Who's in the wrong?

[Kellykelly23]

Last week I took my dad who is 88 to the local carpet shop for a new living room carpet.
He had been saving £20 out of his pension for months now and we chose a lovely one that came to £520 including underlay.
They told us they would be here to fit at 2pm on Sunday (yesterday)
My husband goes to my dad yesterday morning and rips up his old carpet and we wait.
Gets to 2.30pm and nobody has been.
I call the mobile number for the shop and the man says "the carpet fitter text your dad yesterday asking if he still wanted them fitted tomorrow and your dad didn't reply"
I said " my dad doesn't have a clue how to check his messages,he has a basic phone (it was £20) and only uses it so I can call him.
I only gave the shop it for emergencys.
I said you agreed a time with us,why would we assume you weren't turning up?
He said not our problem ..next fitting date is 12th Nov 3pm...
Is this bullshit?

[Kellykelly23]

I was so tempted to post something on Facebook but then I thought they won't help me at all then.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

What time did they send the message. When customers cancel they are required usually to give 24 hours notice? So given he didn't give that then surely they'd not be offering a 're fit they'd be billing him for both appointments?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Sorry I meant technically they'd be in their rights to bill for both so the favt they aren't means they know they are taking the piss

[Itsanicehotel]

That’s crappy service. I would say you want a refund. If a job has been arranged and booked in for a particular day and time then I would expect someone to show up to to do it unless they had been in contact to cancel due to sickness etc. I’d not want someone of your DFs age in an uncarpeted room (cold and unsafe surface) till 12 Nov.

I had a very similar situation with a decorator. I’d stripped the entire flat and covered the furniture and at arranged time, now show. Phoned up and because I’d not replied to a text asking if I was still going ahead (no reason to think I’d not be going ahead as had chosen paint and paper and asked if I should get them or if they would etc). Because I’d not replied to text (new sim had broken my phone ), they assumed I no longer wanted their services and started another job. They’d not thought to email me or put a note through my door to ask me to confirm I was ok to go ahead . Though imo there was no need. I was all ready and waiting for them to show up and get on with it.

[Kellykelly23]

My dads going to stay with us.
Checked his phone and text was sent to him 9.35 PM on Saturday night

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Well that's outside the acceptable time to contact someome anyway.

They double booked or he was down the pub getting pissed and figures he'd wangle a day off to sleep it off.

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

I reckon Gileswithachainsaw is right - he saw his chance to go on a heavy night out and took it, so because he didn't get any response, he was hungover to fuck the next day and couldn't have fitted anything.

[diddl]

Unless they told you that it was standard practice it seems ridiculous to me.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Plus how on earth would they have 're filled the appointment between the hours of 9
35 pm and what would co stature a reasonable time frame in the morning to give a person a chance to respond.

Pub. Definately.

[PurpleMinionMummy]

The carpet shop. They might not WANT to refund the money but I believe they're in breach of their contract? If so you are entitled to it if you wish to go elsewhere.

[Ingurr]

Could you ask for a refund of the fitting fee and arrange your own fitter.?

[Downhillatfifty]

If it's a longstanding local firm I doubt they would want bad publicity so I would tell them that unless they give you a sooner date you are prepared to bad mouth them.
Name and shame them on Facebook and everywhere else you can find.
Contact local newspaper, I'm sure a sad faced 88 year old with bare floor boards in winter would make a good story (if your dad was willing of course)

[Mix56]

Absolutely not OK your dad could have been asleep at that hour.
He cannot live in a house without carpet for 3 weeks, they must sort it out or refund.
Threaten to denounce to whatever consumer site is the most visible.

[monkeywithacowface]

Ridiculous and for that price I would expect them to pull up and remove the old carpet. The mark up on carpet is 100% so they are making a very tidy profit.

[lovemylover]

Carpet fitter broke the contract,tell them that, and you want your money back or carpet fitting now,
Trading standards will say same,
I have rung TS many times,and they always say if contracts broken its the right of the other person to cancel

[MissConductUS]

We have two websites in the US that allow people to rate and review tradespeople - angieslist and homeadvisor. There seems to be one in the UK called ratedpeople.com. Those sites are often the ones that tradespeople fear the bad reviews on the most.

I pay a small annual fee to be a member of angieslist.com because it's been incredibly helpful in terms of finding good painters, plumbers, etc. and because it gives you leverage. If they do you wrong, you post the facts there and it really hurts them in terms of future business. Just hinting to my painter that I wasn't really happy with the way the garage doors came out had him back the next day to give them another coat at no extra charge, and I'm sure it's because I found him through angieslist and he wanted a five star review from me.

I understand that this is no help for you now most likely, but it is a way to give you some leverage in the future.

[lovemylover]

Should have said entitled to refund too

[TwattyCatty]

What makes me confused is I rang them at 2.30 pm why couldn't they come then?If they were meant to come at 2?

Because you didn't confirm your appt and so they made one elsewhere, or told the fitters not to work. Either way they can't suddenly go do it.

It's very common to confirm appts.

[monkeywithacowface]

Not by text at 9.35pm it isn't!

[DunkMeInTomatoSoup]

Where on earth do you get that from, Dunkmein? The fitters didn't have an emergency, they just decided for some bizarre reason that OP's Dad might no longer want his carpet fitted on the prearranged date.

How do you know there wasn't an emergency? Not everyone decides to announce their personal business to every one, some people do sll retain a shred of personal dignity about their own circumstances.

However, as I also said, it is good practice to check whether the appointment is still needed, irrespective of the OPs dads advanced years. The home owner might just might be indisposed and not able to cancel the appointment. Note use of the word might .

[Jaxhog]

It may be common place to confirm appointments, but texting at 9:35 pm the night before is unreasonable!

[Kellykelly23]

Nowhere has ever confirmed appointment at 9.35 pm by text.
When exactly could they re book a fitting appointment with another customer ? Midnight ?
The appointment was confirmed in the shop and I signed the invoice confirming
The fitter wasn't on another job he was stood with his dad mumbling about texting my dad.

[Kellykelly23]

If the shops practice was to confirm apts by text they should have told us this ...

[LaGattaNera]

It's just so odd. Whenever I get confirmation texts the day before they are confirmations not a question as to if I still want them to come and they not not that late. Further, the owner said he'd drive around and try and find a fitter yet OP heard the fitter - his son - talking in the background. Feel so sorry for OP's dad - it's a big deal for him.

[Kellykelly23]

Even if the owner was driving around looking for the fitter...why didn't he ring the fitter ? Why drive around looking for him? Where was he likely to be? In the local pub.