Problems with Marley Eternit Monarch Tiles

Has anyone else reported problems with Marley Eternit Monarch Tiles?

Our new house had these tiles laid in 2006. We chose Marley Contract Services in Glasgow to supply and lay the tiles because the product had a 50 year guarantee on the tiles and the workmanship was also guaranteed for 10 years.

The foreman of the tilers won their company's 2006 Best Laid Roof Prize on our house. We were very pleased with the service received by the contractors. However, we noticed a white deterioration on the double tiles by early 2009 and reported this to Marley Eternit on 20th May 2009.

They sent a rep to inspect the roof in the summer of 2009 who confirmed that the tiles should not have been deteriorating. He advised us that there was a big problem with the coating and it would have to be rectififed by Marley Eternit and many others had the same problem.

We called the company several times asking when the work would be carried out and every time we were advised that the matter was waiting for the company's insurers to carry out their investigations. We wrote to the MD on 13th June 2010 requesting as to when work would be carried out but just received a reply on 5th July 2010 from the Roofing Technical Team Leader saying they were still waiting for their insurers to complete their investigations and we would be contacted once the investigations were completed.

We wrote again to Marley on 22nd November 2010 as we have still had no indication as to when the rectification work will be carried out. We now intend to bring this to the attention of the BBC Watchdog Programme as 18 months have passed with no resolution to date.

Are there other unhappy clients of Marley Eternit who are in the same situation as us as this matter needs to be brought together and resolved?

Have a letter drafted by a solicitors explaining your concerns and have them put something like unless they carry out the work or give you adate for them to be carried out, you will have no choice but to get the work done by a reputable firm and then take legal proceedings to get your cash back.

Yes I have simular problem with these tiles, our roof was tiled in 2004 tiles were a nice grey most are now white would like to make contact with people in same situation

Contact Phillip Wallis, Roofing Technical - Team Leader at Marley Eternit Ltd., the tile manufacturers, Lichfield Road, Branston, Burton on Trent, DE14 3HD. They are well aware of this problem, we are not alone by any means. We have been told that our roof is to be renovated some time this year. We reported the problem in 2009, Marley sent our a surveyor who agreed the problem. Our roof was laid in 2006. We hope this helps.

Hi Carrick

I have the same problem, but have been told it is just weathering and that they will be closing my enquiry. It is clearly way beyond weathering (my roof looks like a chess board after only six years).

Just wondering what it took to get a positive response out of Marley. Did you have to resort to legal action?

We have been told the same however it is definitely not just weathering and Marley are supposed to guarantee their tiles for 50 years.

Reply saying their letter is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE and you will be taking legal action against them. They are just trying to worm their way out of their responsibilities. The Marley Eternit surveyor told us it was a huge problem to Marley as someone altered the coating specification and he also told us that they would have to recoat our entire roof (not replace tiles). Apparently he was so disallusioned by Marley's attitude he left the company.

We have told Marley we are going to take them to court and call John Crosbie (the ex-Marley surveyor) as a witness. We know that some customers roofs have been renovated by Marley Contract Services so why not yours and ours? We have told Marley Contract Services in Glasgow that we will have to take them to court as they were our contractors.

They have passed our letter to their parent company, Marley Eternit Ltd., and we are currently awaiting a reply before proceeding with legal action. Perhaps we should liaise and compare our situations first? We know there are many others out there but contacting others can only be done on the Internet through medias such as this. If you wish to contact us we can take it from there... Douglas

We have today contacted Trading Standards who put us on to www.consumerdirect.gov.uk and were told to fill in a standard template letter - they will tell you which one to complete by calling 08454 040506.

You then have to send the letter by recorded delivery to Marley who have 14 days to reply before further action is taken.

We hope this helps too...

Hi Carrick

I have discussed the situation with a solicitor and they too have advised me to look at starting legal procedings. First I will reply to with standard "reply withing 21 days etc...." warning letter.

I have also ordered a copy of BS EN490, The british standard for concrete roof tiles, to see what it says about acceptable weathering.

I will let you know how I get on.

An update on this situation.

I have had a number of people contact me direct about having the same problem with their Marley Monarch Tiles. Interestingly enough one has a letter where Marley admit in writing that the problem is a 'coating failure'. However Marley have not yet rectified the problem although they have said they will as Marley Contract Services are fully trained in the process.

We have received two letters from Marley Eternit saying the cause is just 'natural weathering' - clearly this is not the cause when the coating on our tiles is rapidly disappearing leaving a grey roof going whiter by the month. We have now sent the two letters (Template #7 and #10) recommended by Consumer Direct (www.consumerdirect.gov.uk) to Marley prior to taking them to court in Scotland.

We know others are about to do the same. You do not expect Marley tiles to start disintegrating after 3 years with a 50 year guarantee and then spend 20 months trying to get them to honour their guarantee and find they are trying to delay and worm their way out of their responsibilities.

We have accumulated a considerable amount of evidence for a legal case against Marley and can only suggest that anyone else in the same situation as us should not let them get away with producing a poor product.

See photo of one of the worst tiles in album.

The stated expected life is 50 years, that is not a 50 year guarantee. A guarantee is they guarantee to do something if something goes wrong. But a guarantee could be uselessly worded as 'we will only say sorry if our product fails'.

Before taking legal action, check all fine details.

Just had my refusal letter this morning (as expected). They made a reference to BS EN 490 justifying that aesthetic changes were allowed, but did not provide a direct quotation. I suspect they have purposefully misinterpreted the specification. Has anyone got a copy they can send me? I though I had it but I instead have BS EN 5534-1.

By the way - why do we have two threads? //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=224625&start=30&sid=40156973c06a389143a67ce70859252d I suggest we stick to the other one as my problem is the same but relates to Marley Marques tiles - it's just the title of this thread might mean we find less interest. And the other thread is longer: 3 pages.

Hi ALL:
20 April 2011.
I have problems too, on my own eight year old house which in a way is perhaps fortuitous given that I am an Architect. I have been fobbed off by Marley who are taking the stance that my now white (and grey mixture)roof tiles are aceptable. I am now going to expose the product problem to the national press, trade magazines, my own professional body etc. They in turn have threatened me with their solicitor.

Matthew W Merchant, Chartered Architect.
Anyone wishing to make contact is welcome.
[email protected]

paulwebber said:

Yes I have simular problem with these tiles, our roof was tiled in 2004 tiles were a nice grey most are now white would like to make contact with people in same situation

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(e patterson ) Yes i have the same problem with my new house roof tiles and completely let down after months of procrastination and thanks for my pations by the house builder macktaggart and mickel the hand crafted house
builder

mr currier of marley stated -if you wait long enough the faulty roof tiles

will all be the same white colour rather than the intended dolour of slate

how rediculous is that. eddie888

I have exactly the same problem and treatment by marley eddie888