Conservatory company - won't return deposit after planning permission rejected

[tonycollinet]

Won't be naming names at this stage - for obvious reaons.

However, we ordered a conservatory - were told that if planning permission were requried that an extra £300 would be required, and the planning would be handled by the company. We paid a deposit in excess of £1000. We were told (verbally) that no costs would be incurred until planning was approved.

After a long period (nearly a year) planning was refused (It took a long time due to a tree report being needed - which we paid for). Now the company are refusing to return the depost stating (coincidentally) that there costs to date are within £4 of the deposit paid.

My position is that their costs should not exceed the £300 planning costs except for opening one letter from the council saying the survey was needed. One or two phone calls to me regarding the survey, passing the survey from me back to the council, and recieving the rejection from the council.

I have spoken to consumer direct, and will now be putting things into writing - recorded delivery, with deadline for return of the deposit. If their position is that they have incurred costs, then I shall request a detailed breakdown, with evidence for each item, and a justification why the costs were not agreed in advance.

Any pointers of how else I should approach this appreciated.

Thanks

[nicknack]

They sound like thieves.

I suppose firebombing their office is out of the question?

Good luck anyway.

[Ian H]

What's the limit for small claims? That's the cheapest way of sorting them out.

[Polar Bear]

Useful link about small claims

[tonycollinet]

Small claims will probably be the end result - got to go through the letter writing phase first though.

[tonycollinet]

Here is a copy of the letter I'll be sending tomorrow (details removed). Any advice on improvements?

Thanks

************************************************************************

Dear Sir

•   On ? we ordered a conservatory from ******, paying a deposit of £1400.
•   We were informed by your sales person (Mr……) that if planning permission was required (as expected, due to an existing extension) that an addition charge of £300 would be required.
•   It was stressed that (company) would handle the complete planning process.
•   I also called your office in ****** to confirm that  we would not incur any further charges until planning permission was obtained. Confirmation was given
•   After some time, we were informed by your office that a tree report would be needed to support the planning application. Contrary to the assurances that were given at the time of ordering, we had to arrange, and pay for that  ourselves, which took some time due to our unfamiliarity with the process.
•   When the tree report was prepared I returned it to your office who forwarded it to the planning office.
•   I was later contacted and informed that further information about other trees on the property was needed. I provided that myself, directly back to the planning office.
•   Around 8 weeks later we were informed by the planning office that the application had been rejected, and that your office had been informed. We waited for confirmation from your office which did not arrive, so I called on ….. to ask for the return of the deposit. I was informed that the Managing Director needed to sign the cheque, but was on holiday – returning on ?. I was told I would be contaced when he returned.
•   A week after the return data on 7.5.08 I had heard nothing, so called again. Eventually I was called back by your office who informed me that costs incurred by Wilmer Windows were “within £4 of the value of the deposit” They gave me the contact details for the MD who failed to return my call.

I dispute that (company) can have incurred any costs over and above the agreed planning application costs of £300, especially bearing in mind that as soon as the claim became “non standard” we were left to deal with it ourselves.

I therefore request that you return the deposit, less the £300 planning costs (£1100 to be returned) within 14 days of the date of this letter.

If you still state that additional costs have been incurred, then please return (within the same 14 days) a complete itemised breakdown of these costs, together with documentary evidence that they have been paid.

Yours sincerely yadda yadda yadda

[spen666]

read the contract you signed

[annie]

We have a conservatory and went through 2 years of hell to get it up and finished.  We used Amdega as we thought they would take care of everything.  We have a very large file full of all correspondence, problems etc, it  ended up with us having to get our solicitor to write a very polite letter.  I refused to pay the full amount.  We continue to have problems with several areas in the conservatory, mainly leaks.

I would read the contract, seek further advice from the CAB and if need be tell the company you will be contacting your solicitor.

[tonycollinet]

read the contract you signed

I've read the contract - and unfortunately planning permission (or lack of it) is not mentionted. There are some clauses about "if they are unable to complete the contract for any reason" then I will still be liable for their costs. I am assuming this clause is valid, since they cannot complete due to planning refusal. However, I would expect their costs to be reasonable and documented. I cannot see where they would incurr costs other than the planning application - and they did precious little of that.

Annie - I've contacted consumers direct. This letter is based on their advice as a step towards arbitration, or small claims.