Juicer expoloded causing damage

[abbie-jo]

hi, im after some advice, last december i bought my daughter a juicer from lloyds pharmacy, in march this year we attempted to use it for the first time after reading instructions, within seconds this appliance exploded and sharp pieces of plastic, wire mesh, and the disc which is a grater and razor sharp were fired at speed around my daughters kitchen, myself, my daughter, my 2 grandchildren and newborn baby were in the room at the time and i still cannot believe we only suffered superficial scratches, the pram my newborn baby was in was hit by the disc grater which tore the hood of the pram, i emailed lloyds pharmacy the following day telling them what happened and attached photos of the appliance and the damage to my daughters pram, i recieved a response a week later apologising and offering £25 in lloyds pharmacy vouchers, ther also said they were aware of a "possible small malfunction" with their juicers and had recalled them, i refused to accept their offer, mainly due to them saying "possibility of small malfunction" and said i expected compensation for the pram as the hood was damaged beyond repair. a week later i recieved email stating it had been passed onto their insurers, after a month i asked them to give me an update but lloyds pharmacy said they were not allowed contact with customers once it had been passed onto their insurers. they did however give me number for insurers and said they would be in touch soon, its now been 6 month, ive left numerous voice messages with insurers but never have they returned call. i bought new pram and kept reciept to show them. i dont know what else to do and to be honest the incident could easily have been a fatality, i have the pics still if anyone would like to see just how bad this was, any advice would be appreciated, thanks

[papasmurf1cx]

Hi I am sure we would all love to see them. Did you go to the doctors to register your injuries? I assume you did take pictures of your injuries. Have any of you got any anxiety about using such equipment since then? Appliances are expected to be in a good working condition and are not expected to do this sort of thing.

 

I would say that you have a Claim and depending on the level of injury I am sure a solicitor would take it on. Generally one needs medical evidence but if you have photos your solicitor could obtain a doctors report. The insurance company are probably waiting for some sort of letter of claim from you or a solicitor. You were right to reject the miserly offer of £25 in vouchers it is worth much much more and should be in cash to all that were injured or had damage done to their property. You have plenty of time to sort this out.

 

Are you insured for legal expenses?

[abbie-jo]

hi, we didnt take any photos of injuries as they really were minor and actually didnt realise till next day what these were caused by, no gp visit was necessary either, to be honest once i realised no one had been badly hurt me and my daughter laughed about it, she actually thought the juice that hit her face and neck was blood caused by the disc grater slicing her throat, really all i wanted was them to pay for the cost of new pram i bought, i forgot to say their first email also said i should take the juicer straight to nearest lloyds pharmacy and they would give me £10 for it, obviously i didnt and still have it here. my daughter said she will never use an appliance like that again but im not sure if it is causing anxiety, my grandaughter fell off the bottom stair when it exploded with fright but wasnt hurt, and our ears suffered for a few hours after due to the noise it made, i do make light of this incident because if i actually stop and think what could have happened, especially if the hood had not been up on my babies pram it would without a doubt keep me awake at night. i do think someone was watching over us that day, also i have no insurance for legal purposes. is there anyway i can put the photos on here for people to see how bad it actually was. thanks

[abbie-jo]

this is 3 of the photos i took of the juicer after it exploded.

[papasmurf1cx]

Nasty explosion. I only saw one photo but I get the idea!! I think you need to write to the insurance company complaining that your voice messages have not been acted upon. I can see they will merely say they could not identify your claim against their insured.

 

Explain the circumstances and do not detail the exact extent of your injuries. Say that you want to come to a settlement quickly and ask for the money for the pram and something for the injuries.

 

They will get back to you and hopefully they will be agreeable to settling, they probably will want to know what you have in mind, that is where it gets tricky. Try that and let's see their response.

[Bookworm]

I'm sorry, but can you explain to me the reasoning behind buying a whole new pram because the hood got damaged? Couldn't you simply get a replacement hood?

 

Re: the juicer, how much did you pay for it? I think there is no doubt that you are entitled to a full refund of the cost of it, and that really shouldn't be a problem (bear in mind that since you bought it, the claim should be in your name!).

 

Re: burden of proof, if the goods are less than 6 months old, they are deemed inherently faulty and the onus is on THEM to prove that it wasn't. To that effect, they are perfectly entitled to ask for the goods back so they can inspect them, and it is unreasonable of you to refuse to return it if they ask. I understand that it is moot at this point if the insurers are ignoring you, but bear it in mind if and when things progress from here.

 

Ok, now the claim itself: yes, there could have been a fatality, but there wasn't, and you don't get compensation for "might". Trauma, etc, unless you can substantiate it with psychiatric reports, medical evaluations and so on, forget it, if you can't document it, you won't get a penny unless it's as a good will gesture (and seeing their behaviour so far, I wouldn't hold my breath on that). Injuries, no pictures, and even with possible scars, you can't prove the juicer caused them, forget it as well, IMO.

 

So where does that leave you in real terms?

 

- reimbursement of juicer (seeing the pic, I think we can rule out repair as a viable option. )

- cost of new pram hood. I truly believe that seeking the whole cost of a new pram would be considered betterment, UNLESS the pram (do you actually mean a pram or a pushchair? a lot of the people use the term interchangeably) is a one piece affair where you can't get replacement parts, and you would have to show that is the case, OR that the cost of replacing the hood was actually more than the cost of buying a whole new pram, so depending on the brand/age/price paid, you need to alter your calculations accordingly.

 

You can ask for compensation for the fright etc... but even if they accept to something to settle the claim, don't expect it to be a lot. TBH, I'd be surprised if they even consider it. If there has been a recall on the product, then they have fulfilled their obligation under duty of care, and it could be argued that you chose not to return the goods after all (yes, I know you probably weren't aware of the recall, but I am trying to foresee all the possible issues that may arise from such a claim).

 

if it were me, I would write to the insurers and remind them that you have now been waiting for a response from them since [date], that they have had plenty of time to deal with this case, which is after all fairly straightforward, their clients having admitted liability (the recall shows that they were aware of the fault in the product) and that you expect their offer of settlement within 14 days of this letter, or you will issue a Small Claims Summons against their client without further communication from yourself. Only send this if you do intend to follow on with the court summons.

 

Any questions, shoot.

[rebel11]

I would inform Trading Standards, maybe they have underestimated the small risk. That is a dangerous appliance, they need to investigate why it exploded, etc. Is it the first one to explode? Do they know they are exploding? Have they done enough to Recall them? Most people pay by credit/debit cards and can be tracked down. If you don't want to send it to Lloyds, take it to Trading Standards who will give you a receipt and report of the condition. They can then forward it on to Trading Standards.

 

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/navless/recall/recalldisplay.asp?id=253878

Edited September 8, 2010 by rebel11

[abbie-jo]

hi, the hood is attached to the pram so it wasnt possible to just buy the new hood, the juicer itself was on offer, so i only paid £15 for it, at first they offered me £10 as refund but they needed reciept, i didnt have it but thought it was wrong to offer less than i paid for it, they offered £25 in vouchers but these could only be spent on certain items, it was never my intention to claim any money from them but a friend suggested i send a photo of the damage to them and ask if they would be willing to pay for repairs or a new one, ive since bought new pram and it is because of their lack of contact and lloyds themselves now saying they cannot give any updates or have contact with the customer once it is passed onto the insurers, that has made me pursue this. yes i thank god no one was hurt, however next time maybe someone wont be as lucky. reading advice on here though, maybe i am wasting my time, i will write to insurers today and see if i get a reply. thanks again

[Bookworm]

If the hood is not replaceable separately, then yes, you are absolutely right to claim the cost of a replacement. Any advice has to be taken remembering that WE don't know what the stuff looks like, so have to act on worse case scenario.

 

Don't give up, you have every right not to be left out of pocket because of their negligence.

[abbie-jo]

Hi. finally received call from NPA who deal with lloyds pharmacy insurance claims. lady said she was responding to voice message i left on tuesday. she apologised and said my claim had been mislaid and due to length of time i had waited they wanted it settled today. the lady offered a sum of money and asked if i would accept this and that they accepted full liability, i don't know if i can say the amount on here but it is more than what i paid for a new pram. she didn't require receipts or photos of damage. ive received email confirmin they accept lability and cheque has now been issued. i know its taken a while but im shocked at how quickly they have dealt with it this mornin without any questions asked. ! !

[papasmurf1cx]

I imagine they know of the problems around this item and are worried that your will take a personal Injury action out. That would mean their liability and cost could mount up very quickly and much more than what they have offered. As there were injuries as per your OP then I can'r see why you can't accept it. They are happy, you are happy (but shocked) and we are happy for you.

 

How much, we are all dying to know!!!!

[abbie-jo]

hi, i did accept the amount offered, £500, which is £490 more than lloyds offered for refund at the beginning.

[papasmurf1cx]

Well done, now you can buy top of the range juice in the supermarket!!!!!!!!!!

[Bookworm]

Excellent news! Well done!

[AtlantisZPM]

I am guessing they got stung by a similar claim and didn't want it to happen again. Well done on your win albeit the length of time it took.

[rebel11]

Hi abbie

 

Excellent, well done.

[abbie-jo]

thanks everyone for all advice given, i am really pleased with outcome, i certainly wont be buying a juicer with money they are paying!!!!! i will stick to buying it in cartons, thanks again