Claiming compensation for professional negligence

mark1234567890

Hi,

I am looking for advice on making a claim against a boiler engineer who has made my life a misery for the past 2 and half months. I dont know if this is the right place though?

To cut a long story short a simple I asked my usual local engineer (who I have used for the past 10 years + and never had a problem with) to connect my new oil tank to my boiler as part of renovation works. The tank was installed by the builders – all he needed to do was connect it up inside the house.

However the monkey who he sent to do the job made a right hash of it and caused a large oil leak inside my house. Over the past 2 and a half months I have therefore gone through the process of having my entire dining room stripped, the floor dug up and environmental health coming out to clean up the spill.

Now that things have finally been resorted I am wondering if I could claim compensation for the direct costs and inconvenience that I have incurred. I have a young family and this has been a total nightmare as I have had to cater for birthday parties and live without heating for a short period of time. I was also advised at one point that the toxication readings were so high I should move out as it was hazardous to our health. However there was no way I could do this as I had nowhere to go and could not bear to disturb my children from school.

I have never claimed compensation before and don’t know where to turn or what to do?

Should I contact one of these firms that are forever advertising on the TV or should I just right my own letter and see where it takes me?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

darwin-rover

Small claims court . You can do it all online as well .

Iamthesmartestmanalive

darwin-rover wrote: »

Small claims court . You can do it all online as well .

First things first

1)how much compo are you looking at?
2) what did they damage
3) how do you know it was there fault?
4) do you have any proof of this?

krisskross

Did your insurance or the builders pay for the remedial work?

mark1234567890

Thank you for your early responses.

Did your insurance or the builders pay for the remedial work?

I had to make a claim through my house insurance who are then going to reclaim the costs from the boiler company’s public liability insurance.

1)how much compo are you looking at?

I want my direct costs reimbursed. However I don’t know how much compensation I am entitled to. I want an amount to cover the 2 and half months inconvenience I have suffered as a result of this. IE the times we were without heating, the fact that I could not use my dining room and the 1 week that we were living in a toxic environment as they would not come out and fix the problem immediately.

) What did they damage

The carpet underlay and some furniture was ruined. The concrete floor also had to be dug up, the oil spill cleaned up and then relayed.

how do you know it was there fault?

They have admitted liability (although not in writing) It is obvious that it was their fault - the problem occurred when their engineer came out to do the work.

do you have any proof of this?

I don’t have any proof. Apart from the environment agency stuff about the oil spill I don’t have any proof that it was caused by them.

I have just realised that if I do take it to the small claims court they could claim that I caused the damage myself as I have no written proof of liability.

This saga just gets more complicated and stressful.

dmg24

You will have trouble claiming for inconvenience, as it needs to be quantified. As the repair costs are being covered by the insurance, I am not sure that you will get far with an additional claim.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

mark1234567890 wrote: »

Thank you for your early responses.



I had to make a claim through my house insurance who are then going to reclaim the costs from the boiler company’s public liability insurance.



I want my direct costs reimbursed. However I don’t know how much compensation I am entitled to. I want an amount to cover the 2 and half months inconvenience I have suffered as a result of this. IE the times we were without heating, the fact that I could not use my dining room and the 1 week that we were living in a toxic environment as they would not come out and fix the problem immediately.



The carpet underlay and some furniture was ruined. The concrete floor also had to be dug up, the oil spill cleaned up and then relayed.



They have admitted liability (although not in writing) It is obvious that it was their fault - the problem occurred when their engineer came out to do the work.



I don’t have any proof. Apart from the environment agency stuff about the oil spill I don’t have any proof that it was caused by them.

I have just realised that if I do take it to the small claims court they could claim that I caused the damage myself as I have no written proof of liability.

This saga just gets more complicated and stressful.

In all honesty you wont get anything

Your insurance company may be able to reclaim their costs, and possibly your excess if applicable

But things like loss of a room, being cold etc wont get anything other than a goodwill gesture at best and I cant see this sort of company paying out one

Additionally unless you have expert proof they are responsible you might not even get the excess back as "it being obvious" isnt really enough here

Maybe it developed a natural fault

mark1234567890

Thank you for your responses.

I am shocked that I may not be entitled to anything at all. I thought that we were living in a compensation culture these days.

It is also upsetting to hear that I may end up out of pocket for the actions of shoddy workmanship by what is supposed to be a professional. I guess I am fairly lucky that this is the first time that anything like this has happened to me.

I am sure others will have experienced being out of pocket.

Looks like I may have to hope for a token gesture which I will probably not receive.

Has anyone got anything to say which could give me a glimmer of hope?

davkt

Nope, if you have quantifiable out of pocket expenses you may well be able to recover them. Have you tried talking to your insurer about it or is it things you've had to spend they don't cover?

KILL_BILL

if you have a legal expenses policy attached to your home contents insurance then you will have cover to reover any uninsured losses such as the expenses that you have incurred

check your policy or ask the insurance company if you do

then get them to make a claim on your behalf and details fully the expenses etc that you have incurred.

if you dont have a legal expenses policy then providing your claim is under £5000.00 you can file a small claims action against the third party. the costs for doing this are minimal as no solicitors are relaly needed and you can do the paperwork yourself.

you can do this on line via the hmcs website

takoo

Mark

I'm late to this one but have you covered the following:

• does the company have a complaints procedure?
• is the company a member of any trade or professional body with a complaints procedure- CORGI, Master Builders etc?
• the complaint may be about the way you have been treated, rather than the tort of negligence
• the latter may not be dealt with under a complaints approach but through legal advisers or insurers(?)
• tried the CAB for advice.

Takoo