Comet caused over £1000 damage

Andy_Metcalfe

This is warning to all who use retail outlets who deliver and deliver/install in your home. As the Trading standards officer said to me; I would have to put this down to experience; hopefully my experience will benefit others.

As I have been exploring my legal options I could not make the facts known until today. About a year ago I was refurbishing my kitchen and bought a new cooker, washing machine, fridge and freezer for over £1000, including delivery and £100 for connection by a Corgi gas engineer.

All seemed to go well; they delivered and installed without any apparent problems. When they were about to leave I was asked to sign the delivery note which was my first mistake; it included a section about no damage being done. Then the alarm bells should have started to ring; my second mistake; I was asked to fill in a customer satisfaction form as "we have had complaints that we were rude to the customers when we got back to the depot".

Later on I discovered that they had gouged my new wood floor about 20 times installing the cooker. Photographic evidence and an independent building surveyors report show that this could only have been caused when the cooker was installed; estimated cost of repair £1000. A few days later I discovered 3 other areas of damage that may have been caused by the installers (would have been difficult to prove these); estimated cost £700.

Although I reported the damage to the floor to the company immediately by phone; my follow up letter of complaint to the head office was transferred to the internal claims department then to an external insurance company. The only response I got was that the staff had followed company policy so they could not have caused the damage; I informed them that following company policy is not necessarily following the law. They also stated that I had signed the delivery note stating that the property had not been damaged. The photographic evidence and report were never considered; they never asked for copies.

The credit card company were no help; the items had been delivered and they were OK; so they could not do anything.

I could have taken the company and the credit card company I used to pay for the items to the small claims court at a cost of approx £150 (refundable if I won); with only the photos and report I would probably have won the case; with the signed delivery note I would probably have lost.

In my opinion the company may not be legally responsible but morally they are; I intend to forward these details to my MP; I consider this is a loophole in the law that some companies exploit. I would like to see a cooling off period laid down in law for reporting damage/faults like you have with credit agreements; it will not help me but it may help others in the future.

The moral of the story is do not sign anything until you are 100% sure of what you are signing; watch the installers at all times; it helps if you only have one item delivered at a time. Use the web to search for company performance and avoid those with bad reputations at all costs.

gordikin

You were extremely unobservant.

mikey72

It's common now when they unpack, to ask you to sign items have no damage as well, even if they don't fit.
I always sign for receipt only, and that any items will be inspected later.
I usually cross through anything I don't like as well.

No one has ever complained.

Andy_Metcalfe

Thank you for the replies so far and for those I will receive in the future; I have accepted that I am totally to blame for this situation and that I did not follow the advice I had been given or knew about.; hopefully this thread will make other people aware of the problems that can occur and how to avoid them. May be others can share their own experience of how to avoid problems. The first posts have reminded me of the following.

I had two delivery men; it was difficult to watch both at the same time; one was working in the kitchen and the other was in/out of the house; the second delivery man did keep distracting me. It would have helped if I had another person with me. The damage was not just limited to the kitchen.

The damage in the kitchen was covered up by the installer replacing the flimsey mats that were originally on the floor when they arrived over the damage; later on they were to claim that that they had put protector sheets down which they did not; they used the flimsey mats which were not adequate for the job.

A flooring specialist told me that if they were installing kitchen equipment on a wood floor they would put cardboard and plywood down to protect the floor. It would have been better if I installed the equipment myself and then got a corgi gas engineer to connect the cooker which you have to do by law.

Next time maybe I will get the camera or video camera out.

kev.s

so much damage but you failed to notice, your eyes must be painted on! or you're very niave, i inspect any work done in my house prior to payment or signing.

Andy_Metcalfe

Several people have said how I was not observant; details of the damage is given which shows that at a first glance the damage was difficult to spot, and yes my eye sight is also poor but the main thing is I accept I am this situation because I did not follow the advice I had been given or knew about; hopefully my experience will help others not to get into the same situation.

Kitchen.

The wood floor is in a very dim room and is of a mottled effect; the damage can only been seen if the lights are on or you are on your knees.

Work surface

A half inch split that is only visible with the lights on and close up.

Living room radiator

This is where the old cooker and washing machine they were to take away were stored. Normally the radiator is behind the settee.
Several days later when I pulled out the settee to hoover I found an oil patch in the carpet; the valve/thermostat had been clouted and had slowly leaked its oil; it would not have been visible for several days after the company had left.

Covservatory UPVC door plinth

This is where the old fridge and freezer they were to take away were stored. A half inch diameter semi circular split in the surface that matched the fridge/freezer feet. I should have spotted this one sooner.