Customer claiming against you after 6 years!

[Rovers21]

The company at the time was a sole trader, then I went to a new limited company when I purchased a house etc

 

[bacon_sandwich]

OK, as a sole trader, the liability is with you personally. As you can imagine its not much different to owing the gov tax, it carries on as a liability even if you decide to close the company. You can fight it / or ignore it and see if they do take it towards a court (dont ignore court documents) but costs mount up in the process, as mentioned dig out your insurance and hand it over to them. They may well ignore it as well, until court docs are filed, but thats at their cost and risk.
Good Luck

 

[Rovers21]

Cheers don’t don’t think my insurance from 2012 would cover it and with me being out off the industry now then not sure what happens. Will be emailing a couple of Solicitors’s today to see what they say.

 

[fezster]

A compression fitting failing after 6 years will be very difficult to prove. I would say the letter is speculative, at best, and probably hoping you will settle with them before it goes any further.

Engaging a solicitor is the best course of action, but you may be better off waiting to see if they escalate it any further before spending any money on one. If you have legal protection on your home insurance, it may be worth checking to see if they will assist in any way (though probably not for a matter related to your profession - worth checking though). If and when they issue court proceedings, I would spend any significant amount of money on legal representation.

I believe small claims are limited to £10,000 using MCOL so if their claim exceeds that, they will no doubt incur fees to pursue this. Chances are they are using their home insurance, so the insurance company would have to make a reasonable judgement on whether it is worth them spending money on pursuing this claim - they'll probably decide it is not.

 

[Rovers21]

Spoke to a solicitor today got to send the letter across to them. They said it would be very hard for them to prove after 6 years that it was my fault, and if the system has been worked on after the Blame could lie elsewhere. They reckon there just trying to scare me

 

[Deleted member 96286]

That said, I am neither a solicitor nor a lawyer so it is well worth the OP speaking to one who specialises in this aspect of the law rather than a generalist.

This is what I said in my two posts above. The OP needs to seek the advice of a legal professional or his local Citizens Advice as I doubt anyone on a plumbing forum is qualified to do so.
Calm down whoever you are. Your posts are aggressive and way over the top on what is supposed to be a friendly forum

 

[rpm]

Calm down whoever you are. Your posts are aggressive and way over the top on what is supposed to be a friendly forum

You seemed happy to dish it out on a previous thread Cailean so can`t have it both ways I`m afraid.
Last thing we want to see is handbags at dawn however there will always be disagreements on open forums regardless of the topic.

 

[snowhead]

Just in case they're needed;

 

[Deleted member 96286]

You seemed happy to dish it out on a previous thread Cailean so can`t have it both ways I`m afraid.

The guy jumped on my post first on another thread previously if you remember and as far as I'm concerned the matter is closed and I'll continue to offer helpful advice to anyone that may find it useful, as this is what we're here for.

 

[Ric2013]

In fairness Cailean, Dave said much what I would have said, even if he did say it less diplomatically. Your post does read as if you assumed the issue was about product failure, and your comment that liability ends with the warranty is helpful, useful, and wrong. Dave was right to pull you up on a point of fact.

Look up the consumer rights act and the former sale of goods act and you will see that a warranty does not end liability.

I know this for a fact as I had to get Trading Standards involved when I, as a consumer, bought a replacement kettle for my own electric shower direct from Triton. Triton initially said it was unfortunate that it only lasted 4 months, but the warranty was only for 90 days so I could get knotted, basically. Trading Standards took a very dim view of this.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

In fairness Cailean, Dave said much what I would have said, even if he did say it less diplomatically. Your post does read as if you assumed the issue was about product failure, and your comment that liability ends with the warranty is helpful, useful, and wrong. Dave was right to pull you up on a point of fact.

Look up the consumer rights act and the former sale of goods act and you will see that a warranty does not end liability.

I know this for a fact as I had to get Trading Standards involved when I, as a consumer, bought a replacement kettle for my own electric shower direct from Triton. Triton initially said it was unfortunate that it only lasted 4 months, but the warranty was only for 90 days so I could get knotted, basically. Trading Standards took a very dim view of this.

Why didn't you take it back to the store ?

 

[Ric2013]

The original shower was not the item I was complaining about: it had had lasted a reasonable time.

The replacement part failed after 4 months. Given that the replacement part was purchased direct from Triton's own mail-order service, Triton had both 90-day warranty obligations and statutary obligations under the Sale of Goods Act as it was both the manufacturer and the retailer, but it conveniently ignored the latter until Trading Standards got involved.

One TS was involved, a replacement kettle was sent to me as soon as I returned the one that had failed in 4 months.

I never supply Triton showers to customers, and I tell them why!

 

[Deleted member 96286]

My original comment to the OP is I'm sure one that we all can agree on, and that is to seek advice from a legal professional or a trained advisor from Citizen's Advice. A lawyer can't give gas advice and I'm sure most plumbers can't give legal advice either. We know our limitations.

Everyone chill and cuddle and make up.

 

[Shoei]

If the op was insured in 2012 best approach would be to hand it to that insurer. Most insurance has terms to insist on handling all correspondence relating to a claim and any direct response to the first letter could invalidate the insurance.

At very least get in touch with the insurer to tell them what's going on, then do what they say so the liability remains theirs.

 

[Dannyk]

The company at the time was a sole trader, then I went to a new limited company when I purchased a house etc

It's statements like this that show why you shouldn't seek legal advice from plumbers! A lot of people call themselves companies when they are sole traders. If you've not set up a company you are either a sole trader or a partner and you could be fully liable.
Worse case scenario was joint leaking from day 1 and it was concealed and not found till recently. Who knows. The onus is on the customer to show why they think you are to blame. It'll be interesting to know your solicitor's opinion and that of your insurer.

 

[TMHM]

I will do. I’ll speak to my lawyer tomorrow and leave it with the professionals... the company doesn’t even exist now. Anything could have knocked it especially if it was in a cupboard.

I think you will find that if the company is no longer trading then they have no claim, unless they want to sue you personally.

Always get legal advice

 

[oilmark]

Definitely a case for not changing insurers year by year? If you can stay with the same company you can ask for their help, ie. " you insured me for the last ten years, it's your liability too."
If you swap for cheaper insurance year on year then they can then get out of it.
I still get quotes from other companies but often my current insurers match the price.

 

[rpm]

Definitely a case for not changing insurers year by year? If you can stay with the same company you can ask for their help, ie. " you insured me for the last ten years, it's your liability too."
If you swap for cheaper insurance year on year then they can then get out of it.
I still get quotes from other companies but often my current insurers match the price.

Don`t believe insurance companies know the word loyalty tbh.

 

[JVTrades]

Don`t believe insurance companies know the word loyalty tbh.

I’m no legal expert but isn’t there a statute of limitations that prevents someone from bringing a legal claim after six years?

 

[snowhead]

I’m no legal expert but isn’t there a statute of limitations that prevents someone from bringing a legal claim after six years?[/QUOTE

Yes 6 years after the incident, which occoured in August this year.

RCS Solicitors