Service technician (Luxair Cooker Hoods) damaged my kitchen and then falsified report

FMH1977

I purchased a ceiling extractor hood for around £700 and was completely happy until the first time I needed the service engineer to visit. I arranged this through Luxair.

When they turned up they damaged the front of my brand new kitchen cabinets and then tried to cover it up. When my wife pointed out the damage that had appeared right next to where they were working and had brought the ladder and heavy tools in, they denied it. They said it could have been an accident and they hadn't noticed.

They had not made any attempt to protect the area to prevent damage from occurring or warn us in anyway that there is any risk and that he needs to bring some heavy tools into the kitchen.

They also left dirty handprints around the extractor on the ceiling. They then filled in part of the job report themselves, ticking all the boxes on our behalf to say no damage was done and we are happy they left everything in perfect order. He then told my wife to sign it without mentioning what he'd done even though he knew we'd already verbally informed him about the damage.

I sent a report with photos to the Luxair services team, but although they know we informed the engineer about the damage at the time and that he is the one who ticked the boxes are saying they don't need to take responsibility because the engineer denies doing the damage and we didn't actually see him. They also tried to say that we filled out the parts of the report that were in fact done by the engineer.

When I called up to discuss they refused to answer my questions and hung up. They also haven't given me any info about their customer policies despite my requests in writing.

Surely, a company cannot behave like this and get away with it? I'll post the full version in the ranting thread next door. Please help!

agrinnall

Letter before action, small claim.

bris

Did your wife sign this report? If so why because the damage was done before the signature so it wouldn't make sense to sign this report.


It wold be you word against theirs, with a witness and a signed report stating no damage you have an uphill struggle on your hands.

FMH1977

Thank for the responses. Yes I'm preparing a letter to send them.

@bris I agree. My wife should not have signed the report. English is not her first language and the way the report was presented to her to get a quick signature, means she didn't read the whole thing and did not realise there was a section about damage that had been ticked by the engineer. I guess she slipped up. I do have 2 witnesses as both my wife and mother were present. I do also have acknowledgement in writing from Luxair that we did raise the issue of damage with the engineer at the time and before the job report was signed. The signed sheet suggests that we suddenly changed our minds about the damage only to send in a complaint with photos a couple of hours later.

bhjm

FMH1977 wrote: »

@bris I agree. My wife should not have signed the report. English is not her first language and the way the report was presented to her to get a quick signature, means she didn't read the whole thing and did not realise there was a section about damage that had been ticked by the engineer.

unfortunately thats no excuse

before signing - read everything ! whatever it is. and proof if everything is done correctly, clean etc.
if the engineer was in rush, take a picture from the report and send it later to them or write per hand on the report the damage, take a picture etc.

FMH1977

Quick update. After some to and fro, Luxair have agreed to cover the cost of the damage. Thanks for all the advice provided.