AIBU or is this contractor pissing us about?

[Changenamefortoday]

Around the end of July we contracted a company to do some improvement works on our home. They're a well-known company in our area with a good reputation.

Quote was £25,000 paid a 20% deposit on credit card and signed a credit agreement with their associated finance company for the rest. Approx date of start of works was 12-14 wks so end of Oct, beginning of Nov. Not ideal but we wanted it done before winter. Had all the measurements done etc a month ago.

Phoned them yesterday and asked if they had a date for work to commence and they said it won't be till Feb/March as they are flat out and their suppliers are having problems with their suppliers down the line etc. I was a bit taken aback but I just thought "OK, the situation is what it is" and sucked it up.

When DH came home after a 12 our shift, he asked he if I'd phoned and I told him what they'd said and he went ballistic, saying they'd lied and were taking the piss and telling me to phone and cancel this morning. I didn't really engage as I knew he was tired and grumpy (has another 12 hour shift today), but mulling it over I think he has a point.

Thing is, the contract says if work doesn't commence within the timescale given we can request it to start within 10 weeks. I read that to mean that we can't even cancel until the original date is past and then wait up to another 10 weeks which would take us into at least January. I'm also worried about losing the deposit (credit card, 0% interest but I can afford to pay it off in one if necessary, not sure if that would be protected) and also being liable for £20,000 of credit to the finance company with nothing to show for it.

Due to WFH etc I don't really have anyone in RL to discuss this with at the moment other than DH and I want a bit of perspective so'd like to hear what MN thinks.

Thank you

I don't know if this helps at all but a friend is having similar-ish problems with a wedding. The wedding was originally fixed for X-date but then Covid hit and (eventually, after a lot of to and fro) the whole thing went down the pan. Some suppliers re-imbursed deposits but one big supplier wouldn't. Friend contacted her credit card and was told that she could not contact CC to log a non-supply of services until after said non-supply, the X-date. The credit card companies must be snowed under with similar disputes so I'm not surprised if they have a system of kicking the can down the road.

Thing is, the contract says if work doesn't commence within the timescale given we can request it to start within 10 weeks.
That says "can", not must. I think that I might put something in writing now to indicate that you probably will (future tense) invoke a cancellation. It might be the kick up the backside they need to prioritise your job over some other person who doesn't complain as loudly. It is not a cancellation (so you are not breaking any contract) but a threat of future action.
I'd also be tempted to get a friend to be a "secret shopper" and see what they are telling current enquirers.

I think that you also need to think about the cost of the project. Is it guaranteed at the current quotation, even if they do it four months later? If you withdraw and engage a new contractor then the new people may be a lot more expensive because of add-ons because of Covid, Brexit, inflation and any other excuse they can find. It might be worth sucking up this delay because of the fixed price.

Thanks Senua

That's more or less my thinking, even if we could cancel and get all our money back there's no way the work would be done any earlier by another company and we could end up with a similar problem 6 months down the line.

I think putting something in writing is a good idea as if I phone I'm likely to just accept what they say again as I'm too polite for my own good (DH is the opposite and would go off on one so I don't want him to phone).

Thanks for your reply.

BTW the exact wording on the contract is:

If the work is not commenced within the proposed installation period stated, the customer may write to the company requiring the work to be commenced within 10 weeks. If the work is not then completed within a designated timescale... [etc,etc] the customer may cancel the outstanding works....[etc,etc].

I suspect that while £25,000 is a lot of money to us, it's probably relatively small-fry to the company who may be putting 6-figure jobs first.

I don't know much about building contracts. Is that the standard wording?
It's not much help really. You don't want to "cancel the outstanding works". You want them to start and complete the job within a reasonable timescale.
I have a feeling that you have to apply the 'squeakiest wheel gets the grease' concept and have a plan of escalating annoyances (nice email, speak to the manager, write to the CEO, involve Trading Standards, name&shame on social media, etc, etc). Don't threaten anything that you are not prepared to actually do or you will lose credibility.

Good luck