Windscreen company failed to turn up twice, had to go elsewhere

gavrd1

Hi all,

On the 10th June I booked a new windscreen for my car via my insurance with Nationwide Motorglass as the MOT was due on the 21st and the crack was getting quite bad. The company agreed to come on the 19th to do it as I stated it needed doing before the 21st.

Midday on the 19th no one had turned up but they rang to say the technician had to go home with family problems. I told them the MOT would run out on the 21st and its test was booked first thing on Mon 22nd and I also used it for my business. They said best they could do was the Tuesday so I said I therefore had no choice but to hang on til that day.

On the Tuesday, noone showed again and when I rang that evening to complain the person said they could see no notes as to the booking. She promised scheduling would call me in the morn but again, they did'nt so I rang them after lunch.

The guy now said that on the Friday their excuse for the no show was now that the glass got broken the at the depot the night before the Friday 19th visit, and whilst he now accepts the Tuesday booking existed, it did not go ahead due to the technicians family emergency.

I was now without a vehicle as the MOT had run out and when asked if they could do it the next day or so they said no. I said that was no good as I needed the car to go away for the weekend so they left me with no choice but to pay a local company full price to do it the next day and I would be sending them the bill as they had twice broken contract and also caused me loss of two days earnings by having to stay at home during their no shows. The guy said he was not authorised to agree but I said I would be sending it via their complaints system.

I sent them an invoice for the amount that it cost me and as good will, if it was paid straight away then I would not be looking for compensation for loss of earnings etc. If it escalated to court then, I would be claiming further compensation.

When I complained they tried every excuse possible to avoid paying. First they also said their notes on their system did not match up with the tapes as to things such as the "family emergency" on the Friday, they claimed it was on the Tuesday. So I did a data protection request to get the tape evidence from them which proved what I said to them at all the times. So far they have only provided me with the conversations up til the Friday, blaming an oversight for not sending the later ones out, however the Friday one shows I was correct.

They still refuse to pay though, stating that they require evidence of them agreeing to pay the bill. I also sent them the details of the company that I used to do it so they could get a copy of the invoice direct from them themselves to prove I was not inflating it at all but that does not get mentioned now.

So I am looking at taking it to small claims court in the next few days for breach of contract for non supply of the services on two agreed dates, plus whilst stating to them that time was of the essence.

Anyone else been in a similar situation with a similar kind of service?

Thanks

LilElvis

Was this a repair which was supposed to be performed by your insurance company? Were the insurers the ones who would have paid the bill, had they performed the work?

agrinnall

As LilElvis implies, I'm not sure you have any contractual relationship with Nationwide. I had a windscreen company out twice in the last year, once to repair a chip at zero cost and once to replace the entire windscreen, which cost me £60 paid directly to my insurance company. Any payments to the windscreen company were made by my insurer.

I think after the second failure to turn up you should have involved the insurance company. Having not done so may make it difficult for you to try to reclaim the cost of going elsewhere.

gavrd1

When booking the repair, the phone number on the insurance documents go directly through to either Nationwide or Autoglass (I was told by Autoglass that it will randomly go through to either one of them two as my insurers two main approved companies).

All the arrangements of bookings went through Nationwide, It did not require me speaking to anyone at all from my insurers. Nationwide are the ones who arranged the fitting times, made all the promises and dealt with excess payments.

As far as I see it, they are the ones who all agreements were made with as regards carrying out the work and dates of when it should have been carried out.

They are the ones who broke those agreements, and furthermore, lied to me as to the reasons why they did not turn up to do the work. This has now been proven in that their written correspondence contradicts the tape recording evidence that I now have.

ChumLee

Nothing has been proven yet, unless you've already been to court.
Nationwide told you they couldn't authorise the payment so you should have gone back to you insurance company at that point and not gone ahead with the repair.
You are mean to minimise your losses and using the othe company would have done that.
Your contract is with the insurance company and you will need to prove you've followed their process correctly before seeking an alternative company to do the work. It was them you should have got the authorisation from.

LilElvis

gavrd1 wrote: »

When booking the repair, the phone number on the insurance documents go directly through to either Nationwide or Autoglass (I was told by Autoglass that it will randomly go through to either one of them two as my insurers two main approved companies).

All the arrangements of bookings went through Nationwide, It did not require me speaking to anyone at all from my insurers. Nationwide are the ones who arranged the fitting times, made all the promises and dealt with excess payments.

As far as I see it, they are the ones who all agreements were made with as regards carrying out the work and dates of when it should have been carried out.

They are the ones who broke those agreements, and furthermore, lied to me as to the reasons why they did not turn up to do the work. This has now been proven in that their written correspondence contradicts the tape recording evidence that I now have.

The fact that all your dealings were with the repair company doesn't necessarily mean anything as far as taking action against them is concerned. Issue proceedings against the wrong entity and your claim will automatically fail, leaving you further out of pocket.

It sounds highly likely that your contract is with your insurer - they just chose to simplify the claims process by getting their customers to contact their approved repairers directly.

macman

A above-you had no contract with Nationwide, as you would have paid no consideration for the work done (had they ever managed to do it for you). Your claim is against your insurers, and it's up to them to recover it from NW if they wish-not your concern.

gavrd1

Thanks for the replies, have just spoken to the insurers and they've confirmed that as well as investigating their own complaint into Noationwide Motorglass, my contract is also with Nationwide.

They also back me on any action I wish to take as they are a 3rd party as so the booking and made directly with Nationwide. They are purely just the insurance company that Nationwide would claim back off after the event.

Let's see what happens!

unholyangel

I dont think what your insurance company have said is right and I'd get a 2nd opinion on that (by 2nd opinion I mean the opinion of someone legally qualified).

If they are claiming to be a third party to a contract between you and nationwide - then why did you have no choice as to who the supplier was?

If its being replaced under your policy, then its being replaced under your contract with the insurers - who in turn have employed a subcontractor (nationwide) to carry out their duties. Nationwide would be the third party in that scenario, not the insurers.

If that is the case, your claim is against your insurers and they in turn should claim off nationwide.

marliepanda

Have you paid nationwide auto glass anything?

You say everything was done via your insurance. You pay your insurance. Your contract is with your insurance.

They cannot require you to contract with people they choose.
That is their contract.

wealdroam

gavrd1 wrote: »

Let's see what happens!

What does that mean?
Are you now waiting for something to happen?

I would be very careful about taking court action against Nationwide.
You can apply all the logic you like, e.g. "they are the ones who broke the agreements", but if you sue the wrong party your claim will simply be thrown out.