John Lewis trying to blame me for TV fault **SETTLED**

[BankFodder]

welcome to the forum and I am sure that we can help you but you have posted your story in an extremely long solid block of text.

 

This makes it very difficult for people to read.

 

Please will you repost your story properly spaced so that it is more accessible and you will get much more enthusiastic support for the people who can help you solve your problem.

 

Thank you

[BankFodder]

John Lewis is the responsible party here. They arranged or authorised the repair.

You haven't told us what the original fault was.

 

[BankFodder]

Okay so it's not a fault related to the screen problem. It would have been helpful if it was.
When I think you're going to have to write a letter to John Lewis and and tell them what has happened, remind them that first of all they agree with you and they supported you and mysteriously they have now changed their mind and they are no longer prepared to support the product which they sold to you on XXX date.

Make sure you include any reference numbers of the repair et cetera.

I think you should say to them that you are considering taking legal action if they won't change the position. Tell them clearly the damage to the screen and the screen problem has been caused by the negligent handling at some point of your television by their appointed repairers.

Point out to them that you did actually refused to sign for the television indicating that it was received in good condition. Point out to them that although you offered the repair company an opportunity to check with you that the television was functioning correctly, they refuse to take this opportunity and left the premises.

Explain to John Lewis that there is no doubt that they are responsible for the television.

Tell them that if you don't hear a positive response within seven days then you are likely to send them a letter of claim.

Presumably you are prepared to bring a legal action. If you aren't certain then let us know. The steps for bringing a small claim in the County Court are well explained in many places on this forum. We will help you all the way.

I consider that it is most unlikely that John Lewis will force you to hearing. You may need to issue the claim papers – but after that I can expect that John Lewis will put their hands up at some point.

Under the consumer rights act you would only be entitled to recover the value of the remaining portion of the normal life expectancy of that television.

This means that if the light of the television it's expected to be 10 years. You have used it successfully for 18 months and that means that you would be entitled to the replacement value less 15%.

However, if you have a five year warranty – it may say that in certain circumstances you are entitled to have a full replacement.

You will need to check this.

Anyway, in the meantime send the letter I have suggested if you think you're prepared to take legal action and then start understanding the steps involve taking a small claim.
 

[BankFodder]

You said that you were speaking to them – you should make sure everything is in writing. It will only delay things by about seven days so I suggest that you send the initial letter which I have recommended – and it's extremely important to lay down a paper trail.

We can help you all the way including drafting a letter of claim and your particulars. We recommend that you post up letters of claim here so that we can check and also particulars of claim. We tend to find that people become a bit verbose and is not necessary.

On the matter of BBC Watchdog, I'm afraid that we regularly attempt to provide them with information about interesting stories and we never ever receive a response. It's very disappointing – but I suppose they have their agenda and their policies. I sense also that they really don't like referring to or plugging a website such as ours on their programme. That's unfortunate because of course we would like a plug but even if they didn't give us a plug, the whole point would be to get some of the stories out into the public because that is a good way to get companies to change.

If you still have contact with BBC Watchdog then you might like to point them this way and if you ever feel that you have contacts which will allow you to pass information on to them, maybe you'd like to drop me a note to our admin email address and that could be very helpful to us, the people who come to us for help – and maybe even to the BBC.

It's worth emphasising that everything we do here is completely free. We don't make any money – we don't get paid – and we barely meet our expenses. Maybe the BBC has taken the view that were in it for the money – I wish!


 

[BankFodder]

If you do end up bringing a small claim, you might find yourself going to mediation. Especially with the covid crisis there are a huge number of cases now which you are being settled some way or other at mediation.

If this is where you find yourself then then you can usefully have a look at some of the stories on the sub forums involving postal and delivery services. I'm talking about the cases involving Hermes where so far we have probably helped people to sue Hermes part of delivery on at least 25 occasions. We win every time. That pretty well everyone of those cases goes to mediation and some of the people we have helped have put up excellent summaries of what happened during the mediation journey and you may find it very interesting.

We had quite a number of people now who I have referred to those stories in preparation for the mediation of their cases and they have reported back that these accounts of how it works has been extremely useful to them and given them a lot of confidence.

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/183-postal-and-delivery-services/

 

BBC Watchdog could do well to do a program where they describe the small claims process and take people through it – and also take people through the mediation process.
I think it would do the general public a lot of good to see it and it would increase the level of courage and confidence – because I feel that many people are not prepared to challenge companies which let them down simply because they don't understand how it works and they are a bit frightened.

 

[BankFodder]

If the account that you have drawn up is in a bullet pointed chronological style so that it is light on narrative then please post it up.

Don't worry about redacting the names of the John Lewis people but you probably don't want any of your own personal identifiers on view.

I don't think we need to see the exchange you have had. Just the chronological summary.

[BankFodder]

Please let us see the letter of claim before you send it off.

Same with the particulars of claim.

 

[BankFodder]

I've just looked at the document which you've uploaded. I asked for a chronological bullet pointed account – but in fact you produce an extended summary running over four pages.

It's far too long and it would be much more helpful if you could simply do some bullet points.

We don't need to know all about that the staff of the mishandling et cetera blah blah blah blah.

The Sydney need probably about 10 lines – when you bought it, when it went wrong, who you contacted, what they said, how it is returned, how you found the damage, who have you talked to since then, what has been said in return, – all with dates.

A bullet point chronology would help us and also it would inform anybody else who comes to this thread if they have had their own bad experience and they want to see how others have dealt with it.

 

[BankFodder]

Yes I agree that we can reduce the letter of claim a fair bit but before we go on, somewhere on this thread you mentioned that you had video of mishandling.

This could be significant evidence – and I suppose that you haven't brought it to the attention of John Lewis yet.

As much as we are happy to help you sue John Lewis I'm just wondering whether there might be some mileage in letting them see the video first of all – particularly if it is something you're going to rely on in court.

Any chance that you could link us to the footage here so that we can have a look at. I hope that you are not being frustrated by delay, but in the end you might get a quicker solution if the video is brought to their attention and they are told that the video will be produced at a court hearing if that's what they want.
 

[BankFodder]

Once again, I suggest that you don't send the letter of claim yet. I think it will be helpful if we see it – and also it would be helpful to look at the video and see if we can glean some useful ideas from it.

Please can you post up the video for us. You could upload it to YouTube and then give us a link

[BankFodder]

Also, when you make your posts, please could you avoid posting in solid blocks of text. It makes it very difficult for people to read – especially when they are using a small screen such as a telephone.

Properly spaced so that the information you are posting is more easily accessible. I pointed this out to you when you first posted and in fact my site team colleague had to restructure your story for you.

Thanks

[BankFodder]

Thank you. I think that is very helpful.

I gather that what I'm seeing is that the television is in the van with a load of other delivery items around it. The television is not packaged in any way. It is standing on its base.
When the driver clears out a couple of boards or something or other and we see that in fact the only covering on the TV – which is a purple coloured polythene bag has been hoiked up and the video shows very clearly the driver then pulling it down to cover the TV. The footage ends but presumably the TV is then taken out by the one or both of the people and brought to your home.

You can see the TV rocking around as other items are taken out.

I would suggest that you make one last contact with John Lewis and send them this link so that they can see it for themselves.

What was the last exchange you had with John Lewis? Could you please put the message up here. Presumably you have the email address of some customer service department.

Let's see the last message you had from them.

I rather suspect that if we make the case and offered in this link to look at, then they will fold. I would suggest that they should only be given a week after which you then send the letter of claim.

Let's see their last message and then we'll draft a letter of complaint to them giving them the link

[BankFodder]

Please check the draft below and see if it is correct and you agree with it.

 

Quote

 

Dear Sir/Mdm

Reference number XXX damage to my television caused by your delivery agents.

 

I have received your latest message in which you continue to deny any responsibility for the damage caused to my television.

I'm afraid you're quite wrong. The damage has been caused either by the repairer or more likely, by your delivery agents when they returned the television to my address.

I have a security camera fitted to my home and I have a video recording of the delivery which shows very clearly that when my television was carried in the delivery vehicle, it was not secure, not packaged, and appeared to wobble around.
The video footage shows very clearly that the only thing that was covering the television was a purple plastic covering which was not even properly attached to the television because it had hoiked up so that it had to be replaced by one of the delivery personnel. Furthermore, it is clear that the television was not properly secured in the van because the video footage shows it wobbling around as other items were taken out of the van.

 

I am providing you with the YouTube link to the footage so you can see for yourself.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJyusuBm4Ng&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=MichelleRobold

I would like an immediate response to this message but you should understand that if you do not reimburse me in full then my next step will be to send you a letter of claim and then begin legal action in the courts and the video footage will be produced to the court by way of evidence.

Yours faithfully

 

 

My sense would normally be to proceed directly to a letter of claim and then issue the papers. However, as you don't appear to have made them aware of the video and I'm sure that they haven't seen it, I think that you should delay things for a few days because my own view is that the video will produce the result you're looking for.

If they do change their minds then this will save you quite a bit of time and get the matter settled probably within 10 days or so.

If they still stick by their position, then I'm almost certain that when this video gets to the court, you will get a judgement in your favour.

 

If they don't agree to reimburse you by close of business next Tuesday and I think on Wednesday you should send the letter of claim which we will help you draft
 

[BankFodder]

Well it's up to you, but I would send them a letter of claim.

I would tell them thanks for their letter that their response is completely inappropriate. This is been going on too long.

You are now informing them that if they do not provide a complete solution to the problem within 14 days that you will issue proceedings against them in the County Court and without any further notice.

I don't think you need to say much more than that. If the reference number of the case et cetera of course.

Have a read on this forum about the steps involved taking a small claim in the County Court so that you know the steps in advance and that you are confident.

Don't imagine that you will send the letter and they will fold. Don't bluff. You must intend to carry out your threat on day 15.

Hopefully they will put their hands up – but don't bank on it and be prepared to issue the papers.

Let us know what you want to do

[BankFodder]

You might like to post the draft here so we can have a look

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you refer to the video in your letter of claim and point out that they appear to have disregarded it. Remind them that it will be shown to the court

[BankFodder]

A couple of points. In your first post on this thread you said that you were advised to place the set down on its face. Can you explain this. Who advised it?

I see that they say that the delivery driver helps your husband to carry the set into the house. Of course this is disingenuous because it was the delivery driver to bring the set into the house and in fact it was your husband who help the delivery driver – but it was his job and his responsibility.
He was task the delivery of a television set that was clearly too big for him to hand on his own and so he was obliged to accept the help of the customer to carry in.
They have expressed it to look as if it was the delivery driver who was doing you a favour by helping you carry it in.

Next point is that they claim that the set was in perfect condition when it left the warehouse. No one is disputing that. I think the case is that it was incorrectly packed/protected during the journey to your home. It may not have been the first delivery so it may have been jostled around by other delivery items. (Can you tell us what time of the day it was delivered please?)
A single person was tasked to deliver items and clearly some of the items were simply too large to be carried easily or safely by a single person.

Finally, it is clear that some point the plug posed a danger and there was a risk of damaging the set – but in fact they are very specific that this was pointed out and the plug was moved out of the way before it could cause any damage.
 

[BankFodder]

I've made an edit and also there was no need to include the kisses.

Probably best to send it by recorded delivery mail. You must give 14 days

[BankFodder]

Yes, I would say that this is a rejection of your letter of claim and so I think you are free to issue proceedings if you want.

Have you read up on the steps needed to bring a small claim?

Have you registered with the moneyclaim online website?

 

 

[BankFodder]

I think that's a good idea. It should normally have been done by now.

If you send a letter of claim then that means you have a plan of action in mind and you can see the route you are going to take.

It seems to me that you have sent a letter of claim – but with no plan and without knowing the route and the next steps.

So thank you so familiar with it all so that you understand what the procedure is that you are embarking upon so that you know in advance rather than having to fill your way step-by-step

[BankFodder]

I suggest that you post up your draft particulars of claim here before you click it.

So start preparing your claim – you can save your work as you go and once we have checked the POC, you can send it off

[BankFodder]

It's a bit wordy.

How about this:

Quote

Reference number X X X.
The claimant seeks £775 – the replacement value for a Sony Bravia TV model number X X which the defendant undertook to repair but then returned to the claimant in a damaged condition and which has rendered the TV unusable.

 

[BankFodder]

Just use the draft which I suggested. 

 

Do not tick that you will send anything else. 

This is all you need at this juncture 

[BankFodder]

I've had a quick look at the particulars of claim that you have suggested in an attachment.

I would confirm what my site team colleague has said – this is not a particulars of claim.
Apart from anything else, it wanders off the plot, talks about your personal upset, and speculates. A particulars of claim should simply be factual and in the best examples, it simply outlines a very basic cause of action without giving many hints to the defendant as to the points they should raise in their defence.

When you give too much information in your particulars of claim you are effectively providing clues – cues – as to what they should be saying in the defence.

A very short particulars of claim such as you have filed gives pretty well no information – no help to the defence to formulate their defence – and it is highly likely that they will produce a reasonable details defence so that you will understand much better what points they are making and what you need to respond to.

The particulars of claim you have suggested on even a witness statement because your witness statement would mainly want to address the points which have been made in the defence in order to rebut them – and then go on to add some extra relevant information which should be factual.

So let's wait and see how they defend and then we will work on the next part.

[BankFodder]

Is it an in-house solicitor or is it an external firm? If it's a firm then what's the name?