Checkatrade Guaranteed Terms and Conditions
by
Checkatrade

Application of Terms and Conditions

These Checkatrade Guaranteed terms and conditions do not vary Your Membership Terms and Conditions which continue to apply in full.

Please check our FAQs for further information.

1. What is covered?

A Claim for an amount up to the Maximum Value for Sub-Standard Work completed by You in an Eligible Postcode during the Test Period in the West Midlands so long as the Required Evidence is produced, the Eligibility Criteria is met, and no Exclusions apply.

2. Definitions

For the purposes of the Checkatrade Guarantee the following terms shall have the following meanings:

3. Eligibility for the Checkatrade Guaranteed Test:

A consumer may make a Claim under the Checkatrade Guarantee relating to Sub-Standard Work where the following criteria is met:

• The Claim must be directly relating to Sub-Standard Work carried out by You.
• The initial contact for the work with You must have been booked through the Checkatrade website or by using the Checkatrade provided direct phone numbers for You.
• The consumer must have contacted You within the Test Period and the Sub-Standard Work must have been undertaken within the Test Period.
• The consumer must have left a review (positive or negative) of You on the Checkatrade website within 30 days of the Sub-Standard work either being undertaken or the works having been completed.
• The Claim must be made within 12 months of the Sub-Standard Work being undertaken.
• The consumer must provide the Required Evidence.
• A maximum of one Claim per Household per year can be made under the Checkatrade Guarantee. A full year must have passed since any previous Claim has either been paid out to the Household or has been rejected.
• All decisions regarding eligibility of the Claim and any payments made to the consumer by Checkatrade under the Checkatrade Guarantee are made in Checkatrade’s absolute and sole discretion, having undertaken reasonable investigation.

4. How does a Consumer make a claim?

Step 1 – They must contact You as the person who carried out the Sub-Standard Work to go through their concerns:

• They must explain their concerns and the reasons they are not happy.
• Discuss what actions can be undertaken to rectify the situation.
• Allow You the opportunity to rectify the Sub-Standard Work or to reimburse them for any costs incurred or losses suffered.
• They must give you a deadline date for You to resolve (usually 7 days) the situation notifying You that they will submit a Claim on the Checkatrade Guarantee after that date if a satisfactory conclusion has not been reached.

Step 2 – They must gather some Required Evidence as listed below:

Please note, to enable a smooth process and quick resolution, we would expect You to help the consumer obtain such information.

• A quote, estimate or invoice that shows Your registered address and company name proof of the price of the work.
• Proof of when the Sub-Standard work was undertaken.
• Proof of any payments provided to You to date.
• Proof of address where work was carried out.
• Photographic evidence of the Sub-Standard Work.
• A description to use as evidence of the Sub-Standard Work.
• Any record of correspondence emails, texts, phone calls and letters with You.

Step 3 – They must leave a negative review on our site to submit their claim:

If the consumer is unable to resolve the issue directly with You, to submit a Claim under the Checkatrade Guarantee the consumer will leave a negative review on the Checkatrade website.

The team at Checkatrade will:

• use our phone logs and website data to ensure that the job originated through a contact with You via Checkatrade;
• contact the consumer directly to request their Required Evidence; and
• use their review of You and the Required Evidence to investigate your claim potentially using a surveyor where we feel necessary.

The Checkatrade Guarantee represents a form of complaint under the Checkatrade complaints procedure. https://www.checkatrade.com/resolving-issues.

A Claim under the Checkatrade Guarantee is not a substitute for any legal or insurance action that the consumer may wish to take.

5. Evidence from You

Where You have evidence or any information which would be relevant to Checkatrade’s decision to pay under the Checkatrade Guarantee, please provide this to Checkatrade to enable us to take a balanced decision.

6. Decision of Claim and Payment

Once the Claim has been fully assessed, Checkatrade shall notify the consumer of our decision within 2 working days.

Checkatrade’s decision relating to payment shall be final and shall not be subject to appeal by either party.

The amount to be paid for any Claim shall be calculated having taken into account:

• the cost to rectify the work;
• the amount already paid to You and any outstanding balances still due or payments withheld;
• the Required Evidence provided;
• Your evidence provided; and
• where applicable, any recommendation made by our independent third party surveyors.

7. Effect on Membership

Checkatrade reserves its suspension, probation and termination rights as stated in our current Membership Terms and Conditions with you in the event: a) Checkatrade pay out under the Checkatrade Guarantee as a result of Sub-Standard Work provided by you; and/or b) Checkatrade have reasonable grounds to believe that You have not handled the complaint or Claim in accordance with the principles of the Checkatrade Standard and other Membership Rules.

8. Exclusions

The following types of Claims shall not be covered under the Checkatrade Guarantee, please ensure You provide to Checkatrade any information or evidence you might have to demonstrate where the Claim might fall under any of these:

• where the Sub-Standard Work has been sufficiently rectified or costs have been sufficiently reimbursed;
• where You abscond or go out of business before the work commences;
• where You fail to complete the work due to going into liquidation, becoming insolvent or bankrupt;
• where there is damage done to property at a different place from the location of the agreed works. Just for example, You scrape an external wall with Your vehicle or You damage a carpet on the way down from carrying out the agreed works upstairs;
• any amount paid for VAT on the work;
• Any losses or damages arising out of:
  • any temporary fix, which is where You have only provided a temporary solution to an issue and further services are required to provide permanent or long-lasting effects and have communicated this to the consumer;
  • interruption of business, loss of market, loss of income and/or loss of use;
  • theft;
  • damage suffered by any third party;
  • the acts or omissions of you or any third party;
  • the negligence or misconduct of any third party;
  • any losses already covered under a manufacturer or a product warranty;
  • pre-existing damages or conditions of the item or property;
  • add-on or future services
  • trip charges;
  • diagnostic fees;
  • dissatisfaction with price; responsiveness of the business, or cancellations;
  • items supplied by the consumer or due to their recommendations (e.g. the consumer wanted to use a certain type of paint, fixture or fitting, and You recommended against this course of action);
  • ordinary wear and tear; and
  • sentimental and/or undocumented intangible value