Right to Withhold Final Payment - Kitchen Company

fkells

Registered User
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I am unhappy with the service provided by the company that we used to supply and fit our kitchen. My question is whether I have the right to withhold the final payment (which is 10% of the total cost of the kitchen) due to my lack of satisfaction.

The company fitted the kitchen at the end of May and were to supply the applicances with the kitchen. There was a snag list of items that they have just completed today (August 18th). The main item was replacing a door which was made too short and fitting an island hood which they messed up ordering.

There was also poor customer service and unprofessional service from members of the team and taking far too long to get back to us about when they were going to sort out the problem etc.

My question is do I have to pay them the final payment and then make a complaint after the fact or do I have the right to make a formal complaint and without that final payment.
 
If things are sorted as agreed , you are due to pay. I would wait a little while say 10 days to ensure snags are sorted .
That said you can complain to senior people at any time before or after payment and express your lack of satisfaction.
 
Is this because I have signed a contract, so I have no legal grounds to withhold the final payment as long as they eventually made things right, even it was after 2.5 months?

I can't imagine that I will get much satisfaction from making an formal complaint to Senior Management.
 
Probably you have no grounds even after 2.5 months , unless you contracted to have kitchen sorted within an agreed time frame.Even then would it be worth legal hassle?

You are evidently very fed up with these boyos work but suggest, if sorted pay them and move on.

You could be surprised at how Senior people would view a complaint; it is not in any businesses interest to have unhappy customers.

Good luck with the kitchen .
 
Very good. Don't want to risk a demolition crew arriving :)

The kitchen company came yesterday to do the final fixes but left one of the main fixes undone. So not going to pay them until they out everything right.
They made one of the doors too narrow so you can see the internal cabinet, pretty sloppy work.
 
Hi... just in relation to the problems you are having, make sure you record the issues, phone calls made, who you talked to, who resolved each issue, dates...

Personally, I would put all that into a letter and hand it/send it in to the owner/manager of the company and request a response within x days.

There are some template letters on the consumer agency website, if you want to take it further, e.g. in trying to get money off due to poor work etc... they may offer as a gesture of goodwill, or they may just ignore you...

Hopefully, the kitchen will get sorted out, to your satisfaction, soon..
 
Instead of witholding the payment and causing loads of hassle, phone the company and complain. Tell them that you expect a discount for the major inconvenience of not having a fully functioning kitchen for 2.5 months.
 
Instead of witholding the payment and causing loads of hassle, phone the company and complain. Tell them that you expect a discount for the major inconvenience of not having a fully functioning kitchen for 2.5 months.

This is what I did, now I had paid nothing but the concept is the same.
I had the case documented and send to the MD.
[There was nothing wrong with the work eventually but what was supposed to take 3 days was 3 months]
The room was empty so exact measurements were taken day one, not after rip out of old.
He came out, at my request to discuss it and he was very reasonable:
he offered a discount or offered to take it all out at no cost.

We had an existing kitchen in another part of the house so we had a bit more leverage.
We settled for the discount.
 
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