Dispute with workman - small claims court questions

Jeepers_Creepers

aroominyork said:

I did not offer a compromise - I asked him to make a reasonable offer. My final salvo was to suggest I would go as low as to accept a refund of his invoice (£120, which included a couple of other tasks, one of which he also botched). At court I would claim a fair bit more. 

I laid out the events in detail in my first email to him. He replied "As I explained at the time that it was impossible to remove the cabinet without first pulling the dishwasher out, because on closer inspection the cabinet could not be removed from the inside, I did this out of goodwill because you were desperate to have it removed for the engineers visit...". I replied how that was totally untrue - he never said any such thing. 

On my side of the case is that he came round a couple of days beforehand to scope the job. If I had wanted it just yanked out - as he now says he advised - I could have done that myself. Why would I pay someone else to do that?

If you offered to accept just a refund of his invoice cost - which I presume is largely 'labour'? - then I would personally consider that very reasonable of you. And silly of him not to accept.

aroominyork

I'm a reasonable guy! Half of me thinks starting a case would be a hassle, the other half thinks it would be entertaining in these lockdown days. (The third half thinks the courts have better things to do with their time.) 

Mistral001

I see the situation.  The handyman is at fault.  You wanted the cabinet dismantled rather than the dishwasher pulled out.  He just did his own thing and made a mess of it.  Slightly in his favour is the discussion you had with him about pulling the dishwasher out.  I would settle half way as has been suggested.

aroominyork

I would have settled more than half way. He won't settle. His view is "see you in court".

andyhop

Utter crock
You expected a handyman to remove a unit that is tight against a dishwasher , if you can’t remove a dishwasher then you won’t be able to remove a unit if it’s touching 

Unrealistic expectations, tradesman can’t perform miracles 

Jeepers_Creepers

Ouch, Andy.

Taking ARIY's account of the situation as accurate*, Bosch themselves wouldn't repair the appliance since they couldn't get access to it without dismantling a side unit; that's beyond their remit...

OP therefore gets handyman in to do precisely that - dismantle the side unit, please, to gain access to the D/W and do NOT pull the D/W by its door as Bosch says it'll break'.

The handyman pulled on the door and it came off - as Bosch and ARIY said it would. 

What part of this is 'crock'? 


* Balance of probabilities is that it is accurate. Why would ARIY call out a handyman following Bosch's instructions, and not pass on that rather important piece of info? 

aroominyork

I have a couple of questions please about the amount I claim. 

The D/W was a Bosch bought for £529 in 2014. We run it about twice a week so I reckon it was about halfway through its lifespan. Should I claim a proportion (£50%?) of the purchase cost, and if so how to I evidence the likely lifespan; or do I claim the cost of replacing it (which we did with a £259 Hisense)? 

I will claim the £50 excess paid in advance of the engineer's initial visit, the D/W being covered under an appliance repair policy. However can I claim the initial premium paid for that policy and which the handyman has effectively voided?

Mistral001

I would have thought 50% is too high, The second hand value might be available on gumtree or ebay.  There might not even be a market for six year old dishwashers.  As far as other expenses go: insurance premium - very doubtful, insurance call out fee - probably.  You could make point that you wanted to buy a more expensive machine similar to the one that was broken, but now, because of the handyman's negligence, you have had to replace the machine with a  cheaper model.   You will need receipts of the old machine and for the insurance callout fee.  It could take a while to come to court though and even if you win the handyman might just refuse to pay and then you will need to pay a debt recovery agency.

aroominyork

I'm sure the second hand value would be less than 50%, but as damages it seems a fair opening gambit (and it would have had a new heat pump if not for his negligence). Anyway, hopefully he'll suggest a settlement once he sees I'm serious about pursuing this, though maybe that's crediting him with too much intelligence... 

Mistral001

aroominyork said:

I'm sure the second hand value would be less than 50%, but as damages it seems a fair opening gambit (and it would have had a new heat pump if not for his negligence). Anyway, hopefully he'll suggest a settlement once he sees I'm serious about pursuing this, though maybe that's crediting him with too much intelligence... 

Your disdain for people with low intelligence will probably not be shared by the judge in court.