Watch out for home improvement deals where you have to pay everything upfront.
That's one of a series of tips issued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to try to curb the problem of homeowners being left with unfinished work after paying for the supply and installation of a fitted kitchen or bathroom.
Which? has long highlighted that it can be difficult to get a job finished properly once you've handed over the entire fee - there's less incentive for the company if you can't hold something back until you're happy with the job.
The OFT has said that it's unfair for consumers to pay everything upfront if installation is part of the job, and it allowed B&Q, MFI, Moben Kitchens, Dolphin Bathrooms and Kitchens Direct to take full payment only if they promised to refer customers' complaints about such problems to an independent adjudicator.
The watchdog has just finished a review of whether this is working in practice. Some companies have agreed to improve the way they tell consumers that they can use the adjudication scheme, called Qualitas.
If you complain to Qualitas, it will hold 20 per cent of anything you've paid while your complaint is being investigated. And, if the dispute isn't resolved, Qualitas can provide a conciliation service and ultimately adjudicate, making a decision that’s binding on the company.
Another tip the OFT has suggested is paying for goods or services that cost more than £100 with a credit card. Under the Consumer Credit Act, you can claim against the card company if something goes wrong and the seller fails to honour the contract.
Kate Kirkland writes in to say that she had been so horrified by the Moben stories featured in this column that she tried vainly to cancel her contract with the company. "What really concerns me is that the contract states I have to pay the balance in full when the units are delivered. This puts me in a weak position if anything should go wrong with the installation," she says. "Is there anything I can do?"
Over to solicitor Keith Teare, a member of interactive-law.co.uk's panel of experts, who says that a demand for payment upfront is not unfair if the terms are made clear in the contract, although he admits "it would be far better if the contract provided for a reasonable retention to be made by the customer until the work is signed off to their satisfaction." Otherwise it is up to the customer to sue for breach of contract if there are unresolved problems
Consumer rights officials campaigning against unfair contracts by home improvement firms have advised buyers against signing agreements which require them to put cash up front. The Office of Fair Trading also claimed a major victory after persuading one of the UK's biggest home improvement companies to drop such a clause.
Surrey-based Limelight Group Plc, which trades under the names of Dolphin Showers, Moben Kitchens and Portland Conservatories, agreed to comply with the OFT's request to scrap a requiring full payment in advance of installation from its standard contract.