Hi Michelle,
Just to clarify:
You submitted plans for a 14m pool for quotation. You were given a price and you decided to go ahead with the building of this pool with the company. However, the company drafted a plan of the pool which was inserted into the contract with an incorrect length (ie. not 14m). Neither you nor the company picked up on this mistake and you signed the contract and build began. Later, you realised the mistake and asked the contractors to vary the length of the pool. You were under the understanding that the costs for the variation would be born by the contractors and not yourselves. You are now being charged $851.00 as a variation fee. Is this correct?
Further, can you answer the following questions:
- Do you have any written paperwork or evidence to support the fact that you asked for a 14m plan of particular specifications?
- Are any of the subsequent conversations supported by written emails or your own notes?
- Does the contract have an express provision specifying the length of the pool? If so, doe it say 14m? If not, how does it refer to the length of the pool?
- Is there any particular reason as to why the length of the pool needs to be 14m (ie. is it for a particular purpose)? If so, did you tell the contractors this when entering into the contract?
- Did the contractors (or their sales representatives) say or do anything that gave you the representation that they would bear the costs of the variation? Do you have any of this representation in writing?
If you are a consumer, meaning: if you bought the pool for personal and private use, then you may call the
Office of Fair Trading in Queensland. They can give you some advice as to what they would expect you and the contractors to do in this situation and may be able to assist you and the contractors in coming to some reasonable resolution. They are a free service that assists in resolving disputes between consumers and businesses (that offer goods and services) as well as a place for providing information and preliminary advice.
You can contact them here:
Contacting Fair Trading
It appears that you have attempted to resolve the matter with the contractors directly and have not been getting a response. In this case, the Office of Fair Trading should be able to assist you, or at the very least, assist in getting the contractors to contact you back and respond to your emails.
