Disputed invoice

[Shenaniganss]

Can anyone with legal experience help please? To cut a long story short, a sewage treatment plant that we had installed two years ago started overflowing a few months back. We got the original contractors out to have a look - they couldn’t seem to find the problem, eventually did a camera survey of the drains, and eventually said it would cost £15,500 + VAT to remedy the situation. I didn’t quite believe anything they were telling us but we were desperate as the foul water was spilling into our garden, this had gone on for several weeks, and it was flowing into our pond where we keep ducks - basically just polluting the area. We very reluctantly agreed that they could start work but I was still not happy and asked them to send a written breakdown of the costs as they seemed extortionate, but they said that if they did this it could end up being even more as the figure quoted was an “all in” price. By this point I was really suspicious of them so we told them to hold off the work (they were due to start the following day). We spoke to our neighbour who is a retired builder and he said to contact another contractor he knows. We did this, and he basically sorted the problem out for a fraction of the cost. It turned out that the issue was caused by a poor installation by the original contractors.
Obviously we have refused to pay their invoices - one for a camera survey (for which they have charged double what seems to be the going rate and which was not even needed given where the problem was), and the other for materials they had dropped off, plus a day’s labour for which they have charged over £1000 - they were obliged here for half an hour dropping off materials.
I wrote to them, signed for recorded, quoting the Consumer Rights Act and stating that due to their faulty installation we would not be paying the invoices and have the additional reasons why (as I’ve documented above). I gave them 7 days to respond. I also said that we would like them to collect the materials that they had left here. They have not responded and now, two weeks later we have received a demand from a debt collection agency.

How do we stand legally? Also should I invoice them for the remedial work that we had done by the other contractor to fix their bad installation?
Any advice appreciated, thank you.

You can consider claiming from them the cost to you of the remedy. A debt collector has no powers. Ignore them.

If you have legal cover on your home insurance make a claim, get legal advice, and take it from there.

Thank you, it turns out it’s actually a court order (my husband hadn’t looked at it properly as we had a big event on the day it arrived). We have returned the forms together with a counter claim for the cost of remedying their faulty installation. Not sure what the outcome will be but hopefully the court will do what’s right.

If it’s a judgment then you’ll have to apply to the court to set it aside, but I think you’re confused. It’s not going to be a court order. They might have applied to court, and if so you’ll have to be careful to file a defence on time and issue your counter claim. If I were you I’d pay for some proper legal advice.

I probably don’t mean court order - I was trying to remember what it was without looking. They’ve basically applied to the court to recover the amount of the invoices they’ve sent us. We’ve filed a defence and issued a counter claim and sent the forms back recorded delivery today. My view is that they don’t have a leg to stand on as they installed the plant incorrectly in the first place, but as you say it may well be worth getting some legal advice, thank you.