newbie vans
New Member
Just a word of warning on contracts and deposits. In February I agreed to have a lot of work done including installing a pop top roof from what I understood was a reputable convertor Slidepods. I paid a deposit of £500 and an additional £5000 to order the roof as I was very worried about the current climate of shortages etc. They couldn't fit me in until the second week of June. They sent me some written terms and conditions with no mention about deposit and instalment refunds. There was one email about the deposit £500 being a refundable deposit. I do remember discussion over the phone about liability for the roof once ordered, which was fair enough. I became anxious in early April about the whole project (the massive expense and also that I wasn't happy with all aspects of what was offered/choices) and phoned to see if the roof was ordered. They hadn't ordered the roof so I phoned to try to cancel but was told that as there was now under 2 months to go before the book in date. I would be liable for £100 per day of time in the workshop for 3 weeks unless they could fill the spot. They told me that this term was told to me in our verbal discussions. I didn't remember this and had relied on emails and written terms. This would mean cancelling could cost possibly £1500 if I didn't go ahead. After much negotiation they offered that I could go ahead with work or loose £500. They said that they had someone to partially fill the spot at that time but weren't prepared to refund any of it until after the slot was completely filled. £500 is still quite a lot, so to not loose the money I then decided to to go ahead, but wanted to check that they would be able to get all the materials in on time. I asked them to confirm that they either had the stock or that their suppliers currently had stock, because I had a holiday at the end of July. At that point they couldn't give me any reassurance and simply referred me to their terms and conditions which says that they are not liable for delays if stock is unavailable. At this point I lost total confidence and sacrificed £500 for peace of mind. I get that some admin and time was involved but surely that couldn't be more than say £100 worth of inconvenience. I could go to the small claims court and have been advised to do so, so I'm thinking about it but its a lot of hassle. My warning to others is - be clear and get in writing clear terms about refunds on deposits and payments towards materials. If a convertor orders in materials for you, then its fair enough that you are liable for these unless they can easily sell them to someone else, but do not assume that you can cancel, even if you have give a lot of notice, the convertor hasn't purchased anything for you and can't give any guarantees that your work will be done on time. My final warning is that indecision and lack of confidence in your converting decisions could cost you money. Back to the drawing bored for me and the search for a convertor that I can trust.
