John Lewis damaged and urinated on my property.

Damiansc

Nearly a month ago I bought a fridge from John Lewis. Firstly paid for a 3 man team but only 2 came and wanted to dump it outside as they are short staffed. 
Long story short they made my gf talk to their boss to accept responsibility for any damages caused if they bring it in. 
They badly dented my new almost £1000 fridge, dragged it over a wooden floor and caused severe damage to it which will be over £1000 to fix.
The icing on the cake is one of the delivery drivers was caught CCTV urinating in my garden. 
A month on and I've been told driver is sacked and they've offered £145 refund. 
I'm getting nowhere with John Lewis and not sure where to go from here. They blame panther logistics which are their subcontractors. 
20+ emails, 3 telephone conversations and nothing happing.
Is it time to contact a solicitor? Any help would be appreciated.

tacpot12

Yes, time to contact a solicitor. If you have home insurnace, check to see if you have legal expenses cover. If you do, call the legal helpline as they will have a solicitor that you can talk to for free. 

 

Undervalued

Damiansc said:

Nearly a month ago I bought a fridge from John Lewis. Firstly paid for a 3 man team but only 2 came and wanted to dump it outside as they are short staffed. 
Long story short they made my gf talk to their boss to accept responsibility for any damages caused if they bring it in. 
They badly dented my new almost £1000 fridge, dragged it over a wooden floor and caused severe damage to it which will be over £1000 to fix.
The icing on the cake is one of the delivery drivers was caught CCTV urinating in my garden. 
A month on and I've been told driver is sacked and they've offered £145 refund. 
I'm getting nowhere with John Lewis and not sure where to go from here. They blame panther logistics which are their subcontractors. 
20+ emails, 3 telephone conversations and nothing happing.
Is it time to contact a solicitor? Any help would be appreciated.

Are you saying that they felt it was difficult to bring in safely and without damaging your property? Was the alternative, had your gf not agreed to accept the risk, that they would have taken it away again and cancelled the transaction?

Whilst the driver's behaviour in the garden was disgraceful it is a bit of a red herring in the rest of the dispute as it did not cause you any loss.

Laz123

I love these stories. Is it school holiday time again?

photome

Laz123 said:

I love these stories. Is it school holiday time again?

I did wonder the same, hope the OP returns

bris

How can 3 men carry a fridge, they are 2 men teams. Does one say left a bit, right a bit?

Damiansc

Glad some of you think this is a joke but I can assure you it's not. 
As for a loss I have to disagree. It's going to cost over £1000 to have the floor fixed. This is a oiled + waxed reclaimed floor. The fridge is an double American style fridge freezer + fairly heavy.  I am a builder and have moved items about the house with another person no problem. 
They even got offered the use of a trolley I have but they said no it's ok they'll use muscle and then dragged it along the floor.
The delivery firm is panther logistics, clearly not the brightest of people, took me 30 seconds to realise the doors come of the fridge in no time at all.  They just couldn't be bothered. 
I attach the proof of 3 man delivery, damage to floor.

Damiansc

Also I meant to say there was alternative for my gf. Either they left it dumped outside or she took responsibility.  I know they were short staffed and a man down and running late but I did pay for the service above. I would have thought they have to take reasonable care and responsibility, in this case they just didn't.  I attach a photo of the fridge damage also and the driver about to literally take the !!!!!!. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I don't think agreeing to take responsibility would mean they have no liability for negligence.

Obtain proof of the cost of repairing the damage and issue them a letter before action (templates on Google) with the proof attached. 

I'd forget the peeing in the garden bit, it caused no loss and whilst unpleasant your focus should be on the damage.  

macman

Your g/f could of course have refused delivery (due to the absence of a 3rd person) and told them to rebook it?
JL can blame whoever they like: your contract, incl delivery, was with them, so they are liable.You don't need a solicitor: start with an LBA, upon receipt of that they may start to see sense.
And I'd drop the 'unauthorised urination' part of your claim: unpleasant though it may be, it's been dealt with and is irrelevant. 
PS: how can it cost a grand to re-sand and oil a single floorboard (or maybe two)?

Damiansc

 I should have clarified the damage is to 7 metres of the hall way from door through to kitchen. It's scratched/gouged all the way including where they 'spun it around' in middle of hall. 
This is a conservative estimate I have got and only for the hall. Waxed needs to be stripped and entire floor sanded as the oil will not match surrounding boards when sanded and applied. So entire hall way needs to be done. The damage continued through kitchen albeit not as bad, another 2 m but not as deep. I've been advised that just strip, oil and do not sand or cost will go up significantly. 
Very frustrated by this. Will never use John Lewis again!
I can only attach 2 photos at a time but there is many more!