damaged/dented fridge freezer on delivery, plus courier scratched our flooring

GDB2222

Are you suing the retailer, the courier, or both?

pete1975

GDB2222 said:

Are you suing the retailer, the courier, or both?

Hi im now taking the retailer to a small claims court, ive wasted several months with the courier but i had 30min free consultation with a local solicitor and they were really helpful so we have now wrote to them with the following

''Good afternoon Anne,

I refer to the email exchange below concerning the damage caused to our flooring during the delivery of the fridge freezer by ArrowXL.

I am now in the process of preparing a Small Claims Court application. The damage is repairable; however, I have obtained a quotation of approximately £500 from a specialist flooring company. They have advised that the Amtico flooring will need to be specially ordered, as replacement tiles are not held in stock. They have also cautioned that removing a single tile can disturb the subfloor, which may result in the scope of works increasing.

I have taken independent legal advice via a free one-hour consultation with a local solicitor. Based on that advice, I have been instructed to formally notify you that:

My contract was with Appliances Direct, not ArrowXL. ArrowXL was acting as Appliances Direct’s delivery agent. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the principles of vicarious liability, the retailer remains responsible for damage caused by its appointed contractor during delivery. Any recovery from ArrowXL is a matter for Appliances Direct and does not remove their liability to me as the consumer.

The solicitor further advised that because ArrowXL was acting in the course of fulfilling Appliances Direct’s contractual obligations, any damage caused during delivery is legally attributable to the retailer. This reflects long-established principles of vicarious liability and is reinforced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which places responsibility on the trader to ensure that services, including delivery, are carried out with reasonable care and skill.

While retailers may, for internal or administrative reasons, direct consumers to pursue delivery contractors directly, this does not alter the legal position. Appliances Direct may, if it chooses, seek recovery from ArrowXL separately; however, that is a matter between your respective organisations.

In light of the above, please forward this correspondence to your legal team. Although I initially raised the matter with ArrowXL following earlier guidance from yourself. I have now been advised that the correct course of action is to pursue the claim directly against Appliances Direct, which I am prepared to do unless this matter can be resolved promptly.

I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,

Peter

eskbanker

Too late now if it's already been sent but personally I wouldn't have mentioned that your legal advice arose from a free one hour consultation, and would have quantified the 'promptly' at the end, i.e. giving them a specific deadline of 14/28 days or whatever, after which you'll initiate the claim.

littleboo

Yes agreed, the duration and cost of them legal advice is not relevant.

pete1975

thanks all, i'm expecting no response from the appliance company.  Im rubbish at these kind of things, i should have put it in chatgpt for a better more professional email 

pete1975

I woke up this morning and was surprised to get a reply from the company  

''

Hello Peter, I have just come across your email and am currently reviewing the details of this matter.

I understand that you wish to progress a claim for alleged property damage. However, I would like to clarify that ArrowXL have rejected this claim, confirming that the damage was not caused by them at the time of delivery, and as such no liability has been accepted.

I have reviewed the images provided on 26/07/2025. From what I can see, the issue appears to relate to the threshold area of the kitchen doorway, although the exact nature and extent of the damage is unclear from the evidence supplied.

With regard to the £500 flooring quotation, we would not be accepting this amount. You are welcome to attach the quotation for review; however, this does not change our position regarding liability.

In order to bring this matter to a close, and without any admission of liability, I am prepared to offer a goodwill contribution of £50 as a full and final settlement.

Please confirm if you wish to accept this offer.

Kind Regards,
Monuar Rahman
Customer Resolutions Manager
For and on behalf of
Blake Whitham
Head of Customer Service
Buy It Direct Ltd

''

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

pete1975 said:

I woke up this morning and was surprised to get a reply from the company  

I guess that is from the retailer?

OP everybody does the same thing, they all offer as little as possible in the hope you'll accept and go away, the further you push the more they are likely to offer.   

I do think the retailer is responsible as ArrowXL was their agent carrying out the delivery obligation but perhaps @A_Geordie might advise whether you can hold both responsible under a court claim.

A_Geordie

Any claim against ArrowXL would have to be in negligence since there is no direct contract. The particulars of claim would need to deal with the fact that ArrowXL:

(1) owed a duty of care to the OP i.e. by exercising reasonable care and skill when unpacking/installing the goods

(2) they breached that duty of care by failing to use adequate floor protection since it was their job to unpack/install. It is not the customer's job to do their job and the T&Cs are not applicable since you have no contract with ArrowXL 

(3) ArrowXL were the cause of the damage and the OP has suffered loss as a result because the OP needs to pay for the repair/replacement costs.

The issue will be whether it is fair, just and reasonable for ArrowXL to be held liable for a brand new replacement of that part of the damaged flooring along with associated costs of install. OP should consider alternatives including professional repairs that reduce or otherwise mask the damage as a way to mitigate their loss. Obtaining 3 quotes would also be reasonable instead of relying on the first available one.

Goes without saying that the burden of proof is on the OP to show that ArrowXL caused the damage. If there's no photographic evidence of the room/flooring prior to installation then it will be a he said she said situation and a court is not always going to automatically favour the claimant absent any evidence since the judge will have to rely on the witness statement as evidence.  

If the judge is unable to decide who has the better argument/evidence then the claim will fail. 

pete1975

A_Geordie said:

Any claim against ArrowXL would have to be in negligence since there is no direct contract. The particulars of claim would need to deal with the fact that ArrowXL:

(1) owed a duty of care to the OP i.e. by exercising reasonable care and skill when unpacking/installing the goods

(2) they breached that duty of care by failing to use adequate floor protection since it was their job to unpack/install. It is not the customer's job to do their job and the T&Cs are not applicable since you have no contract with ArrowXL 

(3) ArrowXL were the cause of the damage and the OP has suffered loss as a result because the OP needs to pay for the repair/replacement costs.

The issue will be whether it is fair, just and reasonable for ArrowXL to be held liable for a brand new replacement of that part of the damaged flooring along with associated costs of install. OP should consider alternatives including professional repairs that reduce or otherwise mask the damage as a way to mitigate their loss. Obtaining 3 quotes would also be reasonable instead of relying on the first available one.

Goes without saying that the burden of proof is on the OP to show that ArrowXL caused the damage. If there's no photographic evidence of the room/flooring prior to installation then it will be a he said she said situation and a court is not always going to automatically favour the claimant absent any evidence since the judge will have to rely on the witness statement as evidence.  

If the judge is unable to decide who has the better argument/evidence then the claim will fail. 

thankyou so much for commenting,   i have various photos which you can see the path of the fridge freezer, after it was dropped and i ask the delivery guys to ring their boss,  they did and i started to film it, i have video footage of them calling their boss and then them taking a photo of the damage, not once on the call did they say to the boos we didn't do it or it was there when we came in,  they actually come into the property to check the route first to make sure there was space to move around and check the floor protection.      
they have actually stated it was there before hand,  which is impossible and if it was they made no reference to me about the floor damage or indeed made me sign any paperwork to say it was there,  it was a pure accident the guy holding the bottom of the fridge it just slipped out of his hands and the corner hit the floor and the guy holding the top was still moving backwards and it was dragged a few inches.      

A_Geordie

pete1975 said:

thankyou so much for commenting,   i have various photos which you can see the path of the fridge freezer, after it was dropped and i ask the delivery guys to ring their boss,  they did and i started to film it, i have video footage of them calling their boss and then them taking a photo of the damage, not once on the call did they say to the boos we didn't do it or it was there when we came in,  they actually come into the property to check the route first to make sure there was space to move around and check the floor protection.      
they have actually stated it was there before hand,  which is impossible and if it was they made no reference to me about the floor damage or indeed made me sign any paperwork to say it was there,  it was a pure accident the guy holding the bottom of the fridge it just slipped out of his hands and the corner hit the floor and the guy holding the top was still moving backwards and it was dragged a few inches.      

Well the evidence you have to date will support your case especially if they denied in the video footage that it was already there. It will be up to the judge to determine how much weight should be attributed to your evidence and if it meets the threshold that it was more likely than not, that ArrowXL caused the damage. 

I noticed in an earlier post you said you were in the process of writing your claim. I would strongly suggest you do not rush into it for the sake of submitting a claim against ArrowXL. There's plenty of time to start the claim and it's important that you get everything right in your claim because if you don't you may end up missing important information and thereafter the claim becomes an uphill struggle. 

If you need any feedback on your claim why don't you post it up for posters to critique and provide feedback. 

Also, I would recommend you use the Money Claims Online service (https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome) as opposed to the Civil Money Online Claims service (https://www.moneyclaims.service.gov.uk/make-claim) which is currently a pilot scheme and I find it a bit naff personally compared to the MCOL service which is straightforward.