power cut damages TV - compensation ?

firequeen_2

Hey there!

I had a similar problem with undeniable surges on my supply - the energy network admitted a broken jumper on the high voltage network was to blame. It tried to earth through my phoneline and hence cost a lot of money to rectify the BT connection, and replace the cordless phone, modem, microfilter etc etc.

The energy network claimed no liability on the basis of the Electricity Regulations Act (1989) which prevents supplier liability in the case of unforseen problems. If you can argue your problem was forseeable they will cave and offer compensation. I did some sniffing around and on speaking to neighbours, found that this was not an uncommon problem in this area, and people were pretty fed up about it. I told the SP Energy Networks that if this was indeed the case, then the problem was obviously forseeable and therefore they were liable. I also made it clear that I would take my complaint to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Funny old thing, they rang back within 48hrs, and offered to pay for the BT callout and engineering costs. They made out that they still refused to accept liability, but were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.

Now I'm not sure whether to take the money and run, or press on to try and tackle the ongoing supply problem, but either way, I'd like to encourage anyone with a similar problem to apply a little pressure, it gets results!

olly300

firequeen wrote: »

Hey there!

I had a similar problem with undeniable surges on my supply - the energy network admitted a broken jumper on the high voltage network was to blame. It tried to earth through my phoneline and hence cost a lot of money to rectify the BT connection, and replace the cordless phone, modem, microfilter etc etc.

The energy network claimed no liability on the basis of the Electricity Regulations Act (1989) which prevents supplier liability in the case of unforseen problems. If you can argue your problem was forseeable they will cave and offer compensation. I did some sniffing around and on speaking to neighbours, found that this was not an uncommon problem in this area, and people were pretty fed up about it. I told the SP Energy Networks that if this was indeed the case, then the problem was obviously forseeable and therefore they were liable. I also made it clear that I would take my complaint to the Ombudsman if necessary.

Funny old thing, they rang back within 48hrs, and offered to pay for the BT callout and engineering costs. They made out that they still refused to accept liability, but were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.

Now I'm not sure whether to take the money and run, or press on to try and tackle the ongoing supply problem, but either way, I'd like to encourage anyone with a similar problem to apply a little pressure, it gets results!

You are allowed to take the money and post on as many opinion sites as you like on the internet telling the world the name of the electricity supply company responsible.;)

mkcheznous

I should have posted back on this ages ago so sorry for that but anyway some info for others in the same boat.

I tried to complain via my MP who did write a letter but all I got was the standard "we are not liable" reponse for EON.

I then pursued it with John Lewis who originally did not want to know (TV was one week past a 5 year warranty) but after I mentioned the Sales of Goods act agreed to repair the set. I would recommend this route if your TV is under 6 years old.

PNPSUKNET

sounds like the transformer on the tv has gone, does the red light where the power button just flash? if so its a comm fault of sony costs £80 to repair