What to do if a product I receive is faulty
Faulty products are between you and the supplier under their warranty terms. The single biggest thing you can do is have your builder check items on arrival — faults flagged on delivery day are very hard for a supplier to argue against. Here's the path from start to finish.
A product can fail at any stage: faulty on arrival, defective during the build, or showing up as a problem months after handover. You bought the item, so your relationship with the supplier is the route to fix it — under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the supplier's own warranty terms.
This article describes the path from start to finish.
The single most important thing — check items on arrival
The biggest difference between a quick supplier resolution and a long one is whether the fault was caught on delivery day. Have your builder open and inspect every delivery promptly. If a fault is visible on day one and is flagged with the supplier the same day, it's very hard for the supplier to argue it's not theirs to fix. Faults found three weeks later, after the item has been moved, stored, and partially handled, get into more difficult conversations.
Build the inspection into the routine. It's worth a few minutes per delivery.
Step 1 — Faulty on arrival
If the item is broken, defective, or not what you ordered:
- Don't accept the item if the fault is visible at delivery. Most couriers will note refused deliveries on the spot.
- If it's accepted and the fault is found later — often the case for boxed items — photograph the issue and contact the supplier the same day.
- The supplier replaces or refunds under their terms. Replacement is usually faster than refund.
Step 2 — Defect during the build
If a product develops a fault during installation or shortly after, the same supplier-warranty path applies. Two things can complicate it:
- The cause may be unclear — product defect or installation issue. Your builder and the supplier may disagree on which.
- The build may need to keep moving while the issue resolves.
Your builder is the right first port of call. They'll often have a view on whether the fault is the product or the installation — and they're the one in the room with the supplier when the question is technical. If a clear product defect, the supplier provides a replacement under their warranty terms. If the question is contested, your builder works it through with the supplier; your build advisor can step in if the conversation isn't getting somewhere.
Step 3 — Defect after handover
The 12-month workmanship warranty covers the way things were installed; product warranties cover the products themselves. Most product warranties run for one year as standard, sometimes longer for specific categories.
If a product develops a fault after handover, your supplier is still the route. Your build advisor can support if the supplier isn't engaging, or if the question of cause comes up (workmanship versus product). The article The 12-month workmanship warranty covers the workmanship side.
Realistic timelines
Suppliers and manufacturers can take weeks to respond formally to warranty claims. Sometimes longer for larger suppliers with internal review processes. We push where we can, but we don't control their timelines. We'd rather be honest about that up front than tell you "any day now" five times in a row. If a faulty product is going to delay something material on your project, talk to your builder about whether the programme needs to flex.
Who pays for what
If the fault is the supplier's or the manufacturer's, they cover the replacement or refund under warranty. Where the fault lies with the supplier or manufacturer, the cost of getting it sorted isn't yours.
A note on Beams's role: we don't typically pay for faulty products. The Beams Customer Agreement and the Home Improvement Contract set out the limited situations where Beams might step in financially — for example, if our paid design service contained a clear error in the design intent we produced and you'd prefer a refund of the design fee to us reworking it. We're not the principal designer on a project, we don't procure on your behalf, and we don't take responsibility for specification choices that sat with you, your builder, or the supplier. The article When Beams covers costs covers the principle.
What this means for you
Have your builder check every delivery on arrival. Flag faults the same day. If a fault surfaces later, contact the supplier, keep your builder in the loop, and lean on your build advisor if a conversation needs unsticking.
Related articles
- How materials work — your role, the builder's role, ours
- Returns of materials
- What to do if a delivery is missing or wrong
- The 12-month workmanship warranty
- When Beams covers costs