Anglian Windows discrimination to unmarried customers

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Is this unreasonable? I worked so hard to renovate a property. It cost a lot of money and meant sacrificing a lot of time with my young family. I had an abusive partner but managed to get him to leave eventually. I also managed to buy him out of the property and me and the kids were finally free.

It’s been a monumental struggle but I work very hard, all hours to get by. Unfortunately after all the storms at the weekend my window started leaking very badly. It was like a swimming pool in my house.

I took pictures and sent them to Anglian as the windows had a warranty. Only because my abusive ex partner handled the paperwork they refuse to acknowledge the warranty. They will only acknowledge it if I go back to my abusive ex and get his permission. The property is mine, it was in both our names at the time of installation. They said if I had been married they would stand by the warranty because, “we’d have had the same name”.

Am I being unreasonable expect them to fix the window without me contacting an abusive ex partner who would never agree just to spite me.

Go to Citizens Advice. Not all warranties get transferred to new owners when the house gets sold but you were on the mortgage at the time.

Anglian are shit though. They refused to come back to put an extra screw in as the guttering flexes in wind, and that's all it needed. Apparently it's an Act of God that causes the wind (and i'm talking normal, not storm wind). Horrible company.

Yes they are horrible @CantThinkOfANameAtAll I just didn’t know if this was actually legal. I had no idea and wasn’t warned that if I also didn’t put my name on, that it meant should the relationship break down I would have no cover. Do all companies do this or is it just Anglian? And if other companies do this why are we not warned about our lack of protection?

Write them a trust pilot review or tell the story on twitter.

Newsflash for Anglian - you can be married and not have the same name!

I think as you were living in the house at the time they should honour the warranty.

I hadn't realised until we bought our last house that warranties didn't transfer when window frames were proven to be faulty shortly after moving in. But you're not a new owner of that house, I'd ask to speak to someone more senior. I'm assuming you don't want to take to social media in case abusive ex gets wind of the story. Hope you find a resolution.

Anglian is particularly awful.

If it is just a repair on one window, it might be worth getting a repair price from some other, local, double glazing firms. I appreciate money is really tight but I think it might cost a lot less than you think, and it would save a lot of distress.

I think the thing about matching names is just someone fobbing you off though. They will say anything to take your money.

I’ve been through a number of people at Anglian both on the phone and via email. The best I got was they would call my ex to ask for his permission. I obviously don’t want that. It would stir him up and we don’t need that. He would just think it’s funny anyway that he still had control.

I asked to send them my council tax bill and copy of my deeds. They said no as it would break GDPR.

I’ll have to try and get some more shifts somewhere and hope it doesn’t rain like that for ages. Just seems so unfair to have worked hard, paid out and then just lost. I hate that I didn’t know, wasn’t warned at the time. I hate that no matter how long I’ve escaped things like this keep happening and he’s just there like a black cloud over my life.

I’ll never let someone else sign paperwork again. I hope if people see this it’s a warning so they don’t end up in the same boat.

They’re right - the whole issue is around GDPR.
The account is under someone else’s name, so without their permission they can’t access it to confirm the presence of a warranty or book a visit.

GDPR is a pain for stuff like this, but they’re doing nothing wrong.

@Deathbyfluffy thanks. I hope women on here see this and think twice about letting partners do the paperwork and realise they have no protection. If nothing else then this thread was worth it to help other people. Especially those in abusive relationships.

They're being ridiculous with their reasoning of the "same name if married". There is no legislation that forces women to take on their husband's surname. We can use their surname, our birth surname or both interchangeably, whatever we wish. I'd go to the media to name and shame them...

They’re just finding excuses to wriggle out of it. These window firms will do anything to not go back or sort stuff.
About 20 odd years ago my parents ordered a new front door. The stained glass but wasn’t ready so they fit some god awful cheap thing in the mean time. Months went by, df was not happy. He saw the salesman’s car outside a house and knocked on the door, the wife answered to an irate old man, the door was fitted the next day 🤷🏼‍♀️

Why wouldn't the warranty be based in the address where the windows were installed?

Anglian are awful we gave up in the end would never use again. Conservatory had an issue they would send 1 person for a 2 person repair job. Did this about 3/4 times never mind all the calls to chase them up. In the end got someone else in to be told as it had warped so unable to get 2nd fitting in on window that they had Anglian had missed when fitting.

Exactly I don't understand it's not like people can take their windows with them when they move!

You're obviously speaking to idiots there.

Married for years but have never used my partner's name - why would I? I don't legally need to.

Their response about GDPR is odd because if that's the reason surely it would still stand if you were married. It's a very odd stance they've taken.

You need to threaten social media and /or legal routes (and follow up on it).

Op do you have a copy of the actual sales contract etc?

Surely the warranty should be based on the property, where the actual windows are installed ??

Get your friend to ring and pretend it's him.

That’s terrible! I always thought warranties were for the product not the individual. If you can prove it’s their window and within warranty which it sounds like you have then they don’t have a leg to stand on. Keep pestering them.

Agree with others that the warranty should belong to the property. You could easily have sold it and the new owners should be able to have the windows repaired under warranty if there is a fault. What's the point of a warrenty if not.

@Deathbyfluffy Not sure it's a GDPR issue. Surely Anglian can check their own records any time they like

I think the issue may be that Anglian had a contract with the ex-partner and the warranty isn't transferable?

I’d do this. Give another make friend/relative the details and get them to call.