Problem with Anglian Conservatory

[CQMMAN]

Hello,

I had an Anglian conservatory installed at the end of november which, coming up to two months later:

1) Does not lock 2) Has some kind of damage or corrosion to the lock 3) Has gaps in the roof

The driveway was also damaged during the installation (by dragging away the skip rather than lifting it away).

Since it is a new conservatory, there is quite a bit of condensation. You can see where the gaps are because the clear areas of glass (near the joins) are larger than the clear areas near the vents!!!

So, besides the GGF (and my credit card company), if Anglian continue to refuse to do anything about it (such as the supposed after-installation survey, or even returning phonecalls), who can I make a complaint to next?

-- Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes

- Tony Blair on Saddam 24/9/02

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times." George W Bush -Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

suicide bombing is not a belief

-CrazyAlec (internet spook)

"I hear there's rumors on the Internets"

- George W Bush -Oct. 9, 2004

Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn them, to have everyone hate us, to pull the rug from underneath the feet of the Diaspora Jews, so that they will be forced to run to us crying. Even if it means blowing up one or two synagogues here and there, I don't care.

-- Ariel Sharon, interviewed by Amos Oz (published in the Israeli daily Davar, DEC 17, 1982

[Simon Hawking]

Might be worth looking at

to see if they have a file on Anglian windows.

What have Anglian said so far to the points above?

[CQMMAN]

Thanks, I will take a look at that.

Nothing so far apart from, "we will look into it and call you back".

-- Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes

- Tony Blair on Saddam 24/9/02

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times." George W Bush -Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

suicide bombing is not a belief

-CrazyAlec (internet spook)

"I hear there's rumors on the Internets"

- George W Bush -Oct. 9, 2004

Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn them, to have everyone hate us, to pull the rug from underneath the feet of the Diaspora Jews, so that they will be forced to run to us crying. Even if it means blowing up one or two synagogues here and there, I don't care. -- Ariel Sharon, interviewed by Amos Oz (published in the Israeli daily Davar, DEC 17, 1982

[Joe Lee]

Your local Trading Standards Dept. Look in phone book under 'County Council'.

Joe Lee

[dakeb]

Tell them they can't look into it cos the windows are condensated.

[bigbrian]

Have you paid yet? FWIW, I had a conservatory constructed last September, (not by Anglian) and one of the deciding factors in me choosing the company I did was that 70% of the cost wasn't payable until after satisfactory completion of the project.

Good job too....I still haven't paid them about £900 for stuff that isn't right

Brian

[tim]

Your credit card is your best friend. They are jointly liable for fixing the mistakes and (usually) don't mess you around if you have a valid claim. They will, however, expect you to make reasonable attempts to allow Anglian to fix the problem, and once Anglian know that you have the extra protection of the CC they ought to be reasonable about fixing it.

tim

[Andy Hall]

Do you have anything left to pay?

Was the whole thing paid by credit card or is some via another credit agreement or ????

If money is outstanding to them, one strategy is to withhold payment until they threaten legal action. Let them go through the motions of this but make sure that you have written to both their local and head office first.

Contact them and ask for the names of the directors and write to the managing and sales directors. Use special delivery for all letters and keep copies. Take digital or other photos with a ruler in the picture for scale and include them.

When you hear from their solicitors, send copies of the correspondence refuting their claim.

They should make a claim on their insurance for the damage to the drive. However you would probably not expect to get the full cost of reinstatement if the drive was not quite new and in good condition to begin with. The principle of betterment applies - i.e. you can't expect them to make it better than it was.

A useful strategy is to pay them all but £4995 of the outstanding balance. I would assume that this would cover fixing everything? The reason for this is that the claim would be heard in the Small Claims division of the court and they have to come to where you are - cost for them.

I had a virtually carbon copy situation to the one that you describe with a conservatory company when I had mine built a few years ago. Ultimately it was all fixed and has remained OK, but it was a battle to get the result I required. THe settlement was eventually quite close to what I wanted but did involve sticking firm on some points and giving on others. Part of the settlement was not to reveal who the supplier was, which was kind of ironic because they normally want reference customers.

If you don't have outstanding monies payable, then the first hits are with the credit card company, but still write to the manufacturer first with a well prepared dossier of the faults. This will at least send a message that you are not going to mess about.

[Stefek Zaba]

Must be quite hard writing about it carefully enough to avoid the risk of anyone sloppily reading too much into "virtually carbon copy", then ;-)

[Andy Hall]

I couldn't possibly comment.........

I was contacted by the manufacturer's marketing department some while later asking if I would be willing to be interviewed or do a case study. I faxed the guy a copy of one of my cardboard letters from earlier in the proceedings. He called back and thanked me for my help but felt that under the circumstances it might be better to ask somebody else.

The silly thing about the whole episode was that all of the ills were down to poor supervision, project management and poor communication.

There was nothing wrong with the materials from the outset or the quality of the installation at the end. Perhaps some or most people will accept anything better than 90% - I don't know. My point to them from the outset to the completion was that they should do what they said they were going to do (after all that's what I was paying for - not 90% of it) and within reason when they said they would do it.

It was surprising how shocked they were when I took them to task for not doing what they said they would do.

I had written carefully on the agreement placing the order that proper project management was an important factor in the job. The same issue with damage to the drive as has happened to the OP here. In my case I had had them write on the building specification that boards should be used to spread the load and protect the drive. They didn't, but then had no leg to stand on when the damage almost inevitably occurred.

The eventual result was a 100% one - actually had they done it in the first place it would have been 110% in that it was finally better than billed, but the hassle reduced that - and at a price somewhat less than originally agreed. They wasted a great deal of their time and money trying to argue the point as well......

[CQMMAN]

Well we have had *some* progress with out conservatory from Anglian. The conservatory locks now at least, and apparently it is now dry enough to put the floor in. However I do get quite a lot of condensation. Consdering the floor is still concrete, and the conservatory has been in for three months, is this normal? The conservatory is south facing and most of the time the door between the conservatory and the house is closed. I hope this isn't Anglian trying to stitch me up again.

-- Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life" -Cecil Rhodes

Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes

- Tony Blair on Saddam 24/9/02

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times." George W Bush -Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

suicide bombing is not a belief

-CrazyAlec (internet spook)

Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn them, to have everyone hate us, to pull the rug from underneath the feet of the Diaspora Jews, so that they will be forced to run to us crying. Even if it means blowing up one or two synagogues here and there, I don't care. -- Ariel Sharon, interviewed by Amos Oz (published in the Israeli daily Davar, DEC 17, 1982

[Joe Lee]

It might also be wirth asking these questions on the uk.d-i-y group. Joe Lee

[Bob Eager]

He is..look at the headers...!

[Joe Lee]

Sorry, didn't notice. Joe Lee