“Sorry of the lengthy review. There were too many issues to summarise. But if you are reading I would suggest not using this company at all before it is too late.
11th March – had quote from Graham Warr. Who was very professional and did a great job. We were initially only interested in a new front door but went for windows as well.
23rd March – we agreed to the quote and was told verbally 6-8 weeks for installation. I didn't grumble when we finally got a date of the 17th June (11-12 weeks)
16th June – (the day before installation) I received a call to say the front door was not ready and they cannot even give me an estimate when it will be.
I suggested we cancel the order as I didn’t want to go ahead without all the work being completed.
Because the windows were ready I could not cancel the whole contract, only the door.
18th June – After speaking with Stuart Timbers General Operations Manager. We reluctantly agreed for the windows to be installed as we ‘are in contract’ and would need to pay for the windows anyway.
During installation I met the Area Manager Darren Leah who joked how busy they were and how much money the company had made that year (Over £2 million) as this was the excuse for the tardy after service. I asked about compensation due to the issues and he said he would need to review and only offer a gesture of goodwill once the work was completed.
After installation we noticed a blemish in one of the windows which Fineline suggested to replace.
16th July – Finally the new door was installed but faulty window still needed to be along with the side window of the front door.
During the next 6 months Fineline come out numerous times to replace the windows. Each time there was a different problem mostly highlighted by the fitters, not us.
During all of the below visits, not once was Glass and Glazing Federation standards mentioned. Had they of been it would of saved many hours and stress for all involved.
1st visit was due because there was an air bubble in your fixed unit and the flag window was the wrong glass. VISTED 30/07 PM
2nd Visit was to replace a sealed in your bedroom and replace the flag window again due to damaged VISTED 23/09 AM
3rd visit was to replace the bedroom sealed unit and flag window again due to damages VISTED 05/11 PM
4th main bed unit was replaced – damaged VISTED 16/11 PM
5th visit main bed unit was replaced again VISTED 03/12 PM
- Once they brought the wrong size window.
- Only turning up with one window (not two that needed replacing)
- Turning up at different times than specified.
In the end I phoned the Area Manager Darren Leah and begged and pleaded with him to make sure that when the last window was replaced for someone to check it to make sure it was ok.
3rd December – the last window is installed and my wife highlights a scratch and finger print marks inside the glass. I immediately call Darren for him to come and see first hand. He says that he personally inspected the glass and there were no issues.
Darren came to my house and came across very dismissive and rude and He also said that the blemishes do not need to be corrected if you cannot see at a 3 meter distance. This is industry standard and we should have been told.. again why this was mentioned 6 months previously is beyond me.
Darren states rudely ‘that we haven’t even paid anything yet’. He had stated previously we wouldn’t need to pay until the work had been finished.
I asked him at this stage about the compensation and he offered £100 gesture of goodwill.
I felt given all of the above, this was insulting and unacceptable and asked him to leave my property.
I then called and left a message for Stuart Timbers to call me back to discuss.
9th December – Nearly a week later and I had no call back from Stuart. He did however send me an email asking me to pay my invoice and £100 Gesture of Goodwill had been applied. If we didn’t pay then 4% interested would be applied.
14th December – I had a number of outstanding questions unanswered which I chased but was responded to that if I didn’t pay then ‘then we will have no choice but to apply the interest as per the terms of the contract and pass to our Group Legal Team for recovery of the full debt’
I paid the balance reluctantly to finally end the nightmare and Fineline agreed to install the original window again.
I had copied in the MD Peter Wheeler in the last few emails as I read an article this year from him saying that customer care is their number one priority. I had no response from him directly and feel that their only priority is taking peoples money.
Avoid this business at all costs!”
