Originally Posted by Conditions of Window fitter

In so far as not prohibited by statute or otherwise, it is agreed that:-
(a) In the event of any materials used in the supply and/or installation of the products proving defective, the Company may at its absolute discretion endeavour to obtain for the Customer the benefit of any relevant Supplier's guarantee.
(b) In the case of defective installation the Company shall forthwith upon notification of such defects shigt the same and if necessary rectify the same; the obligation shall subsist for a period of 10 years hereof and shall be subject to the defect being notified to the Company in writing within ten days of it occurring.

Originally Posted by 1st letter to Window fitter

Dear Andy,

I am writing to you to inform you of a defect with some double-glazing windows which were fitted by your company to the property listed above whilst in the possession of the previous owners.

During the completion of the sale, I asked my solicitor if any guarantees were available for work carried out in general to the property. As a result of this, the seller’s solicitor faxed through a copy of the invoice for the work carried out, including the terms and conditions which confirm the existence of a ten year guarantee on this work.

A month or so ago, I telephoned you regarding the bad closure of a window (see attached photograph) and asked if you could come out to inspect this in order to determine what repair work should be carried out under the guarantee stated in your terms and conditions. The man I spoke to (called Steve) asked me whether the guarantee had been “transferred” during the sale of the property. Having received the invoice and your terms and conditions I took this to be the case. He then informed me that a fee is payable for the transfer of the guarantee. He said that if the guarantee had not been transferred, it was my solicitor’s fault because she had not looked sufficiently well into the paperwork. The amount payable was in the order of £230 or so, which seems exorbitantly high for what is, essentially, a piece of paperwork. I then said that I do not see how such a fee could be applicable because a) there is no such mention of it in the paperwork I received and b) I find it hard to believe that my solicitor would overlook a point he considered to be obvious. Steve further stated that if a service engineer were to come out, I would have to pay a call out fee. This I was not prepared to do until I had investigated the situation further, and I therefore contacted my solicitor.

My solicitor confirms that no such fee was mentioned, and in the case that a fee is payable, it is normally in the region of £30 to £70. Therefore, from her point of view, the sum you have stated is excessive. She also confirmed out that she wrote to you regarding the transfer of guarantee. She never received a reply from you to this letter. (I have attached a copy of this letter for your information.)

I would therefore like to know what you plan to do with regard to this issue. Whilst I am prepared to pay a reasonable fee to transfer the guarantee, I would like you to accept that I have been unable to do this before now since the paperwork I received does not mention the need to do so and we did not receive a reply from you when we enquired about this specific point. Therefore it is not reasonable for my guarantee to have been jeopardised by any failure to transfer it at the time the house was purchased.

However, quite apart form the legal aspects involved here, I am sure that from a customer service point of view you would want the opportunity to sort out a significant problem with one of your installations, well within the guarantee period.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest opportunity.

Yours sincerely,

Originally Posted by Solicitor

Dear Mr Walker
Following my return to the office I have read through a note of your conversation with my secretary and I must admit I was surprised to see the charge being claimed in relation to the transfer of the guarantee.

From papers supplied, both before completion and on completion itself, I can confirm that the conditions attached to the original order, which includes the guarantee, do not contain any reference to the necessity of the guarantee being transferred in the event of a s ale of the property. You do of course already have a copy of the paperwork supplied.

Following completion, although the guarantee did not impose any obligation to serve notice of change of ownership, as a matter of courtesy I wrote to the company on the 20th August last, a copy of which I enclose, although I see that I received no reply to the same.

The normal situation is that if a guarantee needs to be transferred on change of ownership it should specifically state this, and should also indicate the amount of any transfer fee payable, which is normally in the region of £30.00 to £70.00. I do therefore find the claim for £250.00 to b esomewhat exorbitant, as although I could expect the fee to increase a little, for a guarantee that is not yet 2 years old I would certainly not have expected to pay such a high amount.

I see you mentioned to my Secretary that if you were unsuccessful in your negotiations with the company that you would perhaps at the end of the day just get the work carried out by a friend. The only comment I would make is that if you do deal with the matter in this way effectively you will be negating the guarantee totally, and you would then be unable to return to the company in the event of serious defects arising with the remained of the 10 year period.

I hope the above is of assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Originally Posted by Solicitor letter to Window co

Dear Sirs,
Re: My Address

We have recently acted for Mr Xavier in connection with his purchase of the above property.

On completion we have been handed an Agreement with order details in relation to your firm having installed replacement windows and front door at the property.

In the circumstances we write to advise you of our Client's interest in the property and should be grateful if you would confirm that he is entitled to the balance of the 10 year guarantee.

By way of acknowledgement kindly sign and return the enclosed duplicate of this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Originally Posted by neilwilliams

I don't know if it will help but FENSA is a body that these companies are meant to belong to and should offer some protection.

Originally Posted by Emily-Elizabeth

Sperm donership: It is not like giving blood, it is tossing away...............

Originally Posted by cheezemonkhai

Are you saying there is a gap between the plastic between the window frame and the plastic that surrounds the opening piece of glass?

If so check the window stays (metal thing that hold it together) If these have bent they will cause problems. Also check the locks are functioning correctly.

If these are all ok it could be warpage, which would suggest carp windows.
The stays are easy and cheap to replace, but in my experience a lot of the time it was some screws comming out that would cause this sort of effect.