I am asking for advice for a family member.

In mid December he was on his sony vaio (VGN-AR41S) on his coffee table that was infront of his TV.

I came in with my children and one of them ran up to him resulting in him knocking his glass of coke over his lap top, he unplugged it straight away and rushed it into the kitchen to try an save it.

Next there was a load buzzing noise in the front which after looking (and having to leave the vaio) it was the surround sound system speaker, he went and pulled the wire out of the back of the speaker which resulted in a big spark.

He then went to turn the S/S off by the wall and noticed the coke that had split over the vaio and coffee table had been dripping down onto the S/S and freeview box.

After clearing up the mess etc he unplugged everything from the wall and TV so my children could watch TV and this had also developed a fault!!

Now down to the claim.

He rang Abbey who he has been with for the past 3 years, they took the details and went on to say IVAL would be dealing with the claim.

IVAL rang around 4 days later to say that they would have the VAIO collected and gave him a number to ask comet to come and view the TV, SURROUND SOUND and FREE VIEW BOX.

Comet came out and said all items are beyond repair.

IVAL have rang and said the VAIO is also beyond repair.

The problem is IVAL want to see the recipt for the VAIO and he does not have it as he brought it 2nd hand from myself.

I do not have the recipt because I hate clutter (boxes, paper that is not needed, etc anything goes in the bin)

IVAL are saying with out proof of purchese on his part they will only payout a box standard model (Ei System Sorrento)

They have said if he wants anything along the lines of spec for the VAIO he has to get the original recipt.

I have gone to pc world myself and tried to locate the recipt but because I was in a womens refuge at the time of buying the item (so would not of given this address for safety reasons) I can not remember what address I gave.

I have also moved 5 times since being in the refuge and no longer hold the VAIO box or manuals.

He has spoke to ABBEY who have said he needs to show where he got the VAIO from and not were I got it from and the bank statements showing instalments to myself should be enough.

IVAL have now said that ABBEY had no right to say that and they would only accept a bank statement showing the full cash ammount of £1000.00, he has tried to explain because I am family I have allowed him to pay by insalments and not in one lump sum because he could not afford it, they have said ITS THE BOX STANDARD RUBBISH OR NOTHING.

He is not asking IVAL for another VAIO only that he wants around the price he paid myself so he can go to comet/ pc world to buy another VAIO himself and he will put the difference towards the cost

There is also the TV, IVAL have said they will pay out for that but because it was a 28" tv with the large back these are no longer made and in any avent that have to replace with a lcd TV which is fine but lcd TV'S do not come in 28" so it has to be a 26"?

The surround sound and free view are being paid out as the recipt was produced for the surround sound.

HELP..

OK two choices

1) You sold him the Sony so you can legally write a receipt for it stating the date he bought it and the price paid

OR

2) Write a strongly worded letter of complaint to IVAL, tell them that a receipt is NOT fundamental to a claim. There is no doubt that the laptop existed, there is no argument over what make and model it was and there is no argument over the fact it sustained damage. Therefore they have a duty and an obligation to deal with the claim with or without a receipt. Tell them that unless they deal with it you will refer it to FOS.

Personally I'd go for Option2 because they have no right to make you jump through these hoops, I could understand it if it was a theft claim and the laptop wasn't available to verify the make and model.

Mossy