HELP required. Don`t even know where to start

[liamspiers]

Hi there,

Here is my situation of which i require some assistance.

13 months ago i moved into a new build 3 bedroom townhouse built by McTaggart & Mickel. Prior to moving in we were informed by the sales rep to one of our many questions that BT and Telewest (now Virgin Media) had pre-ran all of the cables required to provide their services into the house so that no future digging of pavements, gardens and running of cables etc would be required in the future. Great i thought. For the first year we decided to go with BT as could not afford any form of TV package through Virgin or getting Sky installed.

However, i just signed a contract with a Virgin Sales rep who came round to my house and paid £25 installation fee. The Virgin Techinician arrived on the installation date and got the telephone service up and running but stated he could not get the TV service working as there is a cable missing.

There is two cables which run through the front of the house under the floor to the back of the house. (one is the telephone cable and the other the TV cable). It looks like the TV cable is lost under the floor somewhere or been cut for some reason somewhere. I asked Virgin what they were going to do about it of which they have came back and said that they contracted all the cabling work out to the house builders so not there problem.

MacTaggart and Mickel have agreed that they ran all the cables and sent out one of their guys to have a look but said there wasn`t anything he could do as he couldn`t get access under the floor. I have asked the sales rep what they are going to do and their answer is that they will have a look under the floor but said that I would need to lift my laminate flooring myself. Ok since moving in we have fitted the laminate floor but to me thats not my problem they can`t get under the floor. I for one don`t wont to be damaging my floor by removing it and think they Mac & Mick should be doing this...???

Where do i go from here. Surely the builder should be required to sort all this out and any damage to the laminate floor when removing under their 2 year warranty..?

I ovbiously want Virgin as i don`t want a Sky dish on house and is also a selling point when i sell the house. Who knows, Sky could be bankrupt when i sell that house and i`ve to try and sell it without being to recieve Virgin unlike the other 240 houses they have built.

Any help much appreciated.

Sorry about the length. All new to me this.

Regards
Liam

[Tony]

My response would be 'I'll arrange for the laminate flooring to be lifted, but who should I ask the contractor to send the invoice to.'

Logically it is the developers responsibility - they should have checked this before the house was handed over.

Kind regards,

Tony

[liamspiers]

Thanks for the reply Tony..

Do you think its a case of getting in touch with the NHBC since i`m getting no joy with the builders..?

[Bugbait]

I agree with Tony, it's the responsibility of the builder. If you get no joy from them then contact NHBC but don't hold your breath.