Cleaners damaged floors and then disappeared

bob723

Advice appreciated....

We hired a cleaning company via Facebook to clean our house. Checked references - all fine.
The company sent three cleaners round to clean for an hour. 

After they left we inspected their work and realised they had quite severely damaged newly installed (few weeks old) laminate flooring. Either by using a harsh chemical or over mopping them. We have mopped the floors ourselves and no issues.

The flooring is damaged enough that it could be replaced (lifting in several places).

We contacted the cleaning company and raised the issue with them and asked them if they have insurance, which they said yes. The owner said she would investigate the issue with the cleaners but then subsequently blocked me on Facebook and WhatsApp (guessing no insurance). We have a phone number, the name of the owner and her company (a sole trader, not on Company's House).

What's the best course of action to pursue this? The flooring cost about £2,000 so looking for compensation. Is this likely? 

user1977

So, not a "company". A sole trader. You'll need her address if you want to sue. She may well have insurance, that doesn't matter that much unless she doesn't have £2,000.

km1500

could it be faulty installation?

I find it hard to believe even the most energetic cleaning would cause properly installed laminate to lift

If you go to court this might be their defense

bob723

I thought going with a sole trader who has an online presence is a safer option than a private cleaner.

I don’t have a full address unfortunately. But I do have a street name. Assume this is still not enough to take legal action.

user1977 said:

So, not a "company". A sole trader. You'll need her address if you want to sue. She may well have insurance, that doesn't matter that much unless she doesn't have £2,000.

bob723

km1500 said:

could it be faulty installation?

I find it hard to believe even the most energetic cleaning would cause properly installed laminate to lift

If you go to court this might be their defense

I don’t think so. We have had this laminate for a few weeks and all fine. And we’ve cleaned it ourselves several times. Suspect they threw a bucket of water on it, which is never a good idea, especially with wood flooring.

user1977

bob723 said:

I thought going with a sole trader who has an online presence is a safer option than a private cleaner.

I don’t have a full address unfortunately. But I do have a street name. Assume this is still not enough to take legal action.

Safer to use somebody who has real-life contact details - it only takes minutes for any idiot or fraudster to set up an "online presence".

If you can't discover her address by other detective work, consider getting a tracing agent to find her.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

km1500 said:

could it be faulty installation?

I find it hard to believe even the most energetic cleaning would cause properly installed laminate to lift

If you go to court this might be their defense

The core of laminate boards are wood pulp, when exposed to excessive water it will get through the joints and be absorbed into the core causing them to suffer swelling and warping, even when simply mopping laminate the mop shouldn't be that wet. 

OP you need to see if you can track down their address, they should have given you this as part of the required information, will probably require a bit detective work but if you can then you'd be looking at damages as a result of them breaching the contract (the contract automatically included the implied term that they would perform the service with due care and skill). 

born_again

bob723 said:

I thought going with a sole trader who has an online presence is a safer option than a private cleaner.

I don’t have a full address unfortunately. But I do have a street name. Assume this is still not enough to take legal action.

user1977 said:

So, not a "company". A sole trader. You'll need her address if you want to sue. She may well have insurance, that doesn't matter that much unless she doesn't have £2,000.

No you need their full address.
As you have to send advice of court action. "Letter before Action" & also court papers go there.

PHK

bob723 said:

I thought going with a sole trader who has an online presence is a safer option than a private cleaner.

I don’t have a full address unfortunately. But I do have a street name. Assume this is still not enough to take legal action.

user1977 said:

So, not a "company". A sole trader. You'll need her address if you want to sue. She may well have insurance, that doesn't matter that much unless she doesn't have £2,000.

What do you mean by online presence?

If they have a website then it should have their address and contact details  (otherwise the website would not be compliant and  a red flag)

If just Facebook, Instagram then I'd take that with a pinch of salt. 

I guess you didn't check whether the cleaners were DBS checked, what qualifications they had and what liability insurance ?

bob723

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

km1500 said:

could it be faulty installation?

I find it hard to believe even the most energetic cleaning would cause properly installed laminate to lift

If you go to court this might be their defense

The core of laminate boards are wood pulp, when exposed to excessive water it will get through the joints and be absorbed into the core causing them to suffer swelling and warping, even when simply mopping laminate the mop shouldn't be that wet. 

OP you need to see if you can track down their address, they should have given you this as part of the required information, will probably require a bit detective work but if you can then you'd be looking at damages as a result of them breaching the contract (the contract automatically included the implied term that they would perform the service with due care and skill). 

Great advice thank you 

bob723

born_again said:

bob723 said:

I thought going with a sole trader who has an online presence is a safer option than a private cleaner.

I don’t have a full address unfortunately. But I do have a street name. Assume this is still not enough to take legal action.

user1977 said:

So, not a "company". A sole trader. You'll need her address if you want to sue. She may well have insurance, that doesn't matter that much unless she doesn't have £2,000.

No you need their full address.
As you have to send advice of court action. "Letter before Action" & also court papers go there.

That makes sense, thanks.

Will try and track it down.