Séverine’s house is under construction. Her kitchen should soon be installed, but a point in the conditions of sale challenges her: “It is written that we must pay the kitchen 15 days before the placement” she explains. According to Séverine, this practice is completely illegal, which is why she decided to press the orange Alert us button.
Séverine is a childcare worker for ONE, and decided to build an extension to her house to separate her private and professional life. “We broke everything to place a new kitchen” she says. But when she receives the general conditions of sale by email, she realizes that she must pay for this kitchen in its entirety, even before its installation.
A deposit of 30% had already been paid, however, Séverine does not understand why she is forced to pay such a large sum in one go: “I find it more logical to pay an amount on the kitchen at the time of placement, but to keep this security if there is a concern“Severine explains.I tell myself that if there is any problem, I will have to go back to the after-sales service and I don’t want to leave in the phone calls, the emails…” she laments.
Over the course of discussions with those close to her, Séverine concludes that this practice does not make sense: “We were in a rush to quickly find a kitchen within the given time frame, so we paid the deposit right away and we didn’t argue. If I wasn’t in such a rush, I would have thought twice“.
A common practice
If Séverine was less taken by time, she could have looked for another kitchen designer, but would have had difficulty finding one: “In the sector, as in others, it is a practice that is done regularly“explains Gilles Denis, the president of the Professional Union of Fitted Kitchen Ensembliers (UPEC). Furniture being considered as “real estate” elements of the house, “it is very difficult for us, in case of non-payment, to recover the goods, since they are fixed to the walls“, justifies the latter.
But how can you be sure that your kitchen will comply with what is planned, when everything is already paid for? “The members of UPEC have all signed a quality charter which guarantees optimal after-sales service and professional installation. We are here to make sure everything goes well during delivery. In the event of a problem, we call our members to order and remind them of the quality charter they have signed“, says Gilles Denis.
How to claim your rights?
However, Test Achats does not see this practice in the same light. Its spokesperson Jean-Philippe Ducart believes that “when you ask for full payment, and therefore to cover all the work, it’s a bit suspicious, and you don’t leave under good conditions. At some point, you can’t spare yourself any more recourse“.
The consumer association therefore advises to “Negotiate the payment installments and the purchase order as well as possible. You will probably pay a deposit on signing, a deposit at the start of the work and then you will pay the rest either at two-thirds or at the end of the work.“, explains Jean-Philippe Ducart. The customer is always entitled to negotiate his contract, because “the general conditions, it is not something concrete and which must be imposed on all consumers“he adds.
Currently, there is no specific legal provision prohibiting this practice. The Code of Economic Law, however, says that “compel the consumer to perform his obligations, while the business has not performed its own or is in default of performing its own” can be considered as “abusive”. Only a judge can decide on the abusive nature or not of the clause.