How can I claim for damage caused by a faulty product?

Mowog

Hi all,

Hoping to benefit from the wisdom of the MSE masses, because I'm absolutely stuck and have no idea what to do next...

Last October I purchased some replacement blades for a moderately valuable piece of woodworking equipment that I own (a planer-thicknessser, since you ask). Not long after fitting these new blades, and during normal use, one of the blades shattered at high speed. Remarkably I wasn't hit by any of the shrapnel, but alas my precious machine was damaged beyond repair, or at least beyond any sort of repair I could manage.

I contacted the seller of the blades and they told me that they had liability insurance, and to return the damaged blades and send as many photos of the damage as possible as well as a written account. This all seemed very positive at the time, but since then I have heard nothing from their insurer, and whenever I contact the company I am told that 'these things take time', and that my case may have been held up when their insurance broker moved offices. I first contacted them on the 20th November, so I would have expected to hear something by now, even if was just confirmation of receipt of my details.

I feel fairly sure that I am being fobbed off, and I am now suspicious that there may not be an insurer at all and it was merely a ruse to get me to send them the evidence.

My understanding is that the seller bears responsibility for the damage to my equipment under rules regarding 'consequent loss'.

Can anyone suggest what action I can take next?

I presume that ultimately I will need to take legal action if I want to be compensated for the loss, but I wouldn't know where to begin.

Is there anything I can do initially that might spur them into action without costing a fortune? It will cost around £600-£700 to buy a second-hand machine to replace the damaged one, so obviously any action I take needs to cost less than that.

All advice gratefully received!

Tyler_Du

Send a Letter Before Action (google it if needs be) give them a reasonable time to respond \ resolve the issue. If they do not do so they it time for a claim via the courts

Mowog

Thank you. I had not heard of a 'letter before action'. Sounds like the right sort of thing.

ssparks2003

LBA is the right course of action IF you are willing to follow through with the threat otherwise save yourself the postage

NeilCr

ssparks2003 wrote: »

LBA is the right course of action IF you are willing to follow through with the threat otherwise save yourself the postage

I’ve seen cases where a LBA has produced a result on it’s own. I’d say it was worth a shot even if there is no intention to go to Small Claims

Mowog

What are the risks of going all the way to Small Claims?

I'd like to think that I'm serious about pursuing it, because I feel quite strongly that I was sold a flawed product.

NeilCr

Here is a pretty comprehensive guide to the small claims process

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/going-to-court/

You might want to look at the “after” section.

You could lose and there is an explanation in there about costs etc

You could win and have (a lot of) trouble getting the money