Terms & Conditions

Please read this document carefully as it will tell you everything you need to know about the terms and conditions on which we will deal with each other.

Contract means the agreement between the Customer and the Company to carry out the works of which these terms form a part and (where these terms are a schedule to a signed agreement between the Customer and the Company (the agreement) the agreement, works means the work described in the Company's estimate and/or as referred to the Company's work detail sheet or any other document or email issued by the Company, as maybe varied by agreement in writing between parties.

For the purposes of these terms, in writing includes by email and any document which is set out in a hand held device and any signature on a hand held screen shall be treated as in writing. In these terms words importing the masculine gender also include the neuter and feminine gender and words importing the singular number include also the plural number, where the context so requires.

This contract can be entered into verbally over the phone as well as in writing.

In the interest of our customers we would ask them to always check and approve the following:

• The working times, breakdown of labour and materials are clearly and accurately shown on the invoice.
• The material collection times have been kept to a minimum.
• That mobile phone usage has been kept to a minimum and has been solely job related.
• That breaks have not been charged for.
• That any queries are resolved with the operative at the time.
• Should you have any unresolved queries, require further information or fail to be completely satisfied with our work please ring us and we will deal with the matter immediately.

7.1 Where a written estimate has been supplied to the customer the total charge to the customer referred to in the estimate should not exceed the actual time taken by more than 20% but may be revised in the following circumstances:

• If after submission of the estimate the customer instructs the company (whether orally or in writing) to carry out additional works not referred to in the estimate.
• If after submission of the estimate there is an increase in the price of materials.
• If after submission of the estimate it is discovered that further works need to be carried out which were not anticipated when the estimate was prepared.
• If after the submission of the estimate it is discovered that there was a manifest error when the estimate was prepared.
• Unless otherwise specified by the Company in the relevant estimate, an estimate is not a firm or fixed price quotation. It is an estimate of the likely minimum cost of the works, based on the information made available to the company. The company's final price will be calculated on the basis specified in the estimate, if any or if none, in accordance with the Company's standard rate applicable at the time the works are carried out and may be increased above (but not reduced below) the specified price. Furthermore the company reserves the right to increase the price before carrying out the works by an amount equivalent to any increase to the company in the cost of relevant materials, labour, equipment hire or transport since the date upon which the company's estimate, written, emailed or oral was given save that if this would increase the estimated price by more than 10%, the client may cancel the company provided, they must do so before the works begin or before any relevant materials are ordered or any relevant equipment is hired.
• The Company's standard hourly rate is available for inspection on the Company's website (kensingtonengineers.co.uk). There is a minimum charge of one hour on all instructions. Charges after the first hour are made by the quarter hour, rounded up to the next quarter hour.

7.2 Unless the Company provides the Customer with an estimate which is accepted by the Customer in accordance with its terms, all Works will be charged on the basis of the Company's standard hourly rate applicable at the time the works are carried out.

7.3 Any estimate by the Company is subject to withdrawal by the Company at any time before receipt of an unqualified acceptance from the Customer and shall be deemed to be withdrawn unless so accepted within 28 days from its date.

7.4 An estimate is based on the information made available by the Company to the Customer. If during the conduct of the works it becomes apparent to the Company that that information was either incorrect or insufficient in any respect that the Company considers to be material, the Company reserves the right to inform the Customer and to increase the estimated price to take account of the revised information.

7.5 Material collection, collection of non-stock items is chargeable but:

• Time must be kept to a minimum & reasonable.
• The customer must be informed wherever possible when the operative leaves the premises.
• It sometimes can take up more than 1–3 hours to allocate and attain non-stock items but the charge will be kept for maximum of 1 hour of the applicable hourly rate.
• Only one engineer is allowed to leave the job to collect the parts.
• The collection of materials which should be normally stocked items is non-chargeable.

7.6 Unless otherwise stated, the price and all estimates provided by the company are shown exclusive of value added tax which will be payable in addition where properly chargeable.

7.7 The total charge to the Customer shall consist of the cost of materials supplied by the Company (not exceeding the trade purpose price of materials + 25%) and the amount of time spent by the operative in carrying out works (including all reasonable time spent in obtaining unstocked materials) charged in accordance with the company's current hourly rates. The customer shall only be charged for the time spent related to the customers work. All other time, personal mobile calls etc. is non-chargeable. All charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate except in cases where work carried out is zero rated.

7.8 Key collection fee can be charged between half an hour to one hour on the hourly rate at any time.

7.9 Any work the company takes on which involves having to get any material/parts, the company will always require 100% DEPOSIT of the cost of material/parts up-front before the company can proceed with the work. The company will always require 75% DEPOSIT of the total estimated price for the whole work project that is worth under £1,000 up-front and will require 100% DEPOSIT of the total estimated price for the whole work project that is worth above £1,000 up-front before the company gets any material/parts regardless, otherwise the company has the right to refuse to accept and proceed with the work project until the deposit has been paid in full. The rest of the payment is to be paid to the company on completion / the end of the visit the same day.

7.10 The company shall not be under any obligation to provide an estimate to the Customer & shall only be bound (subject as hereinafter) by estimates given in writing to the Customer & signed by a duly authorised representative of the company. The company shall not be bound by any estimates given orally or in which manifest errors occur.

7.11 The charges we quote / estimate do not include the following:

• Unforeseen repairs identified or needed due to design faults in your current system at the time of the agreed work being carried out;
• Improvements which are needed to your system or infrastructure or any work needed to bring your system or installation up to current standard;
• Gaining access to your system (materials and labour) – for example, pipes or wiring buried in walls or 'built-in' appliances;
• Removing any waste such but, it may be possible for us to do this work for you at an extra cost which we will agree in advance; or
• Lifting carpets or other floor coverings that is required before we can commence work and replacing them once the work is complete.

Where the date &/or time for works to be carried out is agreed by the Company with the Customer, then the Company shall use its best endeavours to ensure that the operative shall attend on the date & at the agreed time. However the company accepts no liability in respect of the non-attendance or late attendance on site of the operative/engineer or for the late or non-delivery of materials.

If the customer cancels their booking/instructions prior to any work being carried out or materials supplied then the customer shall be liable for any related expenditure together with the profit that would have been made by the Company had the work been carried out &/or materials supplied in accordance with such instructions.

If a customer claims a recall, they need to advise our engineers within 7 days of the date of the successful completion of the job. If upon inspection the fault is within our engineer's previous scope of work, then we will rectify the workmanship. If the fault is outside of the previous scope of works, then the visit becomes chargeable at the same rate. Payment method must be provided at point of booking the recall.

The Guarantee will become null & void if the work/appliance completed/supplied by the Company is:

• Subject to misuse or negligence.
• Repaired, modified or tampered with by anyone other than a Company operative. The Company will accept no liability for, or guarantee suitability; materials supplied by the Customer & will accept no liability for any consequential damage or fault.

Where the Company agrees to carry out works on installations of inferior quality or over 10 years old at that date no warranty is given in respect of such works and the company accepts no liability in respect of the effectiveness of such work or otherwise.

The company shall be entitled to fully recover costs or damages from any operative / engineer / contractor whose negligence or faulty workmanship results in the company being made liable for those damages or rectification of the work.

Goods supplied and delivered by us to you, or your premises, shall remain our property until paid for by you in full. Whilst goods remain our property we have the absolute authority to:

• Retake, sell or otherwise deal with or dispose of all or any part of these goods.
• Enter any premises, at any time and without notice, in which goods or any part thereof is installed, stored or kept, or is reasonably believed so to be.
• Seek a court injunction to prevent you from selling, transferring or otherwise disposing of such goods.

The risk in such goods will pass to you on delivery to you. You must insure them at replacement value, and if asked you must produce evidence that they are properly insured.

The company shall only be liable for rectifying works completed by the company & shall not be held responsible for ensuring damage or claims resulting from this or other work overlooked or subsequently requested & not undertaken at that time.

An emergency repair/maintenance booking is where a booking for an engineer is required to attend on site within 7 days from the booking date. Any emergency repair/maintenance booking is subject to a non-refundable booking deposit. A non-refundable booking deposit is required for an urgent response from an engineer. If the job has already been accepted by one of our engineers then we will have to charge you for the time allocated for that job.

The customer should be liable for:

• Any loss, damage or injury, whether direct or indirect or consequential resulting from failure or delay in the performance of the customer obligations under these terms.
• Providing all necessary power and clean water supply for the Company use in the execution of the contracted works.
• The safety of both plant and machinery belonging to or hired in by the company or its operatives, agents or sub-contractors and shall indemnify the company against its loss theft or damage.
• When we get credit/debit details for security of the bookings, we reserve the right to charge the card for any costs. This means the card given can be used for labour cost, material, damage or any losses with regard to non-notice cancellations or payment refusal which will bring loss to the company.
• The credit/debit details are kept for the purpose of booking, material, deposit and completion of the business. If the customer intends to refuse to pay the bill or is not contactable for the payment this means the customer breaches the contract and we do have the right to charge the card which is given.

Unless agreed in writing between the parties, the Customer will be responsible for the removal from the site of all waste materials resulting from the works.