We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Amazon: Faulty Installation lead to water damage

13»

Comments

  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    Exodi said:
    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.
    Thanks for your comment. I agree with your car example and I don't expect a one to one reimbursement. I absolutely expect that I would not get 100%. I have had 4 companies in the flat to quote what a replacement of the flooring would be and all 4 of them informed me that it would not be possible to take up the damaged flooring without damaging the intact flooring and they all said the whole thing would have to be done. 
    Unfortunately the insurance would not give me a reason for denying my claim. 
  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    caprikid1 said:
    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 ?
    Two different properties. 
  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 15,919 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Looks like you'll need to take this to court to get an outcome, making a calculation of what a reasonable contribution to the whole new flooring would be.
  • Boohoo
    Boohoo Posts: 1,356 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    SarahBDE said:
    Exodi said:
    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.
    Thanks for your comment. I agree with your car example and I don't expect a one to one reimbursement. I absolutely expect that I would not get 100%. I have had 4 companies in the flat to quote what a replacement of the flooring would be and all 4 of them informed me that it would not be possible to take up the damaged flooring without damaging the intact flooring and they all said the whole thing would have to be done. 
    Unfortunately the insurance would not give me a reason for denying my claim. 
    Do you have any photos of the damage then and what it looks like now?

    If they won't pay out for all could you not cut out the bad parts and do a straight edge and put in a floor join like when you do one room in certain flooring and another a different colour.

    Not sure if it would work if you know why I am on about or if it would look completely odd.

    Just an idea and it might save the hassle of a 1 or 2 year until it goes to court.
  • SarahBDE
    SarahBDE Posts: 29 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    Boohoo said:
    SarahBDE said:
    Exodi said:
    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.
    Thanks for your comment. I agree with your car example and I don't expect a one to one reimbursement. I absolutely expect that I would not get 100%. I have had 4 companies in the flat to quote what a replacement of the flooring would be and all 4 of them informed me that it would not be possible to take up the damaged flooring without damaging the intact flooring and they all said the whole thing would have to be done. 
    Unfortunately the insurance would not give me a reason for denying my claim. 
    Do you have any photos of the damage then and what it looks like now?

    If they won't pay out for all could you not cut out the bad parts and do a straight edge and put in a floor join like when you do one room in certain flooring and another a different colour.

    Not sure if it would work if you know why I am on about or if it would look completely odd.

    Just an idea and it might save the hassle of a 1 or 2 year until it goes to court.
    I am not in the flat now so don't have current pictures. I do have photos and videos from when it happened. As I said in another comment, I don't expect 100% of the cost, but do expect some compensation. 
    Due to the location, it would not be possible to replace just that bit of flooring. A floor join would look horrible there. 

    My hope from my original post was to understand my options better and how or if to do anything about Amazon. CAB told me to use the Consumer Rights Act but from this thread I learned that that may not be the right law to quote. 
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.2K Spending & Discounts
  • 245K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.4K Life & Family
  • 258.7K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.