Rules for missed appointment compensation

ashe

Think I’ve seen it all now, someone genuinely saying that taking time off work to sit at home for hours needlessly isn’t a loss of anything, amazing.

amberhen49

ashe wrote: »

Think I’ve seen it all now, someone genuinely saying that taking time off work to sit at home for hours needlessly isn’t a loss of anything, amazing.

It's a loss of time but how do you quantify it? Send them an invoice for 5 x £40 p/h?

jk0

I sometimes have this nonsense with BG with gas inspections at my London rental.


It's really annoying to travel there, wait five hours and then have to do it again. I've sued them a couple of times for mileage and parking costs. I don't think I get any credit for my time, so not asked for that.

ashe

amberhen49 wrote: »

It's a loss of time but how do you quantify it? Send them an invoice for 5 x £40 p/h?

Entirely depends on the company. If this was a bank, that is exactly what I would do as they would quantify that loss as part of their complaints procedure. If the person is on £40 ph, then you can use that as a basis for any senior level complaint. If its £12 ph, use that. Either way, that is his loss. Holiday pay isn't free, you are paid for it, and you have a limited amount of it. Sometimes you can buy more of it it, sometimes you can "sell" it, and you are charged at a set rate so not sure why people are having trouble putting a pounds and pence figure on this.

Unless he would usually use 5h of holiday leave purposefully to sit at home and wait for something not to happen, without the option of going out, then he does have a quantifiable loss because his time has a set value at work, and he has lost that time as a result of this action. He was willing to do it for this occasion, but now he has to do it again. Fairly straight forward.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

ashe wrote: »

Entirely depends on the company. If this was a bank, that is exactly what I would do as they would quantify that loss as part of their complaints procedure. If the person is on £40 ph, then you can use that as a basis for any senior level complaint. If its £12 ph, use that. Either way, that is his loss. Holiday pay isn't free, you are paid for it, and you have a limited amount of it. Sometimes you can buy more of it it, sometimes you can "sell" it, and you are charged at a set rate so not sure why people are having trouble putting a pounds and pence figure on this.

Unless he would usually use 5h of holiday leave purposefully to sit at home and wait for something not to happen, without the option of going out, then he does have a quantifiable loss because his time has a set value at work, and he has lost that time as a result of this action. He was willing to do it for this occasion, but now he has to do it again. Fairly straight forward.

But it's not a bank, if the op took the day off and had 8 hours leave, they've had it hours leave and lost nothing.

kimplus8

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

But it's not a bank, if the op took the day off and had 8 hours leave, they've had it hours leave and lost nothing.

the purpose of that leave was to allow the engineer into their home to complete the work that was arranged. The engineer cancelled without enough notice for the OP to rearrange that time off, therefore he is at a loss. the time off has been taken without the desired/scheduled outcome of the work being completed, therefore thee quantifiable loss is 5 X whatever the OP's hourly working rate is.

ashe

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

But it's not a bank, if the op took the day off and had 8 hours leave, they've had it hours leave and lost nothing.

OP took the day off for express purpose of satisfying the appointment, which was not satisfied. OP did not want or need time at home and would not have otherwise taken it. OP has lost out on practical usage of time off for the purpose they would have otherwise used it and is going to have to retake that time off to satisfy another appointment. This is exactly why GSOP was put in place in the first place and most companies would compensate for this upon complaint.

In OP’s situation I have never failed to get a reduction in price or cash based gesture of goodwill as a result of lodging a complaint, so I find it bizarre that people would just take this lying down or even suggest that OP has basically for what he wanted by having a jolly at home for 5 hours needlessly. I’d be straight on twitter, trustpilot, exec email etc. No way I would accept this level of service nor convince myself I’ve had a good time all along.

MarcTJTD

Having worked in retail for 20+ years, I've come across this situation quite a few times. Vehicles breaking down/people phoning in sick leading to failed deliveries & missed appointments, etc.

If it was a quantifiable and verifiable loss of earnings or unnecessary cost incurred on the OP's part then compensation would be inarguable.

Wasting peoples free time (even if it's annual leave used specifically for the purpose) isn't seen as either; by phoning to advise that there was a problem the company will consider that they have taken all the reasonable steps required to minimise the impact on their customer.

That said, it's horrendously poor service and most companies would/should absolutely offer a gesture of good will as an apology and to prevent poor customer feedback. I'd agree with Ashe in this case and suggest that the OP take his complaint to Twitter as it's one of the most recognised (and visible) methods of getting companies to respond favourably to avoid bad press.

Undervalued

kimplus8 wrote: »

the purpose of that leave was to allow the engineer into their home to complete the work that was arranged. The engineer cancelled without enough notice for the OP to rearrange that time off, therefore he is at a loss. the time off has been taken without the desired/scheduled outcome of the work being completed, therefore thee quantifiable loss is 5 X whatever the OP's hourly working rate is.

ashe wrote: »

OP took the day off for express purpose of satisfying the appointment, which was not satisfied. OP did not want or need time at home and would not have otherwise taken it. OP has lost out on practical usage of time off for the purpose they would have otherwise used it and is going to have to retake that time off to satisfy another appointment. This is exactly why GSOP was put in place in the first place and most companies would compensate for this upon complaint.

In OP’s situation I have never failed to get a reduction in price or cash based gesture of goodwill as a result of lodging a complaint, so I find it bizarre that people would just take this lying down or even suggest that OP has basically for what he wanted by having a jolly at home for 5 hours needlessly. I’d be straight on twitter, trustpilot, exec email etc. No way I would accept this level of service nor convince myself I’ve had a good time all along.

Exactly!

I am amazed that "Shaun of the Dead" can't see that. Or maybe he just enjoys being deliberately argumentative?