UPVC Replacement Windows... Surely this cant be right?

[legin]

The first thing I would be doing is to ring the bank this morning and confirm if the cheque has cleared or not. If you paid Weds then it may have been put in on Thursday or even Friday. It is unlikely to have cleared over the weekend and you may be able to stop it. If they don't get paid then they will be more likely to listen to any concerns you have. Andy's advice is sound in use your credit card for payment if you get the opportunity. I have fitted large french doors with side panels. Yes they can flex due to there given size but usually overcome with fixings through the head of the frame. If they have had to pack it with frame extensions then the fixing is probably flexing as well assuming that they could be bothered to secure the head. As TNP said expanding foam is the answer and will remove ad flex. So in short, check on payment and then either get a new snug fitting frame or compo if you can live with the one you have got and get it foamed to remove the flex. I assume that there are no low fascia's on the outside and that the frame has not been deliberately made smaller so that the doors clear any possible obstructions?

Regards Legin

[Codswallop]

Stopping the cheque may be justified, but is not lawful.

[legin]

I don't know the legal aspect. I would be surprised if the police would act as they are usually too busy catching criminals!! The issue arises does the company know this and what could they do? If the missus forgot to transfer some money and the cheque was returned unpaid then would the company know that it had been stopped. Would a court support a company that had been unpaid because of shoddy work? As I said I don't know the legal aspect but would be interested to know.

Legin

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, the reason for no payment would be on the back of the cheque when it was returned to them.

Grey, depends on how "shoddy", "shoddy" is. Withdrawing full payment in this case could be considered excessive.

There is something in the law about stopping cheques after they have been passed in payment. Oh and it's quite possible for a cheque to "bounce" several months after it has "cleared", but that would normally be due to banking problems rather than customer request.

[Codswallop]

The police wouldn't be interested as it is nothing to do with criminal law, it concerns breach of contract which comes under civil law.

[Andy Hall]

The job has not been completed satisfactorily.

Some money had already been paid, so this was a completion payment.

The remedy for the window company would be to take action against the OP for the balance, that is all that they can do.

An few years ago I had a contretemps with a supplier of a conservatory in relation to collateral property damage done, works incomplete and lack of proper project management. At the point that the company considered the job to be complete, half of the total cost was outstanding. The company, via an insurance loss adjuster, offered a reduction of about 15% of the balance to cover the cost of the collateral damage.

This was way short of what I considered to be a correct claim amounting to about 70% of the balance. I therefore gave them 30% of the balance and told them that no more would be payable until everything was fixed to my satisfaction. Detailed photos and report were sent to their board members. Still they made no effort to resolve the problems and after several more weeks threatened legal action; so their solicitors (an expensive London firm used no doubt to scare people) received all of the same materials. More sabre rattling and the damage compensation offer was doubled.

The whole thing became a negotiation. I was offered some goods in kind (additional items for the conservatory). Realistically there was not going to be much of a case in terms of what might be awarded for loss of my time so I made a further payment and reduced the outstanding amount to £4995. The figure was deliberately chosen to be under the max limit for a small claims action which didn't go unnoticed on the law firm of course.

In the end, the company fixed everything, increased the cash offer, included the extra stuff and the case didn't go to court. I was asked not to name the company as part of the agreement. Undoubtedly they will have spent far more than the amount under discussion on legal fees. The regional manager, whose incompetence had led to much of the difficulty in the first place was fired.

Not all of these factors could be brought into play with a small local firm, but the principle of making the supplier take action for payment, provided that something has been paid, can be an effective one.