Franklin Windows Ltd

I would leave no stars if possible. Joshua Franklin is a complete con man. He has £15,000 of our money paid as a deposit for windows ordered in May 2015. We do not have windows and Josh does not respond to us. DO NOT USE FRANKLIN WINDOWS THEY ARE FRAUDULENT.

Some years ago Franklins installed 2 bay windows, ground and first floor. Recently the lower window has exhibited apparent movement in the beading of the frame holding the glass sealed unit in situ. As this appears to fall within the guarantee/warranty period I contacted Franklins. On the third attempt the company deigned to answer despite 2 messages having previously been left with them. It was suggested I send photo images of the problem which I did immediately. The response was that 'they would contact their suppliers', since then nothing despite the passage of nearly 3 months. I have on numerous occasions telephoned the company which now, whatever option taken cuts the line dead. The website for Franklins suggests the company is still operating, but I wonder from where. I had a record of their surveyor/salesman, Paul Colthorpe and wrote to him. Result....silence. Checking with Companies House they tell me they have no record of Franklin Windows but other names have been used over the years and the last 'parent' company PADDICO (310) Ltd is currently in liquidation. Now, Franklin Windows Ltd was in administration in October 2014 but was saved by being purchased by Composite Windows Direct (Europe) Ltd and continued to trade under its original name. It is clear to me that management is sorely lacking in customer focus!!!! I will now seek the costs of rectification from the insurance which was included in the original deal...watch for news.

I have reviewed Franklin's on this site and Mr Paul Beardsley has replied on behalf of Franklins to say simply that my review has 'some inaccuracies'. If Mr Paul Beardsley would like to list the inaccuracies I would be grateful so that I can address any points raised and provide the evidence to support the review.

I ordered 2 windows from this company with a promised delivery date of 5-6 weeks. After 8 weeks I had heard nothing so contacted them but numerous calls and e-mails went unanswered. I threatened to cancel the contract and was then given an installation date some 2 months later than that originally promised. We waited in on the appointed day but nobody came! I therefore cancelled the contract and requested the return of my deposit. This too was ignored so I commenced legal action and obtained a CCJ. Only then did the company return my money. All this was under the auspices of the 'new' management you may read about. In addition I was told in writing that my contract was covered by a DGCOS guarantee. This was untrue as the company is not part of that scheme. This misrepresentation is an ongoing matter which I have yet to resolve but I have a sound legal opinion in my favour.

Where to start with Franklin. After searching the market for a supplier of composite windows for a big job on my house I plumped for Franklins, I met up with Josh at an exhibition at the NEC and all seemed to be good. They were members of the DGCOS whch provided good guarantees and also FENSA registered so all checked out. I was after a French door and a large triple glazed aluminium clad conservatory to replace the softwood one in my home. Order was place in April 2014 for the French door to be fitted first followed by the conservatory in the autumn. Total cost £36k. I had to pay £9k up front and a further £9k when Franklin confirmed that they had placed the order with suppliers for the conservatory. These payments were duly made by July 14. The French Door got installed at the beginning of August on the second attempt after Franklin initialy failed to turn up on the planned date. When they did install it, they missed out a filer piece to the top of the door, the installers started touching up the inside of th edoor with paint and overpainted the seals and then it turned out that neither the locks of the threshold strip were thermally broken and therefore on cold days condensation forms on the inside of the door. Franklin promised to rectify these issues when the conservatory got fitted. In September Franklin contacted me to ask for the final stage payment as he claimed he was ready to install the conservatory. He set a start date of the 3rd November and I paid him £8k on the 6th October. When I didn't hear anything further from Franklin in the run up to 3rd November I got a bit suspicious so googled Franklin windows to find that on the 7th Ocober he had gone into administration - I contacted him and was told it would all be OK he had bought back the company and would finish the job. On 3 occasions he told me he had everything needed to complete the job and just needed to arrange a crane - this never happened and in November I was contacted by the supplier to say that they had repossessed the doors/windows as they had not been paid since the initial deposit (they were owed £12k). I then found out that Franklins did not have the roof either and had not paid for it. I contacted DGCOS for support and they advised me that there were a number of other customers in the same position. Despite Franklin giving "personal guarantees" to the administrators that he would complete all exisiting contracts and signing an asset sale agreement that obliged him to complete all existing contracts no progress was being made. They advised me to write to Franklin giving notice to complete the job by a set time or to cancel the job - they would then invoke the guarantee. Notice was given and Franklin failed to respond. After a couple of weeks, in mid January Franklin did make contact again saying they were committment to completing the job. When asked for specific details on how they were going to do this Franklin failed to answer any questions, after further failed promises I served formal notice under the contract to complete the works within a 6 week period or cancel and return my deposits. The 6 week deadline has now passed and Franklin has neither completed the work nor refunded my money. I might just have been unlucky - would you want to take that chance??