On 2 Jun, 13:30, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-06-02 11:26:00 +0100, CJB said:

I stupidly paid a £1000 deposit on new windows for my flat in December
2006.

Did you pay by credit card or other credit vehicle? If so, contact
the card company. They will have a department that handles issues
such as this, because they are aware of their liability. Phone call
first and then follow up in writing by Special Delivery.

After hassling Everest for months they have only now delivered
the contract in May 2007.

Why did you wait so long? Suppliers should be kept on a much shorter
leash. 7 days would have been reasonable to have received a contract.
It is rather odd that there is such a time delay because a deposit is
of limited use as they can't complete the job and be paid.

The local rep. (Heathrow) has been rude and
dismissive.

He will probably have received some payment on order and the rest on
completion. Is the job a small one? If the total is only £4-5k then
he can make more money by selling complete house installations.

No point in bothering with him.

No-one from Everest has bothered to actually contact me.

Did you ask them to do so? In writing?

Now because I am threatening to cancel the contract they are going to
charge me another £1000 for loss of materials etc. In fact the windows
haven't even been made yet so I don't see how loss of materials
features in this. Has anyone else had a run in with Everest.

No but I have had numerous run ins with suppliers of goods and services
who feel that they can offer and sell one thing and deliver another.
It never ceases to amaze me how shocked some people and companies
become when asked to do what they said they would do.

They are
certainly the WORST company I've ever had to deal with. C.J.Brady.

I wouldn't have allowed the situation to have taken so long. It's
time to cut it short. First step is to decide whether you still want
them to supply. If you don't, then identify whether you can recover
the deposit and avoid any other payments. They will probably have
wording in their contract around this, but it may not hold up under
unfair contract legislation. Having said that, one would have
expected this firm to have done its homework on that issue.

P.S. Is there an anti-Everest / Double Glazing website anywhere.

Not really relevant. The contract is between you and the supplier
with any credit supplier jointly and severally liable with the
supplier; it is not with a website or even a newsgroup.

Really, you can use all of this as a source of information as to what
steps to take. There is no point in getting into mass protests, class
actions or camping out like Swampy at the company's head office.

You have the options of contacting the trading standards office at your
local authority, citizens advice, solicitor, credit company. These
are where a difference will be made if it is possible to make a
difference.

Good advice, just one think I've found tho: standing outside and
telling potential customers what happened has been a very fast way of
getting a complaint addressed IME.


NT