My signature was forged

[aytonmupet]

A salesman for a national double glazing company allegedly forged my signature on a contract for a new conservatory. I was never given a copy of the contract so I was not aware of my cancellation rights. When I tried to cancel the contract the company told me that I was outside the cooling off period and would be liable for costs.

I contacted Consumer Direct and they advised me to contact the company and ask for a copy of the contract with my signature on it. When they sent the copy of the contract I noticed that my signature had allegedly been forged and I then realised that I had never signed an installation contract, only a finance agreement.

I referred the matter to Trading Standards and they managed to recover my deposit. After three months of total stress and worry I have received a cheque for the return of my deposit. The letter I received with the cheque was a total insult. It stated that they were sorry that the contract for the conservatory could not go ahead but they hoped that I would contact them for any future home improvements. There was no mention of how sorry they were that one of their employees had allegedly forged my signature.

I know that I have received the return of my deposit but it does not account for the months of stress that the company put me through ,believing that I was going to have to pay for something that I didn't want.

Do you think I should expose the company to the media for the allegedly fraudulent way in which they operated or should I seek legal advice?

The alleged forgery was reported to the Police and I was given a crime number but the Police did not seem too interested in pursuing it as Trading Standards were involved.

I just feel so angry that a company of that size could allegedly allow something like this to happen without acknowledgement or apology.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[buzby]

Only you can decide. But since if you make these accusations and will have to defend them if pursued in court, you'd need all your ducks lined up in a row and be sure you remain unswerving in your ideal to pursue the firm.

 

Add to this, the firm can deny liability, saying that it was a 'freelance agent' that doctored the papers and they accepted them on that basis and were not directly complicit in the fraud. This is where you would become unstuck. It was the salesman (most likely) who perpetrated the the forgery, but exposing him wouldn't really interest anyone. Since the firm probably has more money than you have, they can protect their good name, whilst your money is swallowed up protecting your right to free speech, with no guarantee you will ever be able to say what you want.