Can I get my money back? **SORTED**

[stonedecroze]

My son, is recovering from a brain haemorage 3 years ago.

 

He is getting better all the time, but is in reciept of DLA and living in secure accomodation, this does not mean he is locked up, but is free to come and go as he pleases, but the doors to the unit are kept locked and visitors must sign in and out. anyway to cut to the story, he obtained a passport to go on holiday with us shortly after coming out of hospital, then on our return, because of his "colourful " past he was approached for training by a charitable organisation to be trained as a "lecturer" to tour schools and youth clubs to tell his story with the view to encourage kids to keep clear of drugs and petty criminal activities, as one off the prerequisites to this training he was asked to provide proof\ of identity and took along his passport and birth certificate. because of his injuries, he has very little short term memory and forgets things almost as soon as he has done them. for this reason he reluctantly withdrew from the training as he was not able to recall the lectures or training given within a couple of days. to cut a long story short. when we next were going on holiday he was not able to find his passport. I enquired of the charity whether he had left his passport and birth certificate with them, after a couple of days they called back and said that they were not in possesion of them a nd that he must have lost them else where, the workers at his accomodation also made similar enquiries and recieved the sam answer, as we were going on hols again very soon after loss was discovered, we had to report the loss to the police, and attend a personal interview to obtain the replacement passport at a cost of £120 plus travel expenses.

 

Now almost a year down the road the charity have contacted my son to inform him that they are sending his passport and birth certificate to him by registered post, saying he left them with them when he attended the interview for selection for training. Now can I claim back the cost of the replacement passport from them, as they had obviously not taken sufficient care when they were asked , on several occasions to look for the documents. I realise that they are a charitable organisation, but the training they give is paid for by government grants and the salaries paid to the "volounteer lecturers" is on a par with school teachers.

My sons only income is DLA and he quite honestly does not have any prospects of ever finding a real job and £120 is a lot of money to him. all comments or advise will be more than welcome

[Conniff]

This sounds like your battling your conscience because of their charitable status.

In this case the saying 'charity begins at home' comes to mind and your loss is as a direct result of an error by the charity.

 

Yes I think you should bill them, but how far you take it, only you can decide.

 

I don't think it would disadvantage them to repatriate a loss that they themselves caused.

Charity or not, they still need to take responsibility for their actions.

 

As it's financed directly by government grant, that will probably be withdrawn when the government realises that it is somewhere they can save a few pounds, just like they have a few thousand others.

[stonedecroze]

Well after much soul searching and discusion with others involved with my son`s rehab I have decided to go for it. Here is the first draft of the letter that I have composed. as always comments, tips and suggestions are more than welcome.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to thank you for returning my son's ( Son of Stone 2) passport and other identity documents. Still missing is his birth certificate, which he kept in the same envelope with all his other documents. As you will know he suffered a serious brain injury and is recovering from this, but it has left him with many short term and long term memory problems, which is one of the reasons that he found that made it impossible to continue with the training course that you had enrolled him on.

Because of the “loss” of his passport myself and Son had considerable problems in obtaining a replacement one for our holidays in November last year. He had phoned you on several occasions to see if he had left his ID documents with you and had been told in each instance that “no we do not have them” and he was also told that he must then have lost them somewhere else. Because of this he had to report the passport lost to the Police, in order to get a “crime number” from them, and then obtain a replacement. Because of the rapidly approaching holiday I had to take a day off work to enable me to travel with him to the Liverpool Passport Office to attend a personal interview to obtain this, all this time he and my wife and I were were becoming more and more stressed with the prospect of him missing out on the holiday as he had no passport. We managed to get the replacement in time for the holiday ( three days to spare), but at some considerable cost to himself, he had to pay £97.00 for the passport, plus another £23.00 charge to ensure that he received the replacement in time for the holiday, It was delivered by special courier as I have stated earlier with just 3 days to spare.

Because of the extra expense of having to replace the passport our holiday was severely curtailed, as we had planned to go on several excursions, which he could now not afford as his savings were now over £170 short because of our trip to Liverpool, and as I only work part time and am also in receipt of pension credits was not able to help him with this financial loss.

Therefore I feel that in the very least, as a goodwill gesture, by yourselves he and I should be reimbursed the costs that were incurred by your failure to return his passport at the first time of asking. I have no wish to take this any further, but will lodge a claim at the small claims court for the reimbursement plus general damages for the stress and severe curtailment of our enjoyment of the holiday, which I am certain that the court would view favourably, and would reflect very badly on your status as a registered charity. As I say I have no wish to travel down this route, but will if he does not receive a satisfactory response to this request.

Yours Faithfully

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking guys, stone

 

[Bookworm]

Therefore I feel that in the very least, as a goodwill gesture, by yourselves he and I should be reimbursed the costs that were incurred by your failure to return his passport at the first time of asking. I have no wish to take this any further, but will ...

I don't think you should say "as a GOGW" in your letter. Whether they decide to use that as a reason for reimbursing you is up to them, but as far as you're concerned, they messed up, they should pay you back.

 

I would replace that part with something like: "Since the costs incurred were solely due to your failure to a) keep his documents safe b) return them compounded by c) denying that you had them when you in fact did, I would ask you for reimbursement of the costs incurred which are purely down to your negligence, in the sum of £ XXX and expect this amount to be reimbursed within 14 days. Failure to do so will result in us having to lodge..." and then segue into the last part about County court.

 

That's how what I would do anyway, don't let the charity status fool you, administrators and accountants (and lawyers) get paid there too and they also have to answer for their expenditure, so don't necessarily expect a cuddly answer. ;-)

[kennythecelt]

Hi Stone

 

Nice to catch up with you my friend!! You've had it tough.

 

I am sorry about your son, how is he. How are you and the family. My best thoughts are with you. When something happens to your child- well you know what I mean. He is the priority.

 

Follow Bookies advice.

 

Kind Regards, take care Kenny

[stonedecroze]

TYVM Bookie, this is just the sort of help and advice I was looking for, I knew that at least one cagger would come up trumps for me, they always do. I was at first worried about the charitable status, but charity does begin at home! and the DID mess up and cause us a lot of grief, i dread to think how my son would have reacted if we had not been able to get him his replacement passport.

[stonedecroze]

Thanks for the kind words Kenny, all family are well at present. son is 30 but due to injury, going on 16 or 16, he does not live with us, his choice, but we do see a lot of him

[Bookworm]

TYVM Bookie, this is just the sort of help and advice I was looking for, I knew that at least one cagger would come up trumps for me, they always do. I was at first worried about the charitable status, but charity does begin at home! and the DID mess up and cause us a lot of grief, i dread to think how my son would have reacted if we had not been able to get him his replacement passport.

You're very welcome.

 

My youngest child has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and I am far too aware of how stressful it is when things don't go the way he expects them to go.

[stonedecroze]

Therefore I feel that since the costs were incurred solely due to your failure to,

a) to keep his documents safe,

b) return them promptly, compounded by, c) denying that you had them when in fact, you did.

I would ask you for reimbursement of the costs incurred which are purely down to your negligence, in the sum of £250.00 and expect this amount to be reimbursed within 14 days.

Failure to do so will leave us with no other choice but to lodge a claim at the small claims court for the reimbursement of the expenses incurred, plus general damages for the stress and severe curtailment of our enjoyment of the holiday, which I am certain that the court would view favourably to us, and would reflect badly on your status as a registered charity.

 

 

 

There is the offending paragraph re-worked. I think that should do is

[stonedecroze]

Letter was sent off before I went of on short hol. According to Royal Mail website it was delivered on the 4 April, so if I hear nothing by the 18th, it`s off to court we go!

[slick132]

Hi Stone,

 

Just wonder if, after no reply to your 1st ltr, you should send an LBA saying "Here's a copy of my last unanswered ltr. If I do not receive a full refund within 14 days, I shall issue court proceedings without further notice."

 

Shows you're being reasonable and not rushing off to court prematurely.

 

Good luck with it.

[stonedecroze]

Yeah thanks for that Slick, I will send LBA, pointing out the failure to respond to the original letter and give them a further 7 days to make some sort of reply.

[stonedecroze]

Postman has just delivered a recorded delivery letter from charity. Nice apology for mislaid passport. last para reads

"I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for the fact that your son did not have his passport at a time when he needed it as it appears to have been lost on our property. as a sign of goodwill I am able to offer a payment of £200 which I have enclosed"

 

My lad is more than happy to accept this, therefore a polite acceptance letter will be in the post tomorrow.

 

Another success down to CAG. Thanks again to all for the help and advice

[Bookworm]

Excellent result, I am very glad to hear that you won't have to drag this through the courts. Well done you.

 

 

[deadlykiss]

hi Stone glad You got yoursons stuff sorted well done

[slick132]

Excellent result, Stone.

 

Saves a lot of messin around, so well done to you and your son.

[**Tilly**]

Brilliant Stone