# Advice re broken front door and what to do next?



## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

Good evening all and thanks for reading my post. I'm not looking for people to take my side but I would appreciate peoples honest advice on what they would do. So the story,

About 7 years ago when we moved into our current house we had new double glazed windows all round and a new UPVC front door. We have had nothing but trouble with this door including the locking mechanism totally failing and having a further 2 barrels changed. Last weekend the door felt odd when I locked it. Its the type of door that you list up the handle to enable you to lock the door. My wife rang the people who fitted the door to advise them we had a problem and like last time we were concerned about it failing totally. The man on the phone was apparently very rude to my wife but after she pushed he sent someone out. The guy who arrived acknowledged there was a problem but stated he needed to order parts which wouldn't be in until the end of the week. My wife asked what we should do if the locking mechanism totally failed (like last time) the guy promised it wouldn't he sprayed it with his magic oil and said it would be good. later they phoned my wife to say they couldn't fit us in until 10 days later.

Fast Forward to last night. My wife is alone with the kids (7 and 4) and the door won't lock. She tries everything inc getting my dad round but nothing. The mechanism was totally shot, lifting the handle up no longer engaged the dead bolts therefore the door could not be locked. I wasn't home and the kids were both crying because the door couldn't be locked and they were scared of these bloody twats dressed as clowns. it was 6:00 when this happened and she called the company but they finished work at 5:00 and have no emergency number. She rang again to leave a message on the off chance someone was there to pick up. As it was now dark as well she had no choice but call out an emergency locksmith to make the door so it could be locked and was safe. So £250 later was had a door that locked temporarily as the 5 bolt locking system was now a 2 bolt system as the locksmith only had a universal mechanism and not one designed for that door.

This morning my wife understandably upset and frustrated rings the company who will still not come out to fix the door and are point blank refusing to pay for the locksmith. 

So my question is what would you guys do? legally and morally should they pay the bill and should they come to still fix the door back to its original condition?


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

Legally and morally I'd want the company to be paying (not safestyle is it) got issue with mine and they have been out seven times. Ive lost all hope

But for the safety and security of my missus and kids I would be getting a new door asap if there was a chance it could fail and be left unlocked.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

FENSA registered installer? http://www.fensa.org.uk/faqs.aspx#


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## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

Shiny said:


> FENSA registered installer? http://www.fensa.org.uk/faqs.aspx#


I'll have to check. I forgot to say the door is covered under a ten year warranty which we are still well within.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Most likely they will be FENSA if they offer a 10 year guarantee. They normally issue a FENSA certificate after installation. 

Failing that, may be worthwhile checking if you have any Legal Advice/Expenses cover under your home Buildings/contents insurance.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

I've worked in construction my whole life and mostly in the double glazing side of things. If a company won't come out and sort an issue under warranty then that's very poor. They will have their own cover on an early mechanism failure, even if it's outside their own cover it's a minimal expense to pay themselves 

Sounds like someone who just sees £££ signs and has no customer interests at heart. I would personally write them a letter, recorded delivery, stating everything that happened and send them an invoice for the cost of the locksmith. See if they are fensa registered, even if they company end up fobbing you off completely, you can get some satisfaction in the grief they will get from fensa, it will cost them a fair chunk if fensa come out to Inspect etc 

It's unfortunate that the mechanism failed between them ordering and fitting, that can't be helped really, the mechanism do take a while to be delivered. They have no legal obligation to pay for the locksmith but morally they should. They certainly should have no issue with replacing the mechanism under warranty


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## sshooie (May 15, 2007)

Sadly they have more than likely filled their obligations by (eventually) coming about and ordering a part. These companies pay to be in the governing bodies and FENSA won't give a **** sadly, you will get a generic apology imo but won't see a penny of the locksmiths fee.


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

Well worth getting home emergency cover for this sort of stuff.

Same thing happened to my window lock. It wouldn't lock properly and was unsecure so gave home emergency a ring and they came out and made it all secure.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

sshooie said:


> Sadly they have more than likely filled their obligations by (eventually) coming about and ordering a part. These companies pay to be in the governing bodies and FENSA won't give a **** sadly, you will get a generic apology imo but won't see a penny of the locksmiths fee.


Kick up enough fuss and fensa certainly get involved. Whilst this might not help sort the situation or get the company to pay out anything, it will at least cause them grief and cost. Any call outs against a company are charged to them and it's not cheap


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

Ask the company to send you the complaints policy , that may wake them up as said the word reasonable may come to the fore, read the guarantee again. Ten days seems a long time, with an unsafe house, we used our back door when we had an issue with locks although they did come round plus fix the lock,even newer items are sometimes faulty.

Good luck, John Tht.

http://doubleglazingcompanies.com/double-glazing-blog/2011/07/a-new-ombudsman-scheme-for-the-double-glazing-industry/


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

Ok being part of a family business with over 25 years trading in Ipswich i will give you my 2p worth. 

If it was us we would of come and looked and the door and seen that the door needs a new door mechanism we would of then advised you if possible to use another door within the property whilst the new part is on order just incase the door does complete fail. I would say some manufactures would take up to a week to get the new part to us. In regrades to the locksmith its a bit of a tough one I've never had this issue as i have an emergency number incase of these issues. Personally i think you will struggle with getting the money back for the lock smith as i can guarantee the company will say the lock mech has not been maintained correctly. 

I expect you will not have a FENSA certificate for the front door, you will only get a FENSA certificate if the door you replace has 50% or more total glass area or if the door has top/side lights or decorative side panels as they are classified as windows which require registration.


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