On 1st November Shutter Man (SM) came to our home to measure our windows for shutters - this was as the result of us having visited SM's shop and arranged an appointment.
We placed an order for custom-made shutters, with 89mm slats and paid a deposit by cheque. SM advised us that the shutters would be ready in 6-8 weeks and that there was a chance we may have them before the new year. He assured us that he would telephone us to let us know when they were ready.
By February, we had made repeated visits to the shop to enquire as to the progress of our shutters as we had not been contacted by telephone. He first attempted to fit our custom-made shutters during the later part of February. Unfortunately, the shutters had been made to the wrong size and so could not be fitted. This was in spite of the measurements for the shutters having been taken by SM himself. We resigned ourselves to another 6-8 week wait for the shutters that we ordered at the start of November.
On 27th May he came to fit the re-ordered set of shutters. They have not been fitted to the standard we had been led to expect; a couple of the shutters do not open and close smoothly and the large right-hand shutter seems to ?drop? slightly when it is opened.
The following day, as I returned from taking the DDs out, SM was waiting on my doorstep as he'd had left behind a drill box and charger. I let him in to collect the items and raised with him the fact that the slats were significantly smaller than the 89mm we had ordered. Initially he told me I was wrong but, when I produced the original order form that we had signed on 1st November he then said that 89mm would have looked silly and that in his own notes he'd recorded that 64mm slats should be used
. This was the first time he had raised this with us; nearly 7 months after we placed the order and paid our deposit. I explained that we were unhappy with the shutters as they were not as described nor were they what we had been led to believe we had ordered. His response was to tell me again that 89mm slats would look silly but that he would sort it out. I replied that I would like a refund of the deposit as this was the second set of shutters that were incorrect and that I would be writing formally to request this.
I have written to him formally, delivering the letter by hand to his shop. In the letter I have stated much of what I have explained above and included the two paragraphs below:
The law says that any item purchased by a consumer must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. The shutters you have supplied and fitted are not fit for purpose as not all of them open and close with ease and the large right-hand panel ?drops?. Nor are the shutters ?as described?; we ordered 89mm slats and have been provided with 64mm slats.
As I said at the time, I feel we have been more than reasonable with regard to waiting for our shutters and, as this is the second set of shutters you have incorrectly custom-made for us we no longer have any faith in your company to provide the shutters we have ordered. For this reason we are requesting a full refund of the deposit I have already paid so that we can have shutters supplied and fitted by a different company of our choosing.
I'm looking for advice as to next steps really as the 14 day period we gave him expires in a day or two and we've not heard a thing. Is it acceptable to move straight to issuing a claim through MCOL or do I need to do something else first?
Thank you for ploughing through this!