repair man flooded kitchen and ruined flooring

cross_in_coulsdon

i have rented a washing machine and yesterday they came to unhook the old one and plumb in the new one.
however while i was signing the contract the guy started fiddling around the pipes to get the old one out.
i heard a masive whooshing noise, ran to see what was happening and was greated by high pressured mains water (?) shooting out of the cupboard under the sink where the guy was trying to stop it. 10 mins later and we are still fumbling around trying to find a flat screw in one of the drawers, his apprentice was idly standing watching till i screamed at him to go get one from their van. After about another 5 mins with water still gushing everywhere, it had made a swimming pool of my kitchen and seeped down the hallway into the bathroom and even as far as the front room and bedrooms. Finally the guy managed to stop it and then the clean up operation began. It fell to me to organise them, finding millions of towels which we had to ring out constantly. They had no equipment with them in case of such situations. Then it dawned on me they hadn't looked for the stop clock before they started and when i said this they said "well the trouble is love it could be anywhere in these flats" which i though was a crap excuse.
They called their head office who sent a manager and "clean up staff" though they did nothing to clean up and though the first 2 did help initially to clean up, I did the vast majority.
anyway they said it was the fault of "dodgy council plumbing" that there was a peice of copper that was too short and said they had turned off the drinking water and thank you very much and good bye. oh and p.s. to call them when i had got a plumber round to fix the pipe work. I am a single mum to a small child and couldnt get hold of the council housing people to get the water put back on. i was furious, they said it was the fault of the council and washed their hands, my arguement being that their empolyee tampered with the pipes, they should deal with it.
the plumber arrived and said there was nothing wrong. he didnt understand why they capped the drinking water but he put in a new stop clock under sink.
i finished tidying up and noticed that the stinky water had seeped under my wooden floor so that it squelches when you walk on it, the groves are all warped, the beading round the edges of the room are warped and they split the beading where they got the old machine out.
i saved up for 5 yrs to get this flooring and it was only put down a yr and a half ago.
am i entitled to compensation for the damage??
stupidly i dont have house insurance

fingers crossed i will get my rented machine on monday

nickj_2

i would have thought it was their fault - they should have switched off the mains asap once the water started gushing out
if you don't have any joy with them go to citizens advice

totalsolutions

They should have indemity insurance, claim on them and name them here.

kaya

they are morons, if it was a straight swap over of one machine to another the only thing that caused the leak was there idiocy, all the pipe fittings would be identical and all they needed was to unscrew and refit some hoses, i would be suing them for all the repairs, how can they even attempt to blame the council ?, there was no leak when they turned up so how can it be anybody elses fault other than there own? after 20 years of fixing washing and laundry equipment these people never cease to amaze me, i think i should set myself up as an expert witness to these debarcles- i would make a fortune!

cross_in_coulsdon

forbes rental in redhill

i think i will go to citizens advice, but should i approach the company first to see what they say??

ormus

yes always.
you must give the company the opportunity to correct any issues/problems.
if you get no joy, then you can take other action.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Floorboards, carpet, underlay, carpet grippers, skirting boards & plaster board etc will all suffer depending on the water level.

Its the fault of the installer, no one elses.

CouponWoman

I had a similar problem a few years back.

We had oil central heating at the time and wanted it changing to gas. I got British Gas to do it, they had to take out the complete oil system including radiators and replace with new combi boiler and radiators etc.

On the first day the fitter who was taking out the oil boiler did not drain the oil first and it poured all over my floor in the kitchen, the tiles and floorboards were soaked with it. I was at work and came home to a right mess, the smell was really bad, my son had been trying to clean the floorboards all day.

After that the fitter scratched my fridge freezer, my welsh dresser, and for some reason when he was messing with the water supply something went wrong just after he had left and water started spurting all over. I luckily managed to get hold of a local plumber and he fixed it fairly easily, he said the pipe hadn't been tightened properly or something.

Anyway, I made a complaint and after a couple of meetings I was asked for quotes for repairs, I got them and they paid up.

I did not need to go via my own insurance company.

Go to the CAB and get them to help you.

Good luck