not a compensation thread!

zztopgirl

Please no flaming.

I was injured in a local supermarket last month, trying to get a box of cat food pouches, piled on a high shelf, when a box slipped off and hit me on my head. I was taken to a&e and checked over but felt ill for 3 days with concussion.

Anyway, i wrote a letter to the shop, i did not state at all that i was demanding damages (it was basically to let the general manager know what had happened, as he wasnt there at the time and nobody else bothered to tell him, he came back to work to find taxi reciepts on his desk:eek:). I got a letter back today from the insurers saying that the shop has been fully investigated, the shelves are stacked at a safe height (safe if you are over 6 ft tall) and that they werent negligent. I rang back the insurer to say !!!!!!, a bunch of flowers at the time would have been more than adequate. They didnt need to go to all this trouble with insurers. I suppose in this greedy world, someone will say i should demand vouchers, etc for the inconvenience, but then again, is the shop within their rights to say that its not their problem that i was hit on the head? Its not about money! Flamers step away! It could be the most ridiculous and pointless letter ive ever seen anyway, although how much would this have cost the shop? More than a £3 bunch of flowers i bet.

I am now worried too that the shop will demand back the costs incurred of getting me to and from a&e in a taxi, i have asked the insurer if this is likely and he is looking into it.

mrcow

If you are trying to get something off a high shelf, it's safer to ask for assistance or for something to stand on as this type of thing can happen (same as it could if you were trying to get something out of a top kitchen cupboard).

swake

While i have no inside knowledge of supermarket management practices i would be sure that the steps he/she took would be common place. For his and the companies protection alerting the insurers i would think is a standard procedure , then a small investigation to ascertain any liabilty on their part.

You dont say if they apologized ? Although any apology would be for you having the accident not for causing it as im sure they wouldnt hand you an admission of responisbilty. Im sorry to hear about your accident and maybe next time take mrcow's advise an ask for assistance.

Im not sure what your after though, are you after anything ?

zztopgirl

Im sticking to Tesco for my cat food now anyway, they put it all on low shelves. Even if i had got a stool to stand on, i would still be liable if i had been hit by the box or fallen off. But trying to find staff to help isnt an option, they go all out to be as unhelpful as possible. However, the insurer assured me changes have been made.

zztopgirl

swake wrote: »

Im not sure what your after though, are you after anything ?

No im not after anything. Just a bunch of flowers at the time of the accident would have been more than enough. Bit late now that im feeling better.

Its more amazement that they have got their insurers involved for something so petty. My neighbour slipped in grounds belonging to this supermarket, she wrote them a letter and got x amount of vouchers back, no insurers were involved. I didnt want vouchers nor expected any. And no i never got an apology.

My main concern would be being sent a bill for the taxi fares.

uktim29

Thats what I'm trying to work out. If it's not a compo thread, what do you want?

With the height of stocked stacked/height of shelves etc one of the largest overheads in retail is either rent or cost of the premises. Having short shelves means up to or more than 50% of the space your paying/paid for is wasted. It's only normal for business's to want to use as much of the space as possible as they've paid for, this in turn means they can stock a wider range, up to 100% wider.

So I'm not sure really what this complaint is about. I've been in a few Makro's and they're shelves are around 40 feet high. Isn't it obvious if you can't reach to then ask for help?

zztopgirl

I was going to ask how you reach the shelves in Makro, then realised the staff will be trained to assist. This store doesnt have that option.

Right, what i wanted at the time was a bunch of flowers. I did not wish for insurers to get involved, and despite the replies to this thread which are helpful, i fail to see why the store had to involve their insurers when i was not making any sort of claim. This is why i rang the insurer this morning to ask them this same question. They are looking into whether i am liable to pay back the taxi fees.

So, does anything think i am liable to pay back the taxi fees, and should the store have given me a bunch of flowers as a goodwill gesture? I have probably forgotten to say this but my dh did mention this to the store whilst doing all the arrangements for taxi fares/seeing the general manager but ignored. Thats all i am asking. Sorry for any confusion.

zztopgirl

They have steps, but like i said earlier, i wouldnt use their steps, if i fell off or slipped, its at my own risk. The staff are extremely unhelpful, but the insurer has told me changes have been made, and i assume the staff will now be trained to assist customers.

zztopgirl

uktim29 wrote: »

It does seem like you want mothering/mollycoddling for something you were fundamentally to blame for.

Pardon? I know i was to blame, but mothering?

Sooler

zztopgirl wrote: »

So, does anything think i am liable to pay back the taxi fees,

No, if the store hasn't asked you to no point worrying about it.

zztopgirl wrote: »

and should the store have given me a bunch of flowers as a goodwill gesture?

No

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geri1965_2

I sympathise with what happened but I suspect your letter wasn't clear and the store didn't know what your purpose in writing was. How do you expect them to know you wanted a bunch of flowers without telling them? They are not psychic!