New laminate floor, joints going all over the place

[badfloor]

Just out of curiosity did the join that the fitter came back and glued in front of you open up again ???

Sorry for the delay in replying. No, that joint didn't open up again.

Anyway an update:

I left several answerphone messages, none of which were returned, and have now written to them giving 14 days to respond. It was sent recorded to what I now know is the guy I dealt with's home address (he is the company director).

Their website is now down, but the error page pointed me to another flooring site on the same web hosting account, with the domain registered to the same address as the previous site.

I think they've started trading under a different name, although there's nothing posted in the London Gazette to suggest their original limited company is being wound up.

The new site has a different phone number in the same area code, but it belongs to a number forwarding company so it's probably just diverted.

The plot is thickening, unfortunately.

 

[big-all]

thanks for the update much appreciated
hope you get it resolved soon

 

[RogerBoyle]

Sorry to hear that
Fingers crossed for you that things get resolved

 

[enrm6]

I've laid this type of laminate before and the benefit is that you don't have to angle the boards the connect the short sides and then fit a whole row. It was the easiest fit I have done. However, you do have to firmly knock down the short sides and they have to be butted up tight. So in my book they have not been fitted correctly.

Regardless of the underlay the boards should bend under foot pressure as a uniform surface not individually as yours do if they are fitted correctly.

This does not necessarily help you if you cant get the fitters back but, as a last resort, if you have to it would be very easy to pull up the floor and refit it yourself, no tools needed other than a rubber mallet or a block of wood and a normal hammer. Presumably you have beading around the edge, that would need to be removed though.

 

[badfloor]

I've laid this type of laminate before and the benefit is that you don't have to angle the boards the connect the short sides and then fit a whole row. It was the easiest fit I have done. However, you do have to firmly knock down the short sides and they have to be butted up tight. So in my book they have not been fitted correctly.

Completely agree. It's not crap flooring, it just doesn't seem to have been fitted right.

Anyway, it continues... A recorded deliver letter was signed for but still no response.

I didn't think taking them to the small claims court would be worthwhile because even if I won, actually getting the money out of them may well be impossible if they're nowhere to be found. A court judgement is just worthless paper if you can't enforce it.

So, armed with a quote to put it right from another company, I've made a claim against the credit card I paid the balance with under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This makes them jointly liable for goods and services paid for (even in part) with the card.

Now it's time to wait and see what they say. They may argue the toss, or they might just cough up given that I've made every effort to get the original company to sort it. If this works, I hope it might be useful to anyone else here who has a similar tradesman nightmare.