Hire outfit damage costs

maxell10

Hi,

I hired a kilt outfit which was accidentally damaged by the jacket being placed on a table on top of a tea light type candle that was sitting on the table. The jacket sleeve has a hole around 2" diameter.

On return of the jacket i was fully open about the damage and had prepared for the worst case scenario of having to pay for the replacement of the jacket.

I was then informed that the jacket is a special order item in minimum batches of 50 units and the cost of the full item (jacket + waistcoat which is undamaged) will be £490.

After 30 mins of discussion the manager reluctantly agreed to investigate repair by replacing the sleeve although she doubted that they would be able to find the exact material and therefore repair it.

They provisionally took another £100 from my card with a receipt noting that it is likely to cost more and additional fees will be requested.

Does anyone have any advice? I contacted citizens advice over the phone and they didn't have any advice but said that they are only able to enforce it through a small claims court.

Thanks in advance.

frugal_mike

Well its definitely true that the shop cannot force you to pay anything, only a court could do that. I'm not totally certain what the £490 is buying, is that one jacket and waistcoat, or 50?

If they are expecting to get 50 items in exchange for the one you damaged then that is absurd. Even if its just one jacket and a waistcoat then they should still only be getting the jacket (with you keeping one of the waistcoats).

A repair certainly sounds more sensible though, if its feasible.

maxell10

They have to order the jacket + waistcoat as a unit.

They also have minimum order of 50 units and that's why they have to charge me full retail rather than do me a deal since it's not like they can order 1 at cost price.

They are investigating potential repair but i'm not confident that they will pursue it fully

frugal_mike

Well they have a duty to mitigate their losses so you're right to not just pay the £490. I'm no tailor so have no idea how feasible it would be to repair, but I'd be wanting evidence of a few quotes.

comeandgo

I take it you did not take out insurance to cover such events? Getting a true match could be very difficult and the price quoted is average for jacket and waistcoat. What does the hire agreement state for damage? You are lucky they are not charging you for loss of profit while this jacket is out of commission as they will have a kilt that they cant hire out as no jacket to go with it.

hcb42

I dont think they are being reasonable at all,

you are not the first to damage such an item, and you wont be the last either....let them take you to court if you cannot agree a more sensible solution locally.

comeandgo

So you think its ok to hire a very expensive item, damage it and do nothing to reimburse the owner?

Buzby

You are certainly responsible for the damage, and as a result pretty much at a disadvantage when it comes to them mitigating their loss. I replacement sleeve is a nice idea, but getting the match right would be difficult, and the next hirer has every right to expect fully matching attire - so a complete replacement is the only realistic option.

Have you any insurance that covers you for third party claims? This will be the simplest solution, but if not, it is the merchant who holds all the cards - just like car hire, the hirer is in no position to make demands.

JReacher1

it sounds like theyre going to request more money off you and you can either pay or not. If you don't pay then they will probably take you to the small claims court to get it. It will depend on whether you want the hassle or not.

At the end of the day you've hired an item and damaged it. Not only is the item damaged but they also can't hire it out to anyone else so thats a loss of income for the shop.

If you damage anything that doesn't belong to you then you should really pay to replace or repair. Its unfortunate you hired such an expensive item

bris

Do they have your card details? They can just charge your card if they do and if you signed an agreement letting them do this.

It would be you that would have to go to the small claims court to get it back after that.

You would lose some money but I believe they can only claim reasonable costs, full retail would not be reasonable and cost price is what I believe a judge would award. Cost price would be about half.

maxell10

comeandgo wrote: »

So you think its ok to hire a very expensive item, damage it and do nothing to reimburse the owner?

No, calm down and read the original post. I walked in expecting to pay the full cost in the region of £200 and was floored to hear £490.

I don't think it is unreasonable for me to ask that they get a quote for repairing the item. When hiring 100's of pieces of clothing out per week, it is inevitable that some will need repairing or replaced at cost price as a cost of business.

Furthermore, I already made a down payment of £100 to contribute to the final cost before leaving the shop.

If i was told about the insurance rather than having to read the small print on the receipt then i would have taken it out at the time, even more so if i was told that the outfit that i chose out of the book was astronomically more expensive than any other that they sell!