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Amazon: Faulty Installation lead to water damage
Comments
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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.
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.0 -
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.
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.0 -
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.0
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born_again said:Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?0
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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.0
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SarahBDE said:born_again said:Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
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.
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Boohoo said:SarahBDE said:born_again said:Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
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:born_again said:Was this a actual Amazon purchase or via Marketplace?
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 gone through as if I wanted to buy it again and Amazon provides the following information:
"Services AvailableFor 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.0 -
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.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".0 -
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.
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.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.
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't1 -
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 ?0
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