Window Company fitted lower spec windows than we paid for.

[TheBobbin]

Hey looking for advise. We have just spend close to 30K having new windows and doors fitted to our house. We were sold and signed contract for side opening, easy clean windows with child locks for all upstairs windows 8 in total. After coming to fit them they said we could not have side opening because of our fasher board so we would need to swop bottom opening windows. We asked both the sales man and the surveyor separately if everything else would be the same and were told yes the hinge and handle is just in a different place.

After fitting I asked the fitters to show me how the child lock and easy clean bits worked. At this point we were told they did not drop down to easy clean as we had bottom opening windows you can't also have easy clean.

I have complained to the company who offer £150 total as an apology that we wasn't told that thus feature was now completely not available.

What can we do about this because it seems absolutely out of order to us that they lied about this future not now being available. I have no idea where to turn.

Thank you in advance

What type of windows are they? As in, who’s the manufacturer?

30k seems a lot for 8 windows too.

£30k for 8 windows sounds very very expensive. Did you get a number of companies to quote for you?

I think the 30k included the downstairs windows and doors too. It’s just the top ones that had to be changed according to the op

When you say lower spec, do you mean that you paid for triple glazed and got double or is it just that you didn’t get the easy clean bit? They presumably should refund you the difference in price between what you paid for and what you received. Details will be in the contract that you signed.

We have just spend close to 30K having new windows and doors fitted to our house.
😮

Just how many windows and doors do you have?
We just spent £4.4k on the whole of our downstairs, including one door and one huge window.

And it's fascia, not fasher.

You need to work out what you want from the company. Do you want the windows taken out and be given a refund or would you prefer to keep the windows but have a more substantial amount to compensate you?

Strictly speaking, you could argue for a full refund since what was installed wasn’t what you agreed in your contract. This would be inconvenient for you though as you’d be without windows!

If you want a bigger compensation, write to the company and say what amount you expect. Send it to be signed for so you can prove delivery. Include in the letter that they have 14 days to respond.

If they don’t offer what you expect, write again and state you’ll go to small claims court. If the company are a member of a trade association, write to them also. Ask Citizens’ Advice or your local trading standards department for advice. Also tell the company you’ll put up feedback on social media.

Have you paid for the windows? If not, withhold the amount you believe you’re due. In short, do as much as you can to show the company you won’t go away quietly.

and swap not swop

‘And’ is a conjunction and in your reply you have used it incorrectly.

It’s a low blow correcting spellings and grammar in order to humiliate.

Were they gold plated frames?

This also isn’t incorrect btw

It does seem like you paid a lot of money for your windows and doors. Does the company manufacture them or did you go through a middle man so to speak?

You pay more for the easy clean component because I have them on mine (not as great as you think) and there will also be a charge for the child lock element too. The child lock element is a safety issue and that is the one I would be most pissed off about.

The easy clean hinges are if you have a side opener, you open the window and can then press down and release the hinge both top and bottom and are then able to slide the window over meaning your hand and arm are able to reach the outside glass to be able to clean them.

I suppose it depends what you want. Is it essential to have the child lock? Is it essential to have the easy clean? If yes then they should have come up with a solution for the facia issue. You can have windows that tilt and open in which would help with the cleaning option.

Personally I would go and see them in person and ask for what you want. They have not fitted the windows you ordered and paid for so are in breach of contract. That is your starting point. The new windows do not meet the requirements and you need to state what it is you do want. Is it more compensation or is it that you want windows with the features you specified when you ordered them, ie child lock and easy clean.

Do they also fit new soffits and fascias? The company I bought my windows from didn't but worked with a sister company who did. They could have consulted a company to see if there was a way round this.

I would seriously consider telling them you want a full refund and to come and remove them as they are not what you ordered or paid for.

May as well get cheap ones from elsewhere.

30k?? I've just paid 5.5k for a 2 bed house to have all its windows replaced and a new front door. I can't imagine your house is 6 times bigger!

Goodness that is a lot. We paid half of that for 10 windows and 2 sliding patio doors.

Plus you didn't get what you ordered. I'd be furious. And asking them to replace them.

Hello OP. Please do not worry about your grammar, we understand what you mean.

The first thing to ask is this: how did you pay for them? All credit cards and a lot of finance agreements have built in protection against poor workmanship and/or not getting what you ordered.

If you were unfortunate enough to pay in cash and cannot benefit from their protection, your bank may side with you.

Trading Standards also exist. Things have to be as described. Did you get the order on email or paper quote with the exact window opening type you ordered listed?

Once you know how you are protected and how they will get your money back if the window company are not cooperative, you can approach the window company with confidence that they must replace these windows with what you ordered.

Apologies if I wasn't very clear and apologies my difficult spelling seemed to annoy someone. Info for context the pice is for the whole house 8 windows upstairs, 4 windows down stairs including bay windows, 3 composite front doors and 3 sets of double French doors to the back garden and replacing the glass panels in the conservatory.

It's the 8 upstairs that is the issue because we were sold "easy clean" meaning you press in the hinge and the window slides right across so you can clean the outside. This feature is important to us as with out it we can clean the upstairs ourselves due to disability.

For those asking we had them done by Amber they do everything them self from measurements to building and fitting. We thought this would make it all simpler but it was 1 issue after the other.

The child lock feature is the one we definitely need but the easy clean was very important which is why we are so unhappy we were told we would have it. Having them all removed and going with someone else with be horrendous for us all this took a week and cause so much disruption.

For those saying we need to write to them and ask for exactly what compensation we would like how do we work that out? How do we know what is fair for them miss selling the windows. Thank you for those saying to talk to citizens advise I'm going to call them Monday.

‘And’ is a conjunction and in your reply you have used it incorrectly

No I haven't.

I don’t see the easy clean feature as being that helpful as it sounds a bit of a gimmick anyway - still a load of faff and you could get a window cleaner to do a better job of cleaning the upstairs windows than you could probably manage anyway. Employing a window cleaner a few times a year for the upstairs windows would be an easier & less stressful solution than getting them all changed & maybe it’s true that your fascias were unsuitable for this type of window. Annoying that you weren’t given the correct information at the quote stage but that’s Sales people for you. I wouldn’t bother making a big fuss about this unless “self clean” windows are a lot more expensive on their website.

The child locks though? If that is important to you I would focus on that aspect. Tell the company it’s a safety issue and you expect them to replace certain windows with ones with child safety locks.

Some people like their windows cleaned more often. Ours are thoroughly gross within a month and getting a reliable and good window cleaner is notoriously difficult. Our last one didn’t bother showing up for 7 months. It makes being able to open and clean them from inside quite important.

Firstly you need to get a cost breakdown. Find out how many windows are what you ordered and how many aren’t. I imagine a lot of that money went on the conservatory and French doors, presumably it’s only the upstairs windows that have been changed from what was ordered? You need to find out the price difference between what you ordered and what you got, and ask for a refund.

I stand corrected - living in the suburbs as I do my windows don't get that dirty (or I'm a bit of a slob because we are on a contract to get them cleaned every couple of months).

Indeed. The mixture of constant drizzle and dirt from the farm leaves a sticky residue, and as an added bonus, this year we have several dozen small spiders nesting inside the window frames. It’s very unsightly.

I can’t wait to be back in the burbs to access more tradesmen!

On a small basic window the cost difference was £20 per window
The bigger windows is £50 - using an online calculator.

Average window price is about £250.