British Gas ruined my dress

hartcjhart

Elvisia wrote: »

It's in soak at the moment, I've tried 2 stain removers but the material is so delicate it's going to be really obvious where the stain is.

I bought the dress a couple of years ago and so I don't have a receipt. I think I will write to them anyway and say can they compensate and see if they offer anything at all.

It's just one of those things that is infuriating, and just makes you want to cry, there was a massive pile of old laundry there including OLD TOWELS and he picks up my dress. I've also had to wash down the dining room including the walls and the kitchen, he's made such a mess of the place.

so your seriously posh designer frock is in/next to a pile of old towells etc, how do you expect a bloke to know the difference, water shoots everywhere he panics,see's a pile of towells etc and mistakingly picks up the frock.

yes annoying but not the end of the world, complain and await the outcome,then as has been suggested dye the frock another colour

Lip_Stick

hartcjhart wrote: »

so your seriously posh designer frock is in/next to a pile of old towells etc, how do you expect a bloke to know the difference, water shoots everywhere he panics,see's a pile of towells etc and mistakingly picks up the frock.

yes annoying but not the end of the world, complain and await the outcome,then as has been suggested dye the frock another colour

Firstly, anyone who can't tell the difference between a dress and a towel is a dimwit to say the least. Also I'd expect the engineer to come prepared with his own cloths and bucket in case of such an accident.

muckybutt

Having worked for many large customer service companies myself BG will pay out full cost of a replacement, they have public liability insurance which covers them for clusterf**ks like this !

All you should need to do is give them a quote as to how much the dress or its nearest equivelent will cost to replace.

hartcjhart

Lip_Stick wrote: »

Firstly, anyone who can't tell the difference between a dress and a towel is a dimwit to say the least. Also I'd expect the engineer to come prepared with his own cloths and bucket in case of such an accident.

yep, we have already discussed the BG engineer:rotfl:

Elvisia

Just to let you know what happened, British Gas rang back, they were very apologetic, and have refunded TWICE the *original* cost of the dress. I told them it was in the sale and they were happy to pay double as goodwill. So apparently I have a cheque and an apology letter in the post. I am so relieved and it's so nice to feel something is finally going my way.

In terms of whether I should have put a designer dress next to a pile of towels - well the towels were piled up one end of the ironing board - the end near the radiator - while the dress had been carefully ironed and was put on the other end. I wouldn't have thought to have grabbed clean washing that wasn't mine to clear up a mess that I had created. The BG man said he'd spoken to the engineer and he said he had started to bleed the radiator without putting a bucket underneath it which he should have done. I suspect if the engineer had had one of his favourite shirts used to clear up someone else's mess he would have been equally p**d off!

Thanks everyone for your comments! I might take the dress to a charity shop, it's been washed so many times now the material has rather gone, so I'll try dying it but I suspect it won't be so great to wear anymore. But I'm waiting for the sales to start so I can go shopping courtesy of British Gas!!

malkie76

Great end to the story I'm glad BG are being decent about the whole thing.
I did read through the thread, and no-one appeared to tell you that you'd be able to claim on home insurance.

Elvisia

Thanks for the suggestion - I wouldn't claim on home insurance because my father pays for the insurance, and he won't put in a claim because he's obsessed about his premiums. It's one of those things where it's easier to put up and shut up rather than get into an argument with him...!

Valli

Thanks for letting us know and IMO it's a good outcome (I would be happy at that) I hope you are satisfied, too.

re the home insurance I think all posters were firmly of the opinion it was entirely down to BG!

arcon5

Tbh even if BG wasn't at fault, claiming on the home insurance policy would not be the money saving thing to do.

Great outcome op

Elvisia

The conversation did make me laugh, the BG man said that he'd spoken to the engineer and apparently "the nipple fell off unexpectedly" - eventually worked out this is part of the radiator.