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Amazon: Faulty Installation lead to water damage

2

Comments

  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 15,919 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 2 October at 1:56PM
    SarahBDE said:
    Alderbank said:
    How much did the washer/dryer cost?

    What breach of what law will you be pursuing?

    Under the Consumer Rights Act your claim would presumably be Chapter 4 section 54 which says that if the service does not conform to the contract you have the right to a price reduction of up to the full amount of the price paid.

    In other words a successful claim against Amazon under the CRA will only give you (at most) whatever you paid.

    I suspect that £[insert] will be quite a bit more than that? 

    Section 54 says the CRA does not prevent you seeking other remedies in addition (but not so as to recover twice for the same loss), such as claiming damages for instance.

    In your circumstances we usually recommend advising your property insurance about the water damage (your policy probably requires that anyway) and allowing them to bring any claim against the negligent plumber.

    They will sort out repairing the damage for you and do a better job of recovering the costs in court.
    Thank you for this response. I was planning on using the Customer Rights Act, though did not realise this would only entitle me to a return of the cost of the installation. The number I would be inserting is of the cost of the replacement flooring. Do you have suggestions of alternative laws that are relevant here? Reimbursing me £50 for an installation that has caused in excess of £4,000 of damages seems not adequate...
    There almost certainly isn't £4000+ of damage, though.  You have a duty to minimise the loss, and taking one person's view that the whole floor needs replacing perhaps doesn't do that.  You should ask a local, independent flooring company (not one of the big chains) to come and take a look and see if it really is impossible to replace just one area satisfactorily (including colour-matching) and if it isn't impossible, what a sectional repair would cost.  I doubt it's anywhere near £4,000.

    If the only course of action is a replacement of all of the flooring, yes it might cost £4,000+ (although that feels steep, but I have no idea how big an area it is and whether you're somewhere expensive like central London, for example), but you have to consider that you've had 10 years' use from the floor.  If the flooring originally came with a 15 year warranty for example (which might be taken as an indicator of expected lifespan), it's not unreasonable to think that you've had 2/3rds of its lifetime use and you'd be spending £4k or whatever in five years' time in any case.  That's why you need to be proportionate in any claim, should it come to that.  You're entitled to be put back in the position you were in before the leak, with 10 year old flooring throughout the area, not brand new flooring throughout.  Finding and fitting 10 year old flooring isn't practical, so you'd be seeking a contribution towards fitting new throughout.
  • cmthephoenix
    cmthephoenix Posts: 179 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper

    The insurance had sent an assessor who agreed with me that, due to the open plan set up of the flat in which the flooring was laid continuously, it would not be possible to replace flooring only in the affected area. The whole flooring would have to be replaced. Quotes I received during '23 were in excess of £4k. Today, these would likely be higher.

    So you've got a copy of the plumbers report that states the whole floor is going to need to be replaced?

    What has been the back and forth in your conversations with the insurance company - have they said they're only willing to replace a section of the flooring.

    10 years is going to be a tough one - what type of flooring is it? Perhaps you could post the photos you've got of the damage, You're only entitled to be put back in the position you were, ie. with 10 years old flooring. The insurance may be willing to give you a cash settlement in order to 'put up' with the damage, although I doubt if it will be anywhere near £4k.
  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    TELLIT01 said:
    The action being taken 2 1/2 years after the event isn't going to help.  Professional companies would probably be able to colour match the replaced section, although the OP doesn't state what the flooring material is.
    I contacted Amazon the same day I saw the leak. First they referred me from pillar to post internally, then fobbed me off to speak to the insurance. That took a whole year of visits and investigations only for them to then decline the claim. So there's only been about 9 months in which I considered whether I should try again or let it go. 
  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
    It was an Amazon purchase. While purchasing the washer/dryer, I had the option to select whether I wanted to purchase the installation at the same time, which was just the click of a button. I had to contact Amazon to get the information later on, when they requested I contact the company directly, as the information was not provided during purchase or any other time. 
  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 15,919 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    SarahBDE said:
    TELLIT01 said:
    The action being taken 2 1/2 years after the event isn't going to help.  Professional companies would probably be able to colour match the replaced section, although the OP doesn't state what the flooring material is.
    I contacted Amazon the same day I saw the leak. First they referred me from pillar to post internally, then fobbed me off to speak to the insurance. That took a whole year of visits and investigations only for them to then decline the claim. So there's only been about 9 months in which I considered whether I should try again or let it go. 
    Sounds like you need to escalate to court, then.
  • Boohoo
    Boohoo Posts: 1,356 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    SarahBDE said:
    Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
    It was an Amazon purchase. While purchasing the washer/dryer, I had the option to select whether I wanted to purchase the installation at the same time, which was just the click of a button. I had to contact Amazon to get the information later on, when they requested I contact the company directly, as the information was not provided during purchase or any other time. 
    Are you 100% sure it was Amazon and not another company selling through Amazon?

    You mentioned contacting Amazon to get the company details, why was that?

    The installation company are they different from Amazon or the other company as if the installation company fitted a faulty leaky machine then should you not be going after them and not Amazon?

    That's if it's not all Amazon.

  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    Boohoo said:
    SarahBDE said:
    Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
    It was an Amazon purchase. While purchasing the washer/dryer, I had the option to select whether I wanted to purchase the installation at the same time, which was just the click of a button. I had to contact Amazon to get the information later on, when they requested I contact the company directly, as the information was not provided during purchase or any other time. 
    Are you 100% sure it was Amazon and not another company selling through Amazon?

    You mentioned contacting Amazon to get the company details, why was that?

    The installation company are they different from Amazon or the other company as if the installation company fitted a faulty leaky machine then should you not be going after them and not Amazon?

    That's if it's not all Amazon.

    Boohoo said:
    SarahBDE said:
    Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
    It was an Amazon purchase. While purchasing the washer/dryer, I had the option to select whether I wanted to purchase the installation at the same time, which was just the click of a button. I had to contact Amazon to get the information later on, when they requested I contact the company directly, as the information was not provided during purchase or any other time. 
    Are you 100% sure it was Amazon and not another company selling through Amazon?

    You mentioned contacting Amazon to get the company details, why was that?

    The installation company are they different from Amazon or the other company as if the installation company fitted a faulty leaky machine then should you not be going after them and not Amazon?

    That's if it's not all Amazon.

    I have just double checked my past purchased and it states "sold by: Amazon.co.uk". Getting it installed was an add on option during purchase. It did not state the name or details of the company who would fulfil the fitting. When they first told me to go after the company who did the fitting, I then had to contact Amazon for that company's details because even in the purchase history does not give me their details anywhere. I purchased the fitting as a service through Amazon. Amazon then got a third party to fulfil that service. Therefore, I believe my contract was with Amazon, not with the third party. Despite that, I did pursue the contractor's insurance, as requested by Amazon. However, they declined the claim despite photographic and video evidence and the written plumber's report. 
    I have just gone through as if I wanted to buy it again and Amazon provides the following information: 
    "Services Available
    For your convenience, you can book services with this item.
    Amazon offers a variety of services on large items like unpack, installation, assembly and recycling.
    There might be an additional charge for booked services."

    Even in this write up, they say that it is Amazon who are offering the variety of services.
    Thanks for your comment. I hope this information helps to make more sense of the situation. 
  • Belenus
    Belenus Posts: 2,768 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    SarahBDE said:
    Thank you so much for everyone's responses. I see the case is not as straight forward as I thought....
    The flooring is 10 years old but in very good nick and would not need to be replaced if it was not for the water damage. Due to the age, even if the same product was still in production, there would likely be a slight difference in colour so replacing only the one part would not work. I do not have home insurance. 
    Do you not have any buildings and/or contents insurance?
    A man walked into a car showroom.
    He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    The man replied, “You have now mate".
  • Exodi
    Exodi Posts: 4,193 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Wedding Day Wonder Name Dropper
    edited 6 October at 12:07PM
    Out of curiosity, why did their insurer decline the claim?

    Unfortunately I disagree with your position that it's reasonable to claim for brand new flooring throughout the downstairs because of water damage to your 10 year old vinyl flooring around the washer/dryer. It is not proportionate.
    SarahBDE said:
    Due to the age, even if the same product was still in production, there would likely be a slight difference in colour so replacing only the one part would not work.
    How far do the affected panels extend from your washer/dryer? Is this area of flooring exposed to UV? If not, you can see how some might feel it's unreasonable/not proportionate, to suggest replacing the entire downstairs flooring, to prevent the risk of a potentially unnoticeable variation between a few tiles in front of your washer/dryer.

    Have you actually contacted Amtico to confirm if they still supply the specific vinyl flooring? If you can at least identify it, you might be able to find odd tile packs available from third parties online.

    I would personally suggest getting a second (and third) opinion - in any case it will be necessary to produce in the event of court as you have a responsibility to mitigate your losses.

    Googling lifespan of vinyl flooring suggests ~15 years, meaning even if there was absolutely no alternative but to replace your entire flooring, they could reasonably argue that you are only entitled to 10 year old flooring, or 1/3rd of the new replacement cost assuming linear depreciation.

    This may seem unfair, but the principle is that you are returned to as close to the position you were before the incident, whereas a new floor would be betterment. If you reversed into someones ol' banger at the supermarket and it was deemed a write off, you would expect you shouldn't be liable for a brand new 2025 model.
    Know what you don't
  • caprikid1
    caprikid1 Posts: 2,487 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I noticed you previously talked about a dispute with a rental property, is this property yours or ultimately a landlords ? Have you spoken to the landlord ?
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