Compensation Issue

[andy_art_trigg]

Re: Compensation Issue

Martin wrote:
In law the customer always wins squadman, if they chose to take the matter elsewhere you will be deemed liable. Therefore I suggest that your customer claim for just £50 is very reasonable indeed. They will be happy with that, your reputation will remain intact – job sorted.

Pay up mate and bite your tongue in so doing. :lesson:

Ohh good, that gives me an idea to make some money extorting and threatening small traders. I’ll stick at a sum most people might write off like £50 and just threaten to give them grief, most will pay up me thinks.

I’m not suggesting this situation is definitely a scam, but I would rather pay £500 fighting a just cause than meakly hand over £50 because someone demands it . Personally I think a “reasonable” person wouldn’t dream of demanding a fixed sum and refusing to let the repairer see what happened.

[eastlmark]

Re: Compensation Issue

Dont claim liability but offer a £50 credit note against future repairs as a goodwill gesture.

[aeronaut]

Re: Compensation Issue

Theres a distinct smell of fish on this one – sounds to me like your customer is having a punt to see if they get lucky.

Along with previous posters I recommend lots of photos and talk of insurers etc. Hopefully they will be dissuaded by the suggestion of lots of red tape and realise you are not going to cough up on demand.

Good luck!

[kwatt]

Re: Compensation Issue

I have to say I’m with the majority here as I run a business, not a piggy-bank or charity for customer’s benefit.

And as for your reputation, well I’m sure you don’t want a reputation for being a soft-touch either do you? Just picture the scene, the taxi driver is down the pub with his mates telling them how he got £50 back on the repair by getting one over on you.

Not a nice thought is it?

K.

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: Compensation Issue

Martin wrote:In law the customer always wins

(IMO)False premise, Martin. If that were the case there would be no need for programmes such as “Watchdog” and “Rogue Traders.” Instead we would have programmes like “Rogue Customers” and “Mouser.” 🙂
Maybe UKW should start up a fund using subscriptions towards fighting cases like these.(Although Squadman’s PLI should help him fight it. 💡 Squadman give them a ring and sound them out? ).
Mike.

[iadom]

Re: Compensation Issue

To be honest, I would not lose any sleep if this happened to me. I would refer it straight to my Public Liability insurance company. I have paid them plenty of money over the years to deal with this sort of thing. If they think it is a scam then it is up to them to either sort it or pay up. Not your responsibility at all.

I would most certainly not ‘pay up and bite my tongue’ 😉

[gdownes]

Re: Compensation Issue

Simply tell your customer that he will have to give you mutually agreeable access within normal business hours for you to view the said damage. Also request that he submitts a written claim for you at the time of that visit to be able to pass on to your insurers, inline with your company policy.

You will probably find that he will simply fade away but you will have honoured your committment to care for your customer and your own reputation.

[Martin]

Re: Compensation Issue

iadom wrote:I would refer it straight to my Public Liability insurance company.

Your insurers would be forced to accept liability and pay the claimant in a case such as this. You will then have to stump up the excess premium (usually between £50 and £100 for most policyholders) and your next renewal premium will ramp up accordingly.

leavemetogetonwithit wrote:Maybe UKW should start up a fund using subscriptions towards fighting cases like these

Mentioned in passing more than once in the “Subscribers Forum” 🙄

andy_art_trigg wrote:Personally I think a “reasonable” person wouldn’t dream of demanding a fixed sum and refusing to let the repairer see what happened.

The darned dispenser hose blew off and soak the kitchen floor….and likely as not it was loosened during the backplate removal back in the workshop!!…(Hands up those that think that was what might have happened eh?)..Therefore after the mess has been cleaned up, what’s there to see?

Darned good job it was only the floor got a soaking, could have been a lot worse 😉

[kwatt]

Re: Compensation Issue

Yeah Martin but you know what they’re like, a pint of water is enough to float the Ark according to a customer. Anyway, if it was spotted and cleared up then the damage, even if there is any, would be minimal at best. Only long-term leaks really cause any woes IME.

George is right though and that forms part of what I do when this sort of thing happens, the system is thus…

Arrange to inspect and photograph all damage – Hurdle 1

Ask for the claim to be submitted in writing – Hurdle 2

Refute/rebutt/defend the claim as appropriate – Hurdle 3

Drag it out a bit, take your time – Hurdle 4

That kills most of them and, sadly I had the first one I couldn’t sidpute much in nine years the other week. But I did get the door that was genuinely damaged from the ridiculous claimed value down to something sensible. Customer tried to claim a furniture door on a DW was over £100 in a budget kitchen, it was a Caple DW for Gawd’s sake in a cheapo kitchen but apparently the installer claimed it was a unique top-of-the-line bespoke thing. Google put paid to that argument.

On Hurdle 3, there’s loads of scope to argue about scratched and ripped floors etc., which in almost every instance has been a false claim. So much so I’ve never had one against me for over a decade, to be fair though it doesn’t thankfully happen often either. Generally in conversation I often mention that we are a small company as, more often than not, it is on warranty work that it does happen and the customer assumes that it’s a manufacturer’s engineer that called, often the attitude totally changes when the customer is educated.

But my attitude is that I will defend my engineers work, or mine, to the hilt especially when I either know or suspect that the claim is a load of tosh. If the customer is the type of person that will do that sort of thing then I don’t want them as a customer, I have enough hassles thanks.

K.

[iadom]

Re: Compensation Issue

Martin wrote:

iadom wrote:
I would refer it straight to my Public Liability insurance company.

Your insurers would be forced to accept liability and pay the claimant in a case such as this. You will then have to stump up the excess premium (usually between £50 and £100 for most policyholders) and your next renewal premium will ramp up accordingly.

No excess whatsoever on my policy, premium has been £110 for well over ten years at least.

£2 million cover.

I have referred only two or three cases to them in over 27 years, but of course the do not inform me of the outcome.

Good old Co-op. 😀

[gegsy]

Re: Compensation Issue

What if every customer trys that stunt Martin, not very profitable.
How can we all safeguard ourselves from this?

Greg

[leavemetogetonwithit]

Re: Compensation Issue

Martin wrote:The darned dispenser hose blew off and soak the kitchen floor….and likely as not it was loosened during the backplate removal back in the workshop!!…(Hands up those that think that was what might have happened eh?)..Therefore after the mess has been cleaned up, what’s there to see?

If that is what happened then why should the customer make it so difficult for an engineer to check it out? If he’s a cabbie it shouldn’t be that difficult for him to arrange an hour or two off work.
I’m sure the whole thing could be sorted out amicably without recourse to law if people were allowed to discuss it face to face. IMO the cabbie’s real reason for refusing access is because he’s just trying it on.
Mike.

[gegsy]

Re: Compensation Issue

Taxi for Mike 😆

[Martin]

Re: Compensation Issue

I love reading and contributing to this most fascinating thread. It certainly is showing the ‘trade’ in a true light I must say.

The overwhelming conclusion that the customer is “trying it on”, a “stunt” and and “fishy” motives? Feelings so profound that some would willingly pay £500 to defend a £50 claim to prove the customer wrong or at least win the argument.

Shame on the lot of you then, I hope your ISE customers will not have to suffer through such indignation?

God help them 👿

(You may have noticed that I come from a different school of business acumen that has stood me well in my 34 years of fair trading and the ability to judge fairly and rationally to all my customers.)

[twiggy]

Re: Compensation Issue

Doesn’t matter if it was a fault of the repair or the customer trying it on, the fact remains and trading standards will inform you that when this type of situation occurs,the customers should allow the engineer to rectify the fault and investigate the damage. If not we would have claims coming at us left, right and centre. Now many of the people on this site have been in business nearly the same amount of time as yourself Martin but Fairtrading doesn’t mean letting people get away with claims with out it being properly investigated. If you have the money to give to customers when they claim, you or your engineers have caused damaged with out investigating then that is your choice.
I feel this would do more damage to the business’s reputation and of the engineers.

I have done an NVQ 3 in customer service and I have always been told that the customer is NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, and should not accept this common view. The engineer should not pay any claim until they have carried out the correct procedures, which have been previously stated on this thread.

[Author]

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