If you pay a business to provide a service and it's sub-standard, you can ask them to fix the problem under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

If they have not completed the work, they might be in breach of contract and you have rights under both the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Contract and Commercial Law Act. But they might not liable if the reason they couldn't finish was something out of their control.

The Consumer Guarantees Act covers services usually bought for personal or household use.
How to complain

Your rights
When a business supplies you with consumer services there are four guarantees that apply under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA).

1. Services will be provided with reasonable care and skill
Any work done must be at least as good as the work of a competent person with average skills and experience for that type of work.

Reasonable skill is about applying technical know-how. Reasonable care is how much care is taken to do the job properly.

2. Services will be fit for purpose
When you have told the service provider what work you want them to do and they accept the job, they must make sure you get what you want.

If the service provider can’t guarantee the work will give you the result you want, they have to tell you before they start the job. But they can’t get out of their responsibilities by warning you that the job may not be satisfactory if they are inexperienced in that trade.

However, if you are not clear about what you want, the service provider might not be responsible if you don't get it.

3. Services will be done within a reasonable time, if no timeframe is agreed
If you and the service provider have not agreed on a time to finish a job, the provider must do so within a reasonable time. Reasonable time is judged on the time it takes a competent person who works in that type of job to complete the task.

4. Services will be a reasonable price, if no price is agreed
If you and the service provider have not agreed a price for the job, you only have to pay a reasonable price. You can work out what a reasonable price is by finding out what other providers in your area are charging for similar services.

These guarantees apply automatically whether or not you sign a contract.

The work should also be completed in a reasonable timeframe but make allowances for things like weather.

If work is not completed
You have two sets of legal rights for work that’s not completed:

The guarantees listed above under the Consumer Guarantees Act.
Remedies for a breach of contract under the Contract and Commercial Law Act (CCLA).
If the contract includes a completion date and a fixed price, then not meeting either or both terms could be a breach of contract.

You can use the CCLA when the CGA doesn’t apply, eg a breach of contract involving commercial services or private sales.

Unexpected major events
Suppliers may not be liable if work can't be completed because of events beyond their control, also called "force majuere". Examples include:
major natural disasters, eg flood or earthquake
unavoidable accidents.
Your next steps depend on what's set out in your contract with the supplier, eg they will:
continue to do parts of the service not affected by the event
do what they can to overcome such an event
restart work as soon as possible.



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