Advice needed, who is liable to pay?

KatieXZoe

Hi all, looking for some advice. 

1 month ago our water tank in our house split and was leaking water. Had plumber out who said whole thing needs replacing. Up until now had been toying with replacing the boiler but was service in January and was functioning fine (just old and a bit creaky). 

Anyway, plumber sends estimate to replace water tank and it turns out saves us £800 to have boiler done at same time, so we proceeded with boiler and water tank replacement. 

Plumbers came out and did a great job, however accidentally burnt the carpet using their soldering iron on our landing. 

Company have said they will replace the carpet on the landing and put us in touch with a local company (who I think they have connections with) to see if they can find an exact match and they can't find an exact match as there's no carpet name on the existing one. 

They provided a sample of a replacement which is a fairly good match, but I am concerned it will look odd as my landing and stairs have the same carpet, and the plumber is only willing to replace the landing down to the top step of the stairs.. so essentially one step will have different carpet to the rest. 

I have said I do not know how this new carpet will wear over time and the differences in this case may become more apparent, and I do not want to have odd carpet. 

They said it would cost me £140 if I wanted to have the stairs carpeted with the same material. 

For context I paid £4k in full for the works on my boiler and heating and never got offered a discount nor expected one for what has happened, but I am struggling to see how it is fair that I have to pay £140 out of pocket just to have my carpet match for a mistake which was not my fault? 

Would like some opinions/ advice if possible please! 

Brie

If neither of you is willing to pay for the whole run down the stairs would you be satisfied with something that didn't match?  I mean if there was a pattern in the stairs bit and you could match one colour for the bit they are willing to pay for would that work for you?

KatieXZoe

Brie said:

If neither of you is willing to pay for the whole run down the stairs would you be satisfied with something that didn't match?  I mean if there was a pattern in the stairs bit and you could match one colour for the bit they are willing to pay for would that work for you?

Ideally I don't want a mis-matched carpet... Which I don't think is unreasonable given that this is their mistake. It currently all matches and I think replacing just the top step of the stairs and landing would look odd. I don't feel we should have to have to live with this because of someone else's mistake but I also can't force them to pay but equally not really sure how to find a solution from here... 

nofoollikeold

Time to compromise I think.  What is the financial value of the carpet which has been burnt?  I suspect replacing the whole existing carpet would be considered betterment unless it is less than, say, a year old.  

I'd try negotiating, perhaps offer to pay £100 towards the whole re-carpeting, but I doubt you'll do much better than that.  Is it worth the hassle?

FreeBear

If you were to take the plumber to court for a replacement carpet, the judge would not award you the full cost of a new one. He/she would likely reduce the settlement based on the age of the carpet and the expected lifespan.

If the plumber is offering a new carpet on the landing, that would be a lot better than you'd get by going legal. In your shoes, I would accept, and then pay that extra £140 to finish off the stairs.