Post office van drove into my brand new home

Legacy_user

On the 28th of December a royal Mail van drove into my house damaging the brickwork. The 28th of December sadly was the day I moved into my first home which took myself and my partner years to save up to buy.


Since this happened my kind developer Taylor Wimpey fixed the brick work for free as a gesture of good will. The corners of 3 bricks were damaged.

The van driver took accountability for the accident. The RM accident team said they would pay for the damage however this was not required, they then said they would pass this issue onto customer care.I have recieved nothing from the Royal Mail or heard from customer care. Only a small apology from the local delivery manager for ruining the most exciting life milestone of my life.
Last week I chased up accident management to make sure they forwarded my correspondences to the customer care team. I still have heard nothing.

Any advice would be appreciated. Should I take legal action against them for compensation ?

davidmcn

It's not very clear from your post, but are you saying that Wimpey fixed all the damage? If so, what compensation are you seeking?

System

Yes they fixed the brick work. Sorry if it's not clear. I just dont feel like their actions and apology have been good enough and they have got away with damaging my house without paying for anything. Hope that makes more sense

SmashedAvacado

What it seems that you are possibly missing here is whether a survey of the damage has been undertaken, and whether, now that the bricks have been fixed, whether there is any damage that has been undetected. if not, then you havent lost anything, so you have no grounds for damages / compensation.

That being said, I would want assurances from TW that your guarantee remains intact and want to check whether i need to mention the incident to my insurers - and ideally i would want some sort of certification that the property is like new - from a surveyor - which the RM should pay for - as if you have issues down the line, this will come back to haunt you.

davidmcn

Erb2710 wrote: »

Yes they fixed the brick work. Sorry if it's not clear. I just dont feel like their actions and apology have been good enough and they have got away with damaging my house without paying for anything. Hope that makes more sense

What is it you'd like them to pay for though?

AdrianC

A traffic accident damaged your property.
The damage was fixed by somebody else entirely, but the vehicle insurance would have covered it.
You are not out of pocket in any way.

What compo do you think you're due?

PasturesNew

You will never get any cash for hurt feelings, or disappointment, or lost joy.

What you can claim for is to get it back how it was. Bricks have been sorted by the developer, so was there any other damage that's cost money to put right?

spadoosh

You can take legal action for compensation. Considering its been fixed, to your apparent satisafcation, im thinking there will not be much of a financial value attached to the ruining of the most exciting milestone in your life. How much do you think it was worth?

LittleMrsThrifty

If Taylor Wimpey fixed the damage then any claim would be between them and Royal Mail.

I'm sorry that you feel the day was spoilt. Home ownership is full of ups and downs - sometimes just irritating and sometimes very costly. Thankfully this was just the former and not the latter.

Enjoy your new home.

BoGoF

Well they can't pay to fix something that has already been fixed.

Not sure what you want out of this, will a 'proper' apology really make you feel better or are you expecting compo for the 'distress'?

At the end of the day it was an accident (you never had any?), it's been fixed......move on.

[Deleted User]

Erb2710 wrote: »

I have recieved nothing from the Royal Mail or heard from customer care. Only a small apology from the local delivery manager for ruining the most exciting life milestone of my life.

Try to be more positive about things. Your three bricks are now fixed and nothing is really ruined.

You still have your new house to be excited about.