openreach damaged gate

diamond_dave

Openreach engineer came to replace main cable to house. When they left, I went to close the 2 large gates and found that the engineers van had damaged one of the gates. Damage is obvious but not massive so the next day I called their 0800 number to complain. Since then I have been getting the run around from them. In order to assist i filed a full report with pics of the damage, the time and place of the accident along with the job number from Plusnet, my BB supplier.
What really irks me is that I asked whether they needed the gates removed - no- and also the fact that he/they didn't bother stopping to inform me that the damage had been caused. The claims team are asking me for several quotes, but the people I have contacted so far and shown the pics to either want a fee for coming to look at the gate or ar simply not interested. One stated that the cost would be around £100 just to repair and paint the 1 gate!

Any thoughts please and no I don't want to involve my insurance.

MovingForwards

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6033979

Did you follow any of the advice before?

Paul_DNAP

Just get it fixed and get on with the rest of your life.

Aylesbury_Duck

For £100 it must be a fairly straightforward job that if you're physically able, you should be able to do yourself for a fraction of that.

Post a photo of the damage and people can advise how best to go about fixing it. It'll save the nonsense you're going through to try and get it sorted.

diamond_dave

Thanks for all the replies but whilst I agree that I could carry out the repairs myself IF I had the time with all that's going on at the moment.
Why should I go to the trouble when someone else has damaged my property?

Those of you who say -get on with your life would not do so if someone scratched their car, would you.

Fosterdog

diamond_dave wrote: »

Why should I go to the trouble when someone else has damaged my property?

Because you are the one who wants it sorted, if you don't want to go to any trouble then don't but your gate won't get fixed. Only you can decide if getting it sorted is worth the trouble to you or not.

Using your car example, somebody reversed into and damaged my parked car a few months ago, my car is not too old and in immaculate condition so I went out of my way to make sure it got sorted including going three days without my car and no courtesy car. A couple of years ago somebody bumped into OHs parked car and left paint transfer and a few scratches. That car is older and already has the odd mark and scratch so we didn't go out of our way to get the minor damage sorted as it wasn't worth the trouble to us.

Aylesbury_Duck

diamond_dave wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies but whilst I agree that I could carry out the repairs myself IF I had the time with all that's going on at the moment.
Why should I go to the trouble when someone else has damaged my property?

Those of you who say -get on with your life would not do so if someone scratched their car, would you.

That's your choice, but you said yourself you're not getting anywhere so it seems you can either ignore it, fix it yourself or carry on chasing Openreach. If you've got a lot on at the moment, leave it for a while (assuming the damage hasn't stopped the gate working or poses a safety or security risk?).

As to your last question, yes I would and I have. My car has a few bumps and scrapes on it, not one of which I've bothered to fix beyond a bit of T-cutting. I simply can't be bothered with the hassle, expense and inconvenience of chasing insurers/other drivers/car park owners for scratches and minor dents.

Paul_DNAP

diamond_dave wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies but whilst I agree that I could carry out the repairs myself IF I had the time with all that's going on at the moment.
Why should I go to the trouble when someone else has damaged my property?

Those of you who say -get on with your life would not do so if someone scratched their car, would you.

Was it your car or your gate that got slightly damaged?


For either, I'm perfectly happy to acknowledge that things don't stay "box fresh" forever and there will be some bit and bangs through the course of the way the world works, and yes, my gate might get dinged by a van, my car may get scuffed in a supermarket car park, it's just part of the fun of having stuff out there in the real world.


An alternate plan then could be to get it repaired and then take them to the small claims for the invoice, that way you're in charge of the timeline instead of waiting around for them to arrange the repair.

Bermonia

Main issue you’re going to face is that you didn’t see them do it and they have not accepted liability for it... you could chase all you want however seems unlikely to get a favourable result, you say you’re to busy to do a minor repair and paint job... I put it to you that the alternative will become considerably more time consuming