Shark Battery Exploded and caused house fire

Aylesbury_Duck

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

That sounds like a high claim, but without knowing the size of the property it's impossible to judge correctly.  To be clear, you're not entitled to new-for-old, so if things like the carpet and sofa were several years old, you're entitled to the depreciated value, not the value of brand new replacements.  Same with the other elements.

At that level of claim, I suspect Shark are going to want a lot more information to assure themselves that it was their product at fault.

born_again

Bianca4685 said:

My Shark vacuum cleaner battery exploded a couple of weeks ago.  It caused a house fire.  I managed to put the fire out, but there is significant smoke damage to the property and my furnishings and I have had to move out of the property temporarily.  The Landlord is claiming her insurance for the decor works required, I have submitted a claim to Shark for the contents damaged, however, don't seem to be getting anywhere with them.
They said they will contact the loss adjuster and will require to attend any inspections.  They haven't contacted them and the loss adjuster has been to the property already, along with the fire investigator.
The battery wasn't on charge, wasn't in use.  It was just sitting on my kitchen worktop when it exploded and caught fire.
Any advice on legal routes etc to go down with Shark would be appreciated.
They came back to me this morning to say that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.  I don't understand how they can say this if they haven't even seen the battery or if they have never asked to visit the property.
Very frustrating!!

Noting your managed to put out. 

Were the fire brigade called out?

Who is investigation the issue with the battery?

As that is a lot of claimed damage for something your put out yourself, especially given a battery fire in the kitchen.

new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood

Bianca4685

Yes it is a lot but also a lot of smoke damage, the Landlord is needing to paint the whole property (2 bdrm terraced house).  There was more smoke damage upstairs than downstairs.  
The Landlord's loss adjuster hired a fire investigator and they carried out an inspection and took the battery away.  Shark were informed of all of this and details provided if they wanted to inspect the battery.

ThumbRemote

I assume the carpets are your own, not the landlords.

You've really only got two things you can do: keep hassling them, or go to small claims court. 

In the first instance I'd write them an email or  letter with proof of postage stating that you consider the length of time for their investigations to be unacceptable, particularly since they have given no indication how long these will take, and asking for a response within 14 days (or 10 working days). 

Beyond that, send a letter before action and go to small claims court. 

Remember that they are meant to be the experts. In a case like this you'd expect them to quick at investigating to explain what caused the problem. You certainly can't prove a negative (ie you can't show that you didn't use the wrong charger, they'd have to show that you did). Even if you struggle to provide much evidence, I can't see a judge being happy that the company have just washed their hands of the whole matter. 

DullGreyGuy

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

Even if the did have contents it would only cover their contents not yours (think a place rented as fully furnished)

As mentioned before, this isn't home insurance and so you are entitled to "indemnification" not "new for old" so if it was a 5 year old sofa you are entitled to the value of a 5 year old sofa not a brand new one. Obviously nothing stopping you from aiming high to give room to negotiate down but to set expectations its how the courts would see it. 

How did a kitchen fire lead to a hallway carpet needing replaced esp given it was small enough for you to fire fight? If its an argument a bit of it in another room was damaged and its all matching... I'm not sure how that would hang even if you claimed it at a depreciated value. In insurance claims they'd only pay for the carpet in the room of the incident and the fact you now have unmatched carpets isn't their problem. I haven't come across the situation in a third party claim as most my claims were either motor or trips/falls... did a few cars entering living rooms when they missed a bend but dont recall any matching carpets in those. 

Undervalued

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.                       

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

In who's opinion were the sofa and lounge carpets etc "too far gone" to be professionally cleaned and deoderised?

Although I sympathise, if the claim is disputed this is the sort of question that will be asked!

The instructions with the product will no doubt have safety warnings about the Lithium batteries. Did you precisely follow them and always use the supplied charger?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

Thanks OP

Does the battery have any other brand or importer company listed on it (appreciate you can't check the one that caught fire but if the spare is a genuine Shark battery hopefully details are the same or perhaps check one in a shop like Currys)? 

If there is ask Shark if any companies listed were associated with the battery in question or simply ask Shark who the importer is (it may be Shark themselves or may be a third party).

As per the link in my post above:

The Act specifies who is liable for damage caused, wholly or partly, by a defect in a product. These are as follows:

• the 'producer' (manufacturer, abstracter, etc in the case of raw materials) or processor
• any person putting their name or mark on the product - for example, a supermarket could be liable for damage caused by its 'own brand' products, even though the products were made by someone else on its behalf
• importers
• anyone else in the supply chain can be held liable for damage if they cannot identify where the product came from

If two or more parties are liable for the same damage, their liability will be joint and several (which means a claim could be made against either or both of them).

So looking to claim from both Shark and another company may assist in getting a result. 

If not done already I'd put your claim to them in writing with a request that all further correspondence is done via letter to see how they respond.

As mentioned above it's small claims if you can't come to an agreement, if you go down that route you may also wish to seek professional advice on whether you have any kind of claim of mental/psychological suffering, I would imagine a house fire is pretty scary, but I'm not sure if such claims in valid in your specific circumstance. 

Another option is to contact the likes of the Daily Mail This is Money, they'd probably like a story about an exploding battery and might contact Shark which could speed up the issue. 

Just to note the claim for the vacuum cleaner would come under the Consumer Rights Act against the retailer (if not purchased from Shark directly).

As others have said usually claims for damages wouldn't be new for old but as another poster said better to aim high during negotiation and get knocked down as companies will always do their best to persuade you to accept as little as possible but when it comes to small claims worth noting this aspect  

Bianca4685

DullGreyGuy said:

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

Even if the did have contents it would only cover their contents not yours (think a place rented as fully furnished)

As mentioned before, this isn't home insurance and so you are entitled to "indemnification" not "new for old" so if it was a 5 year old sofa you are entitled to the value of a 5 year old sofa not a brand new one. Obviously nothing stopping you from aiming high to give room to negotiate down but to set expectations its how the courts would see it. 

How did a kitchen fire lead to a hallway carpet needing replaced esp given it was small enough for you to fire fight? If its an argument a bit of it in another room was damaged and its all matching... I'm not sure how that would hang even if you claimed it at a depreciated value. In insurance claims they'd only pay for the carpet in the room of the incident and the fact you now have unmatched carpets isn't their problem. I haven't come across the situation in a third party claim as most my claims were either motor or trips/falls... did a few cars entering living rooms when they missed a bend but dont recall any matching carpets in those. 

The whole property is smoke damaged.  The smoke from the kitchen went up through the boiler cupboard.  Also the trailing of the damage from the kitchen through to the lounge/hallway.  The insurers said they would have covered all carpets, if they were the Landlords.

Undervalued said:

Bianca4685 said:

The Landlord doesn't have contents cover, so unfortunately all of my things aren't covered.                       

I have claimed £3558, which covers new sofa/carpets in lounge and hall/staircase, MW, kettle toaster, placements, vase and flowers, pot, cooker wood.  I have also requested a refund for the vacuum cleaner, extra battery purchased.

I have also claimed £520 to have the other carpets and kitchen chairs cleaned and deoderised.

In who's opinion were the sofa and lounge carpets etc "too far gone" to be professionally cleaned and deoderised?

Although I sympathise, if the claim is disputed this is the sort of question that will be asked!

The instructions with the product will no doubt have safety warnings about the Lithium batteries. Did you precisely follow them and always use the supplied charger?

I spoke to a carpet/upholstery cleaner and he said that with the smoke damage, it would be difficult to get the smell from the sofa.  The carpets have black marks all over them as they are cream.

I only ever used their charger and it wasn't even charging at the time of fire.

Bianca4685

I have been in email correspondence with Shark since the incident happened. They have said they have passed the matter to their legal team.  

All items were purchased direct from Shark website.  I have emailed them today to request to return the vacuum and parts for a refund.  No response.

I am definitely thinking the media route would be a good idea, as I don't seem to be getting anywhere with them!

PHK

First of all do NOT go down the media route. You could seriously hamper your case. Shark are right to pass the case over to their legal team who will be also be instructed by their insurers. 

This is a case where an insurance company would have been able to do things more effectively for you. I think you are going to struggle to handle this without expert help.  

The amount you're claiming seems high for what is alleged to happen. Note that I'm not saying you are claiming too much but only that the amount seems high, so you are not going to get a straightforward pay off. You are going to need to prove your loss, that the battery was faulty (and not eg shorted on a damp counter) and that you've mitigated your loss. 

I think you'll probably need a solicitor but your local Citizen's Advice may be able to help.