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Ash
Ash, Solicitor
Category: Law
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Experience:  Solicitor with 5+ years experience
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I bought 10 pallets of sandstone slabs to do our drive

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Hello
I bought 10 pallets of sandstone slabs to do our drive of 72 m2 in total. I made enquiries with a company, which supplies the slabs but was unable to buy from them directly, only through a distributor.The landscapers used 3 pallets and there were some small imperfections but be managed to use them the best we could. However, when the 4th pallet was opened 9 slabs out of 10 were faulty. Inconsistent sizes and thickness, yellow stains (the slabs are platinum colour - light grey and smooth finish) and they were not square, some of them had chipped or rounded edges. We left this batch and I reported the problem straight away to on line company, which I bought the slabs from, including some photos of the faults. The team was proceeding work with the remaining pallets. I bought more of them than we needed for a job to be on a safe side. We wanted to finish the drive as soon as we could. I thought if there are any left, I can easily use them at the back of the house.
The slabs were not cheap, £48/m2, in fact there were similar slabs on special offer but 2nd quality, so we decided to pay more and have the premium range. The company, which we bought the slabs from keep saying that all the problems I have described are within British standard tolerances? The last email I had it was a proposal for me to buy another pallet with a discount! Could you let me know please what can I do in this situation? The slabs are in front of our house at the moment, obviously whatever we do is going to cost us extra money to move them or dispose them as they are not suitable and faults are too serious to look good if we use them. They are big and heavy, as this is a natural stone. I have 4 slabs left, which look fine.
I spoke to a company who supplies these stones and they were very helpful but they said to me that I have to talk to the company, who I bought them from. However, the reply from a distributor (online business)which I received is below:
'I have discussed the situation further with Natural Paving, and the tolerances are to be expected with natural stone, especially paving flags of this size. I can confirm that these are within the tolerances permitted by British Standards. Any size differences between the paving flags become less noticeable once pointed as the overall effect becomes more apparent rather than any minor differences between each stone.
In order to try and help resolve the situation to your satisfaction, we are prepared to offer another full pack of paving to you for a considerably reduced price of £220 as a goodwill, without prejudice offer in full and final settlement of this matter.
I hope this is acceptable to you and shall wait to hear from you in due course'
Thank you in advance for your help,
Regards
Ursula
Ash
Hello my name is ***** ***** I will help you.
What is it you want to achieve please?
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Customer: replied 2 years ago.

Hi Alex

Unfortunately I need to go out shortly and will not be back until late.

I paid £3450 pounds for 72 m2 of slabs, therefore I feel that if the slabs are faulty I should get a compensation or FOC replacement. The person, who replied to me is a director of the company, keeps saying that the slabs are meeting the tolerances because he does not want to take responsibility. We were unable to use them because the discrepancies and faults were too obvious. I am not over fussing, there were more slabs, which did not look 1st quality for me but we manage to cut them, use them. However 9 of them are rejects. I am not sure what I can do in this situation, therefore I asked you for help.

Regards

Ursula
You need to write and set out your losses and request a they provide the replacement slabs or refund within 14 days or say you will go to Court within 14 days. You should make sure you send this signed delivery and keep a copy.
If they do not refund you then you can issue proceedings in the County Court. You can either do this online at: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk or by completing form N1 http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n001-eng.pdf and take it to your local County Court.
The Court will then issue a claim which a copy will be sent to the Defendant who will have a limited time to defend it, if not you can enter Judgment and enforce.
If the claim is for £10,000 or less it will be a small claim so you will not need legal representation. Over this value you would need representation for trial.
Can I clarify anything for you about this today please?
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Customer: replied 2 years ago.

Hello Alex

Thank you for your email and assistance.

A couple more things: I understand that you suggest to post a letter rather than email it?

What shall we do with the faulty slabs, send them back (which will cost us money), keep them at the moment (but we cannot keep them for very long, we need to tidy the area outside the drive ), or to wait for reply from Paving Superstore first? It does not look like they are going to fetch them from us.

I asked for a quote how much does it cost to dispose them? Whatever we do is extra cost for us, which we did not expect to have.

The slabs are large and heavy so it is not a simple to move them around and it needs at least 2-3 people.

Thank you for your help.

Kind Regards

Ursula

Post is better as you can get a receipt, if it's emailed unless they respond you don't know they have had it. The faulty slabs you need to keep and give them 28 days to collect or dispose. If you dispose you can claim that cost too.
Does that help?
Alex
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Customer: replied 2 years ago.

Dear Alex

Yes, it does. Thank you once again.

Regards

Ursula
Hi

I am just following up to see if there is anything else I can help with?

If you have not done so already might I ask you to rate my answer before you go today please, the button should be at the bottom of the screen.

If you need more help please click reply.

Alex
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