Window company over charging me and being shift about costs

[Intermittentgasping]

Buying a front door plus installation.

Had quote and when it came to understanding the cost I asked them to break the costs down- repeatedly and they avoided it. The price seemed too high.

I went to shop to request to view how the price was built up per spec for the door on their systems. I somehow didn't realised salesman had already partly created the specifications, such that it felt at the time to be ok and he'd been transparent. He kept telling me my choices were expensive....

I've been trying to sort the new door for a long time and to just get on with it I signed the contact. Paid a deposit (silly I know)

I was told I could change the spec up until the survey and I decided to do this however they were awful at responding to me, especially when I wanted to know how much extra my choices were.

Survey guy turned up with the wrong information. He was embarrassed by his company and we sorted it out. Two whole weeks passed and they didn't get back to me. I chased and chased. Eventually they sent me a new contract with a bigger price- no cost breaks down.

I've had bad feeling about it so got another quote from company selling exactly the same doors. Their price was about less than 70% of the original company.

I feel done over and want to cancel as I don't feel they've been honest and definitely haven’t been transparent about their pricing.

C.A.B tell me to write a letter requesting to cancel but they will likely not refund my 1700 deposit unless I can be really clear about my rights or something here.

I've been slow to process the issue here and act, I think because I'm autistic and process things slower than most people. I'm a single female person making this purchase and feel pretty vulnerable to being ripped off.

Anyone know what approach I can take?

I should add that this is a composite door and a tricky installation so costs are not cheap. The 30 odd per cent difference is substantial

is the 30% difference more or less than the deposit paid.
i doubt you will be able to get your deposit back now if you cancel the contract.
so you have to weigh up the least worst option.
i am not a lawyer, that's just how i see it.
being autistic is irrelevant.
if you have capacity to enter into contracts, you will be bound by them.
it looks as if you failed to do enough comparison checking before entering into the contract.
i can see they sound unsatisfactory re communication, but you went ahead, paid the deposit despite your misgivings.
it may not seem, or be, fair in the wider scheme of things, but you have to be practical now.
it will cause you much hassle to try to get the deposit back. and be prolonging the agony.
and i don't think you will succeed.

Thanks.i feared this was case.

Btw, i definitely know being autistic is irrelevant to the wider issue here. I wouldn't be revealing that to anyone IRL and never have.

I reference it as I should have worked it out sooner and that's why. I feel pretty stupid being pulled in by his sales spiel on the day and not holding my ground.

Btw the deposit is more than the difference but not by that much

I don't trust them one bit now so your suggestion is probably the best option.

It's irritating me though as they are complete snakes and don't want to just give them my hard earned cash.

My Dad's favourite, but annoying statement is 'experience is expensive'. All you can really do is put this down to experience and get at least three quotes before you make a decision in future.

I’m sorry, that sucks :(

Read the contract and check if there is any option to cancel. If there isn’t then I don’t think there is any way to get the deposit back. You could try saying you are unhappy with their service and want to cancel and threaten to leave bad reviews everywhere, that might persuade them to voluntarily give back the deposit, but I doubt it.

Thanks. I had actually got several quotes for the job (I'm not that naive!) but they were not directly comparable as they were different door brands - there seems to be vast difference in prices and quality of composite doors.

Your dad is right no doubt though I'm sure I could have done it better despite the months of research and talking to different companies.

Thanks for the reply

Had the sales guys not been such snakes and the company not slack on its comms etc I'd be willing to suck up the difference

An expensive company working effectively and willing do the right thing is worth paying for imo. Not these dudes

Thanks for the reply. Will recheck but I'm not hopeful

If there are issues now can you rely on them to fix any problems that may crop up in future.

My thinking is that you've signed the contract, but they've not upheld their own obligations.

I'd say to them that due to their inefficiency, you're no longer comfortable for the work to go ahead as there's been a breakdown in trust. Therefore, you're requesting that your deposit be returned within 7 working days. During this period, have a chat with trading standards so you have legal back up. I'd be fighting this tenaciously!

Thank you. This was my starting point and obviously my preference to get the money back.

My feeling is that I need to fight this but don't want to end up with egg on my face (more than it already is !)