The day after our windows were installed by Safestyle, the company went into administration. We now find that the £6,000 job was not registered with Fensa, which monitors and certifies installers, or with the warranty provider, Installsure. We are therefore unable to remedy a damp problem, presumably caused by incorrect fitting. Moreover, Fensa says that since Safestyle is no longer a member, it can’t certify the job as compliant with building regulations, and we’ll have to pay our local council nearly £700 to do it instead.
TA, Leeds
You have been extraordinarily unlucky. Customers whose windows had not yet been installed, or whose job was halfway through, will have the work picked up by Anglian Home Improvements, which bought Safestyle’s order book from the administrators.
Those whose installations were completed in time to be registered with Fensa are covered by an insurance-backed guarantee which kicks in if a firm ceases trading.
You remain in a very expensive limbo. Administrator Interpath Advisory tells me that if your installation was not registered with Fensa before Safestyle ceased trading last October, it cannot be done retrospectively. It’s unable to say how many others are in your position.
I tried Installsure, which provides the insurance-backed guarantee to registered Safestyle customers. It confirms that you will have to pay the council to certify the work and sort out any repairs yourself. As for the defect, you say you are paying for the work through a credit agreement.
If you arranged finance through Safestyle, you may be able to make a claim under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, which holds credit providers jointly liable if a contract with a trader is breached.
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