blinds falling open is due to the header hem being to large allowing it too much give and the other one said that it looked like the blinds have been pushed to far up, he didn't want to touch them in case he damaged it. So one said I only need to replace the slats and the other said that I would need to replace the whole lot again.

 

On top of that neither would give me a quote in writing, the cheapest quote was £130 and the other one was £210.

 

Should I still go ahead and issue the moneyclaim or wait until I can get a quote in writing to back up my claims first.

 

Thanks

[Movingon]

Who are you using, that won't give a quote in writing?! Get a reputable firm, mate... these sound like well dodgy geezahz.

[maca_s_2000]

Used Bailey's blinds who are a national co. and another local firm. Perhaps I should try another one and maybe say I need the quote for insurance purposes. Got a no. for Homeflair I'll make sure they can provide a written quote when I book the appointment.

 

Cheers

[maca_s_2000]

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