Section 75 and Kitchen Deposits: Claiming a Refund When a Kitchen Company Fails
You paid a deposit for a new kitchen. The company has gone into administration before installation started. Or the fitter stripped out your old kitchen, took the money, and stopped answering calls. You are left with a deposit gone, a half-demolished room, and a job that needs finishing by someone else at your own expense.
If any payment — deposit, stage payment, or balance — went on a personal credit card, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 may cover you for the full amount owed.
Quick check: does this apply to you?
- ✓ You paid at least £1 to the kitchen company on a personal credit card
- ✓ The total contract value was more than £100 and no more than £30,000
- ✓ The company has failed, stopped work, or not delivered what was agreed
- ✓ The problem arose within the last six years (England/Wales) or five years (Scotland)
Not sure? Use the free eligibility checker.
How kitchen contracts work — and why it matters
Most kitchen contracts involve staged payments: a deposit to secure the contract (typically 10–25%), a pre-delivery payment when units are manufactured (often 40–50%), and a balance paid on or after installation.
Kitchen contracts also combine goods (units, worktops, appliances) and services (design, delivery, fitting) under a single agreement. Banks sometimes try to separate the two, arguing that goods were “partially delivered” even when the installation was never completed. That argument does not hold up legally, but it is the most common rejection line you will encounter — so it is worth understanding before you start.
For Section 75 purposes, a supply-and-fit kitchen contract is one agreement. The card provider’s liability relates to the full contract, not just the individual transactions that happened to be paid by card.
Your situation — and what you can claim
The company collapsed before work started. The clearest case. Claim the full deposit and any other payments made.
The company started work but did not finish. Still claimable. You are entitled to the cost of completing the job: what you paid, minus the reasonable value of any work legitimately completed. Get a written quote from another company for the remaining work — that quote becomes your evidence of loss.
Units were delivered but not installed. A kitchen is a supply-and-fit contract. Delivering flat-pack units to your hallway is not delivery of what was agreed. The breach is the failure to install, not merely the failure to supply.
Poor quality workmanship. Harder, and banks scrutinise these more. Section 75 covers services not of satisfactory quality under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, but you will need photographs of the defective work, a written assessment from an independent tradesperson, and correspondence showing you raised the problems and the company failed to address them.
What to gather before you write to your bank
Collect these before writing to your bank
- ▪Original contract, quote, or order confirmation showing the full scope of work and total price
- ▪Credit card statements showing every payment made to the company
- ▪Email or letter confirming the administration, collapse, or failure to proceed
- ▪Photographs — before work started, current state, and any specific defects
- ▪Written quote from another company for completion or remediation — essential for calculating your loss
- ▪Any correspondence where you chased the company and received no adequate response
If the company is in administration, search “[company name] administrator” to find the announcement. Note the administrator’s name — it belongs in your claim letter.
What to say if your bank pushes back
Your bank may say
”The goods were partially delivered.”
A kitchen is a supply-and-fit contract. Delivering components without installing them does not satisfy the agreement. What you contracted for was a completed, fitted kitchen — not a pile of flat-pack units. The breach is the failure to install, and the claim covers the full undelivered value.
Your bank may say
”You should be claiming from the administrator.”
Under Section 75(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the card provider is jointly and severally liable with the supplier. You are not required to pursue insolvency claims first. As an unsecured creditor in an administration you would typically recover very little. Section 75 gives you a direct route to your bank instead.
Your bank may say
”This is a workmanship dispute — not a Section 75 matter.”
Section 75 covers breaches of contract, including services not of satisfactory quality under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If the installation is materially defective and the company has refused to put it right, that is a breach of the contract — and the card provider shares liability for it.
Your bank may say
”We can only refund what you paid on the card.”
Section 75(1) makes the card provider liable for any claim you have against the supplier in respect of a breach of contract. That extends to your full loss — which includes the cost of completing the work by another contractor — not just the amount you happened to charge to the card.
If your bank still refuses
Issue a written rebuttal addressing their stated reasons. If they maintain the refusal, refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of their final response letter. The FOS deals with a significant number of kitchen-related Section 75 disputes and has consistently rejected the “goods partially delivered” argument where the installation contract was not fulfilled.
See our Financial Ombudsman escalation guide for what to include.
What to do now
Get a completion quote — contact another kitchen company and get a written quote for finishing the job. This is the most important document for calculating and evidencing your loss.
Gather your evidence — contract, credit card statements, photos, administration announcement, and the completion quote.
Write to your card provider’s disputes team — by email or recorded post, citing Section 75(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. State what was paid, what was not delivered, and the cost of completing the work. Do not phone.
Ready to write the claim?
The Section 75 Claim Pack is a plain-English PDF workbook with a template letter citing the correct legislation, an evidence checklist for supply-and-fit contracts, rebuttal templates including the partial delivery argument and the administrator deflection, and a Financial Ombudsman complaint letter. £6.99, no subscription.
Get the claim pack — £6.99Last updated: 2 May 2026. See also our complete Section 75 guide and our Section 75 vs chargeback guide.