Refusal to take financial responsibility for damage during repair

pjam101

Hi There,

I'll try to keep this short a local subcontractor for a major UK electronics company came to carry out a repair (out of warranty) on out fridge-freezer, for which we paid £215 upfront. First visit - wrong parts. Second visit he damaged an unrelated component of the fridge-freezer and admitted this and his liability, and said he's go back to base, get the replacement part ordered up and take it from there. So far not ideal but okay.

They (the large company) are refusing to take responsibility and say the 'the unit is no longer repairable due to the critical damage that occurred during the repair attempt' and as 'a gesture of goodwill' will only refund for the initial repair while we are left with a useless £1200 fridge-freezer. They also request we 'would like to initiate the Voice of Customer (VOC) process'. They have tried to this refund twice now, which I assume is because if we accept it, they can walk away.

Apart from being a completely unacceptable response (and we have been without a functioning fridge-freezer for weeks now) I am concerned this VOC process is some underway way of curtailing our rights. 

1. Is this the case?

2. What's the best way forward? Small claims court? (Scotland)

Many Thanks

Pauline

Alderbank

pjam101 said:

Hi There,

I'll try to keep this short a local subcontractor for a major UK electronics company came to carry out a repair (out of warranty) on out fridge-freezer, for which we paid £215 upfront. First visit - wrong parts. Second visit he damaged an unrelated component of the fridge-freezer and admitted this and his liability, and said he's go back to base, get the replacement part ordered up and take it from there. So far not ideal but okay.

They (the large company) are refusing to take responsibility and say the 'the unit is no longer repairable due to the critical damage that occurred during the repair attempt' and as 'a gesture of goodwill' will only refund for the initial repair while we are left with a useless £1200 fridge-freezer. They also request we 'would like to initiate the Voice of Customer (VOC) process'. They have tried to this refund twice now, which I assume is because if we accept it, they can walk away.

Apart from being a completely unacceptable response (and we have been without a functioning fridge-freezer for weeks now) I am concerned this VOC process is some underway way of curtailing our rights. 

1. Is this the case?

2. What's the best way forward? Small claims court? (Scotland)

Many Thanks

Pauline

Fàilte gu am fòram.

Who exactly is your contract with (you can name the companies involved)?

They must carry out the work with reasonable care and skill, which they have failed to do. You must allow them one chance to complete the contract (in your case, that is probably to leave you with your fridge repaired and in fully working condition, but it depends on the contract).
If they fail to do that within a reasonable time you can consider taking them to court. Here in Scotland that would be your local Sheriff Court using our Simple Process, but it is similar to the small claims court and the same law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) applies.

What is the VOC process?
If the contract you have agreed says that if they can't fix the fridge they can invoke this process, that might be the route you have to follow.

pjam101

Thank You, 

The repair request was made to with LG Electronics, in England, who we paid. Just checked reviews, they are thoroughly one star for this sort of situation.
A subcontractor called Pacifica ASC attended, but I would have thought we were obliged to pursue LG for this? It might be easier to follow through with the subcontractor if that's allowed? They (both companies) have already been offered more than one chance to compete the contract but have failed to engage. In terms of a contract, nothing was supplied.

 'Good morning/afternoon Mr. Dagleish, your repair has now been booked with: ASC Name: PACIFICA ASC Phone Number: 0333 0436 757 Job Reference Number: xxxxxx  An engineer will contact you within 1-2 business days to set the appointment date and time. If your area requires a parking permit, please ensure you have one ready for the engineer before their visit.  Kind regards, LG UK'
This text is all we have from LG.  
Although we do have tests from the engineers that pretty much confirm he admits fault (he did verbally). 
 
VOC process stands for  The Voice of the Customer (VoC) process. I see no point in this for us. 

Thanks again

Pauline

Alderbank

You have a contract.
Scots contract law doesn't need a signature or even a piece of paper, except in some special circumstances listed in the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995.

You offered to pay a company £215 to fix your fridge and they accepted your offer. That's enough. 

It's not clear to me though who your contract is with.
LG's website says about repairs:
'You will shortly be contacted by an LG Agent who will help you with your request. [You will then] receive LG-Certified repair services by trusted experts using genuine LG parts.'

That sounds like LG merely help you to get in touch with 'trusted experts'  Pacifica. But what does LG-Certified mean (if anything)?

 What does the paperwork say?

visidigi

If you paid LG and LG chose to outsource it then the actions of the 'authorized agent' are LG's responsibility. 

I would be pursuing LG for a resolution - they have left you worse off than where you were prior to the 'specialist' touching your (very) expensive FF.

How old is the FF and who did you buy it from?

pjam101

Hello Again, 

There is NO paperwork. We called LG, paid them, they sent us the above text, Pacifica attended and broke the condenser (it was the fan that needed repaired). It seems likely it’s an non-economic repair which is why they are dodging dealing with it.

The fridge- freezer is three years old and was bought directly from LG. 

We have submitted a complaint to both companies and the response was as above from LG, we offer you as ‘goodwill’ the £215 back and Goodbye. Pacifica have not responded.

Thank You

Pauline

DullGreyGuy

pjam101 said:

Hello Again, 

There is NO paperwork. We called LG, paid them, they sent us the above text, Pacifica attended and broke the condenser (it was the fan that needed repaired). It seems likely it’s an non-economic repair which is why they are dodging dealing with it.

The fridge- freezer is three years old and was bought directly from LG. 

Paperwork isnt necessary for a contract to be formed, but it does make it more difficult to argue what the terms of the agreement were. 

pjam101 said:

 as 'a gesture of goodwill' will only refund for the initial repair while we are left with a useless £1200 fridge-freezer. They also request we 'would like to initiate the Voice of Customer (VOC) process'. They have tried to this refund twice now, which I assume is because if we accept it, they can walk away.

Apart from being a completely unacceptable response (and we have been without a functioning fridge-freezer for weeks now) I am concerned this VOC process is some underway way of curtailing our rights. 

1. Is this the case?

2. What's the best way forward? Small claims court? (Scotland)

Whilst it may have originally been £1,200 you say it's 3 years old now and so it won't be worth anything close to that today. Irrespective if you pursued it as a Consumer Rights matter or as a tort of negligence you arent getting £1,100 back. Under the former the law allows them to reduce any refund for the use received before the goods failed and under the later you need to be put back in the same position as you were before financially which would be a secondhand 3 year old fridge with a broken fan. 

I dont know if their VOC process has changed but certainly a good few years ago all it was was a mechanism for customers to give feedback (eg new product features, complaints on design or function etc) to the product development teams for considerations on future changes. Note not all products are physical and "post warranty servicing" may be considered a product by LG

There is no harm in giving feedback via VOC and it won't harm your rights but it may not get you anywhere further forward. Clearly worth checking with them if it is still just feedback to product teams or if its pivoted and now the name for the complaints process or something

pjam101

To be fair to us, we are not looking for £1,200. What we would really like is a complete repair which is what we paid for, but it seems that may not be possible.
'you need to be put back in the same position as you were before financially which would be a secondhand 3 year old fridge with a broken fan'. I'd be happy with that. 
The expected lifespan of these products is apparently 10 to 20 years, so it hardly seems we should be happy with nothing. 
We've emailed LG again making clear it is a Formal Complaint, we have contacted trading standards, will pursue through small claims if necessary, and will not let it drop, so we'll see what response comes now.....

Pauline

pjam101

Further update: 

Advice Direct Scotland (interim step before Trading Standards) have advised us that LG are 100% in the wrong.
We should not have paid them £215. As the appliance is expected to last more than 5 years, it does not matter that the guarantee has expired, up to 5 years we are entitled to a free repair. Good and Services Act 2015.
If they cannot repair the appliance they should replace it.
We have taken all the correct steps so far.
If we don't get a satisfactory response in 14 days, to get back to them and they will escalate to trading standards and we should pursue it through the Sheriff Court.
I will keep you updated.

Pauline

eskbanker

pjam101 said:

Further update: 

Advice Direct Scotland (interim step before Trading Standards) have advised us that LG are 100% in the wrong.
We should not have paid them £215. As the appliance is expected to last more than 5 years, it does not matter that the guarantee has expired, up to 5 years we are entitled to a free repair. Good and Services Act 2015.
If they cannot repair the appliance they should replace it.
We have taken all the correct steps so far.
If we don't get a satisfactory response in 14 days, to get back to them and they will escalate to trading standards and we should pursue it through the Sheriff Court.
I will keep you updated.

Pauline

I'd be wary of any consumer organisation directing you towards fictional legislation!

If they meant the Consumer Rights Act 2015 then this does indeed require that goods are of satisfactory quality and durability, but that's not quite the same thing as an automatic right to free repairs for the lifecycle of a product, in that (after six months) the consumer usually needs to demonstrate that faults were present at the time of sale.

pjam101

Well it may have got lost in translation as my husband was on the call, not me, and I expect he wasn't accurate when he relayed it as I had to quiz him on the conversation.
In any case, this is what they said.
I'm not really worried about the repair bill, we were fine to pay it, but I am angry about the loss of a very expensive appliance due to damage from the tradesman.
And generally I don't take well to being taken advantage of/mistreated.