Help - Bleach leaked in car!

Sazere

I recently went shopping at Tescos and a bottle of their value 28p bleach leaked in the car boot.

The bottle was placed upright in a carrier bag and stood upright in the car, but the lid was loose it leaked all over the shopping, damaged the carpet in the boot and leaked all over the hood of dd's pushchair.

Upon reaching home and discovering this we telephoned the store and they asked us to return so they could assess the damage and replace the damaged shopping.

This we did, although 16 miles from home to store (only used that store as had dropped kids off at nursery and this was closest store to nursery) and then 16 miles back again. The grocery manager in store replaced the damaged shopping (although the value bleach had been removed from shelves so replaced with Tesco's citrus bleach) and completed a damage report for customer services insurance dept. She said it would not be a problem Tesco's would pay for the carpet and the damaged pushchair that was in the boot. We expressed our concern as have 3 small kids, 1 of whom is disabled and has had breathing problems (smell of bleach very strong).

Now 3 weeks later Tesco's have agreed to pay £50 towards pushchair as it is 8 months old (£150+ originally) and will pay for the carpet if we pay first and send them an invoice. Our car is a Ford Galaxy and the boot carpet runs all the way through the vehicle so it is £487.58 in total for the carpet and fitting at our local Ford dealership.

We only bought the car 2 months ago and have recently returned from holiday so are just not able to pay up front (don't have any credit cards). We asked Ford if they would issue a pro-forma invoice but apparantely they have to open an account first in order to do this. The dealer asked their accounts to do this for Tesco's but were not able to do it.

Tesco's are not compensating for travelling back and forth to store and all the visits to the garage and Mothercare to get quotes for the damage!

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to deal with this situation? Or has anyone any experience of a similar situation? Help!

SaraSeahorse

no experience but sounds great they are offering to pay for damage. Many a store I would expect would argue out of this as they may or may not reasonably expect someone to check lid on properly - not sayign I agree but I am sure some might argue that.

I know I am paranoid about products when I buy and have had spills (not anything as damaging as bleach though) and check lids like crazy.


If you feel you are further out of pocket and rightly so further compensation is in order, it not worth writing to the store regarding the situation and request further compensation? They seemed to have admitted some responsibility as they have offered to pay - saving further petrol expense?

hollydays

Think you have been treated pretty well-amazing for tesco.

Sazere

Oh yes I agree, we were pleased that they are willing to pay for the carpet and part payment for buggy is better than nothing.

But how can we pay nearly £500 in advance for the car's carpet? We are not financially in a position to do so!

Darksun

Can't you take the quote to tesco, or are they refusing to pay up front? Try taking it up with head office if they are

Astaroth

They are unlikely to pay up front as too many people simply pocket the money and never get the repairs done - a cash in lieu of repairs is always a much lower settlement figure (typically 50-70% of the repair value net of VAT).

Clearly you want the car carpet repaired, if tesco cant/ wont open an account with the garage can you not ask the garage for a credit account?

Sazere

Tesco's have the quotes for the new carpet in the car and for a new pushchair. I have asked CS at Head Office to speak to the garage to sort out direct with them. As CS can't understand why Ford Main Dealer will not open credit account for them!

RedOnRed

Sazere wrote:

As CS can't understand why Ford Main Dealer will not open credit account for them!

Typically they'll only open a new account if they're going to do enough business to justify it.

emg

Interestingly, I bought bleach today in Morrisons and there was a notice on the shelf saying 'please make sure you transport bleach carefully and the lid is tight, Morrisons will not be held responsible for any spillages that occur once you have left the store'.

Hope you get your car and buggy sorted out soon.

IvanOpinion

ALWAYS CHECK BOTTLE TOPS ... they are put on by machines and can work loose in transport. I am surprised that Tescos so readily have offered to pay considering at least part of the blame falls on the OP for not checking.

Good luck .. let us know how you get on.

Ivan

Sazere

Well, we have a result Tesco's are issueing cheque direct to garage on the basis of the estimate so once the Ford Dealer receive the cheque they will phone us to book the car in and get the carpet ordered. This is what we suggested originally but was told they couldn't pay before the work was done.

We received £50 cheque yesterday for the pushchair.

So we are very happy and yes we are now obsessed with checking bottle tops and not just on cleaning products! Once work done I will be writing to the CS dept to comment on our dealings, yes it took a while to sort but good service in the end!

Thanks for all your comments on here!