Help with Virgin Claim going to Court

halifaxmortgage · 8 September 2018 at 10:21AM

Hi guys,

I'm in a serious situation with Virgin Media and would be very grateful if you could help regarding making a claim against them for damage to my property at Small Claims Court. I'll try to give you a short history, without dragging the story too much.

Problems/Damage:

I've been having problems with phone 2-3 months
VM sent out installers early August
They damaged areas of my garden, including gulley hopper, landscape, patio stones etc with bodged up cement works.
They also dug in the center of the garden and the cable wire was laid only 1cm below the soil.
Due to it being a strong cable wire, it's lifted the soil ground and is clearly visible.

After contacting VM:

They kept me on hold for ages on numerous occasions, passing me from one department/person to the next.
I Logged my first complaint & was only offered £35. The complaint was almost immediately deadlocked.
I got a builder to look at the damage, but he's advised that since VM own the cable wire, he can't touch it and he's unable to give a quote.
I then called VM retentions to exit the contract. I was advised that the complaint handler should not have deadlocked the complaint & as a way of apology, I was given a small goodwill gesture and 2nd complaint ref was setup.
However this was closed down very quickly due to it being related to the same issue.

I then contacted VM CEO email address with a letter before claim. I have now received what seems to be a bog-standard snail-mail reply stating that I need to follow the procedure on the deadlock letter, which is to contact CISAS. I've already done this action and been advised by CISAS that they only deal with actual service issues and since I don't have anymore service issues, they were unable to take on my claim.

So I've now contacted CAB, whom have advised that I wait 28 days from issue of email and if nothing is done by VM, that I apply to gov.uk Money Claim Online website - This is where I'm stuck and have a number of questions that I'm hoping to get help with:

Once VM's 28 day period is up, what do I need to do to take VM to small claims court?
In order to resolve the complaint, my original offer to VM was that they rectify the damage done by their installers and provide a small goodwill gesture. In the event of them not responding, am I allowed to increase this amount?
As mentioned earlier, I have been unable to obtain a quote as part of the job requires someone to dig up the land, remove the cable wire and reinstall it in it's new location. Would the judge not accept my case of the basis of this?

Thanks in advance for your help and I look forward to your replies.

waamo · 8 September 2018 at 11:25AM

1. Use Money Claim Online assuming you are based in England or Wales. https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

2. You cannot go arbitrarily changing the amount. You put in the claim for a specific amount and that's it. Your Letter Before Claim should have specified the amount you wish to claim.

3. The best way round this is to get a rough estimate from several workman (usually 3) and claim a rough average of their estimate.

halifaxmortgage · 8 September 2018 at 12:10PM

Thanks for your prompt reply waamo.

I've contacted a number of builders & landscapers and once I explained the situation, due to the cable wire being the property of VM, they were only willing to give a private approx quote, but not a written one, which is useless to me and I don't know how to get around it.

Hence, I guesstimated the costs myself and asked for £1000 based on their private quotes, what I feel is the damage done and compensation for the problems.

waamo · 8 September 2018 at 12:33PM

What is the compensation actually for? You generally can only claim for reasonable costs, you can't claim random amounts just for being messed about.

Courts really don't like giving something that can't be quantified in some way so you need to put in genuine expenses such as time off work to deal with this. For example you may have had to wait in for a workman which results in lost wages that you can evidence.

halifaxmortgage · 8 September 2018 at 1:23PM

The compensation estimate includes everything, but the vast majority is for the damage done and costs that I feel it would take to repair this kind of bodged up job:

PHOTOS REMOVED

waamo · 8 September 2018 at 2:00PM

Repairing the damage is exactly what you should be claiming. As a quote is very difficult put in a ballpark figure and explain to the court why you have done that. As long as it's reasonable it should be accepted.

As a complete aside I think giving 28 days was overly generous. 14 is enough, I would be livid.

thunderella · 8 September 2018 at 2:14PM

halifaxmortgage wrote: »

Thanks for your prompt reply waamo.

I've contacted a number of builders & landscapers and once I explained the situation, due to the cable wire being the property of VM, they were only willing to give a private approx quote, but not a written one, which is useless to me and I don't know how to get around it.

Hence, I guesstimated the costs myself and asked for £1000 based on their private quotes, what I feel is the damage done and compensation for the problems.

halifaxmortgage wrote: »

The compensation estimate includes everything, but the vast majority is for the damage done and costs that I feel it would take to repair this kind of bodged up job:

I think you have added 1 too many zeros to that estimate.

I don't understand why anyone would be prepared to give what you refer to as a "a private approx quote, but not a written one" :huh:

But if the "a private approx quote" they gave you was £1000, then that probably explains what a bunch of cowboys they were and why they were not prepared to commit anything to paper.

Get a decent, henest tradesman round who will not be scared to commit to paper a quotation to make good any work you require.

unholyangel · 8 September 2018 at 2:15PM

Have you sent them a letter before action?

thunderella · 8 September 2018 at 2:16PM

waamo wrote: »

1. Use Money Claim Online assuming you are based in England or Wales. https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

2. You cannot go arbitrarily changing the amount. You put in the claim for a specific amount and that's it. Your Letter Before Claim should have specified the amount you wish to claim.

3. The best way round this is to get a rough estimate from several workman (usually 3) and claim a rough average of their estimate.

As regards to point 3, the court will usually award the lowest of the 3 quotes (unless there are good reasons put forward and agreed to do otherwise)

halifaxmortgage · 8 September 2018 at 4:26PM

Sorry guys, I appreciate what you're saying, but I can assure you that unlike VM's installers, whom are the real cowboys, the builders are not.

Understandably, how can they provide a quote for a job that involves removal of mortar, whilst avoiding damaging the cable wiring, digging up the cable and then rerouting it....that's not their job, but it's Virgin's as it's their cable/property.

As mentioned previously, my original offer to resolve this complaint was that they simply send a repair team to fix the damage. However this was turned down & deadlocked on the basis that they don't have any repair teams/& or that I was not willing to accept their measly £35, hence after discussion with various builders/landscapers, I came to the conclusion it would cost approx £1000 - £1100.

Yes, I've already sent the the Letter Before Action and clearly stated the above reasons as to why I have been unable to provide a quote.

BoGoF · 8 September 2018 at 4:47PM

halifaxmortgage wrote: »

Understandably, how can they provide a quote for a job that involves removal of mortar, whilst avoiding damaging the cable wiring, digging up the cable and then rerouting it....that's not their job, but it's Virgin's as it's their cable/property.

As mentioned previously, my original offer to resolve this complaint was that they simply send a repair team to fix the damage. However this was turned down & deadlocked on the basis that they don't have any repair teams/& or that I was not willing to accept their measly £35, hence after discussion with various builders/landscapers, I came to the conclusion it would cost approx £1000 - £2000.

So your 'conclusion' is to be accepted by a judge should it get that far?

Help with Virgin Claim going to Court

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