Potentially being taken to court. What should I do?

[Best]

I've just caught up on the recent posts. I hope all is sorted.

I will get it back on topic for those interested. Here is what the letter from the customer says.

Got my surname wrong. I don't use my surname as the name of my company, I have left them business cards with my name before and it wouldn't be hard to find who I am using my mobile number)

She did not at the time tell me about the damage in full (she wasn't aware of it, I didn't find out until 11.5.18!, the boyfriend text me on the 10th after I missed his call. I called him in the 11th and that's when he told me what had happened and they had the leak repaired by then)

Ive requested invoices, all I've received is an invoice from the plumbing firm for £340.

I have a recording of the call I have made to the company who did the repairs and he says that he advised her to get me back but she said she was taking me to court.

View attachment 34729

Read the first sentence the customer has done in that letter.
It says - “Damage to floor and pipework ..................... due to faulty fitting of toilet.”

Begs the questions - how they can allege the toilet was faulty installed and also -how could the toilet be installed other than by drilling of the points on the floor determined by where the customer wanted the toilet pan fixed and where the toilet manufacturer designed the fixing points?

The letter reads repeatedly as threats of court. Classic scare tactics in hope you will compromise.
They might go to court, but I would go.
Take your time for a few days to read that letter. Note they give you 30 days to respond, so take all that time to do so, - pees them off and allows you time to work out your tactics.
You don’t need to respond, but a polite letter, short but concise, cleverly done to rebuff their story would be good.
Perhaps think about pointing out your name is not what they used.
You were not informed of any allegation and the company she employed have informed you that she told them she just wanted court against their advice.
Toilet fixing points were not moveable.
Pipes were not traceable nor should they be so shallow and ideally not have been installed below a toilet pan.

 

[rpm]

I've just caught up on the recent posts. I hope all is sorted.

I will get it back on topic for those interested. Here is what the letter from the customer says.

Got my surname wrong. I don't use my surname as the name of my company, I have left them business cards with my name before and it wouldn't be hard to find who I am using my mobile number)

Not important here on the forum but stay away from using brackets in a formal letter or come back and proof read after 24hrs mate. 😱

 

[armyash]

OK here is what I intend to send. It will be handwritten, set out properly and no use of brackets. 🙂

Please let me know if I should add anything, remove anything or change anything. Thanks. Here we go.

Dear Ms........

Thank you for your letter dated 16.9.18. I too was happy to come to an agreement with you regarding the leak at your property. I'd like to remind you that my offer of £150.00 was a goodwill gesture to hopefully resolve the matter and not a refund for being at fault. I believe this was a fair offer under the circumstances as I was never given an opportunity to rectify the plumbing although between the toilet being fitted and you getting the repair done you had enough time to make me aware of what had happened.

This is the first correspondence from yourself in the 6 months since I fitted the toilet. All other discussions have been between myself and your partner Mr....... of (insert address).

The first I heard of the matter was when I spoke to Mr..... on 11th May 2 months after the toilet was fitted. I asked why was I not asked to make any repairs and he said it was because you didn't want me in the property. If you didn't want me in your property to carry out the repairs I still should have been made aware a repair was needed and given the chance to discuss repairs to be made by another plumber. That never happened Mr..... Said its a case of hand over the sum in question or you will take me to court. I asked for time to get back to him. This caused me considerable distress as I felt I was being blackmailed.

I feel the need to address other aspects of your letter. The toilet was not fitted in a faulty way. It was connected to the existing plumbing. I had no reason to expect there to be heating pipes under the tiled floor as there had been a pan fitted there previously and it is not good practise to fit pipes where a pan will need to be fixed. There was no sign of a leak as I fitted the toilet and when I returned a few days later to board up the cavity wall there was still no sign of a leak. There is no realistic way I could have checked for pipes being there.

I have spoken to the company who carried out the repair who confirmed it was not done through incompetence but that during plunbing tasks this can happen. They said that they advised you to get me back to carry out the repair but you said no and that you wanted to take me to court to get the money, I have this call recorded and can provide transcripts of the conversation.

I have taken advice and I have been told I should have been given the opportunity to rectify the fault within a reasonable time frame. This is called 'repeat performance'. If you didn't want me in the property then I still should have been made aware of the problem and a chance to discuss repairs and come to an agreement. I still hope to resolve this matter amicably but I feel what I have offered is more than fair considering everything. For any future correspondence I'd like to make you aware that my surname is..... and not.....

Yours sincerely

Not in the letter. I charged £320 to fit the toilet and also vanity unit and basin. I supplied pan con and copper pipe and fittings and the basin waste, waste pipe, trap and fittings. The toilet took approx 1.5hour to fit the rest of the job was knocking out the wall to get to the basin supplies and repipe and make good the wall. I felt that was a fair price each way.

 

[rpm]

Take out the During plumbing tasks this can happen.
There should not of been pipes in that area regardless of how deep or shallow, concentrate on the fact that there was a pan there.
Personally I would say you have taken legal advice, fight fire with fire ash

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I wouldn't add the first bit "I too was happy to come to an agreement with you regarding the leak at your property." sounds like your admission

 

[armyash]

Thanks for the replies so far. I agree with both points made.

 

[Welder]

"I believe this was a fair offer under the circumstances as I was never given an opportunity to rectify the plumbing although between the toilet being fitted and you getting the repair done you had enough time to make me aware of what had happened."

Ash. In my opinion, I would not phrase this as it is. Why? There is implication of 'fault'. Personally, I'd rewrite thus, "I made you a 'no fault, without prejudice' offer despite your failure to notify me there was a problem until after it had be rectified by a third party."

"I have spoken to the company who carried out the repair who confirmed it was not done through incompetence but that during plunbing tasks this can happen. They said that they advised you to get me back to carry out the repair but you said no and that you wanted to take me to court to get the money, I have this call recorded and can provide transcripts of the conversation."

Similarly this para. "Having spoken at some length with those you engaged to rectify the issue, they confirm they advised you to ask me back to rectify the issue. They made a point of explaining that you stated your wish was to take me to court to get the money. This conversation was recorded and I shall be providing transcripts at disclosure."

The point is to NOT admit or even hint at admitting its your fault, but to become slightly more confrontational and not read like you're going to roll over.

I just now wonder if you talk about counterclaim at this juncture based on the time and effort and cost of defending yourself against this erroneous claim?

 

[hammers4spanner]

Reading this thread makes me wonder why do we bother doing plumbing ?
I hear more and more now customers moaning and wanting compo for literaly anything now not to mention im going to call gas safe blah blah blah.

 

[armyash]

Reading this thread makes me wonder why do we bother doing plumbing ?
I hear more and more now customers moaning and wanting compo for literaly anything now not to mention im going to call gas safe blah blah blah.

If once it happened I was told and got to sort it out, id have no problem. I'm the last person to try and screw someone over. I'm surprised I didn't just hand the money over, a year or 2 ago I probably would have done no questions asked but I'm sick of people taking the mickey for one reason or another. The arrogance to say give us so much money or it goes to court is too much. If I lose and its costs me the fine.

 

[Best]

Try to also compress the letter into less words.
There is only so many words and sentences a person will take in fully, - even Judges (who are experts at reading) will glaze over and lose some of the message.

 

[hammers4spanner]

I know what you mean everyday is people pushing for more and more quizzing everything and armed with google.
May wrap this up if i tind the right job

 

[Ric2013]

You mean 'good practice', not 'good practise'.

I agree with what others have said about not admitting fault. It sounds as if you are accepting that you caused this damage, and we do not know that to be the case for a fact.

I think it would be worth making it clearer that when you left the site, the work was complete and there was no leak evident and that you left on good terms, so it seems odd that they did not want to let you in the house again. As, had I not heard the background, I might assume from that letter that you had left an evident fault or had argued before leaving the site.

Taking YorkshireDave's advice and mixing it with my ideas, I would be inclined to change that first paragraph to something more like:

I made a 'no fault and without prejucide' offer of £150 as a goodwill gesture. I believe this was a fair offer under the circumstances: I was not given an opportunity to inspect, or allowed to repair, the leak you claim I have caused, and was not even made aware that there had been a leak until after you had had it rectified by a third party.

 

[armyash]

Will rewrite this evening with all points taken on board and run by you all. Will try and keep it short. Thanks

 

[Best]

Will rewrite this evening with all points taken on board and run by you all. Will try and keep it short. Thanks

Armyash, expect to do several drafts before you get it reading properly.

 

[armyash]

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Its taken me longer than expected to get the letter finished.

Here is another letter, I have taken in to account the points you have all made (which I really do appreciate) and edited the letter accordingly. As already pointed out the letter is quite long but I dont know what to take out because to me it all sounds relevant, if anything I could make it longer! As you all read this you will see the info different to me so whatever may seem irrelevant or needs changing, im open to criticism so hit me.


Dear Ms

Thank you for your letter dated 16.9.18, as requested please accept this letter addressing the points you have raised.

I made a 'no fault and without prejudice' offer of £150 as a goodwill gesture. I believe this was a fair offer under the circumstances: I was not given an opportunity to inspect, or allowed to repair, the leak you claim I have caused, and was not even made aware that there had been a leak until after you had had it rectified by a third party.

Having spoken at some length with those you engaged to rectify the issue, they confirm they advised you to ask me back to rectify the issue. They made a point of explaining that you stated your wish was to take me to court to get the money without making me aware of the issue first. This conversation was recorded and I shall be providing transcripts at disclosure.

I have taken legal advice and I have been told I should have been given the opportunity to rectify the fault within a reasonable time frame. This is called 'repeat performance'. If you didn't want me in the property then I still should have been made aware of the problem and a chance to discuss repairs and come to an agreement. I still hope to resolve this matter amicably but I feel what I have offered is more than fair considering everything.


The first I heard of the matter was when I spoke to Mr... (of adress...) on 11th May 2 months after the toilet was fitted. I asked why was I not asked to make any repairs and he said it was because you didn't want me in the property. If you didn't want me in your property to carry out the repairs I still should have been made aware a repair was needed and given the chance to discuss repairs to be made by another plumber. That never happened, Mr... Said its a case of hand over the sum £300 or you will take me to court. I asked for time to get back to him. This caused me considerable distress as I felt I was being blackmailed.

This is the first correspondence from yourself in the 6 months since I fitted the toilet. All other discussions have been between myself and your partner Mr... who said you didn’t want me to do the repairs.

The toilet was not fitted in a faulty way. It was connected to the existing plumbing and the pan fixed using the designated fixing points on the pan. I had no reason to expect there to be heating pipes under the tiled floor as there had just been a pan fitted there previously and it is not good practice to fit pipes where a pan will need to be fixed. There was no sign of a leak as I fitted the toilet and when I returned a few days later to board up the cavity wall there was still no sign of a leak. There is no realistic way I could have checked for pipes being there.

Not a big deal but for any other correspondence I'd like to make you aware that my surname is... and not...


Yours sincerely

 

[Welder]

Send it

 

[rpm]

Reads good to me ash however I would keep the pig waiting until near the deadline she gave you.
Think she did this but haven't read back tbh.

 

[armyash]

Reads good to me ash however I would keep the pig waiting until near the deadline she gave you.
Think she did this but haven't read back tbh.

I have a few days left so it will be going in the post tomorrow.

 

[armyash]

Send it

As suggested, I will add on to the letter how when i finished the job we parted on good terms and she was happy with the work completed so I don't understand why she wouldnt have me back.

good idea?

 

[Harvest Fields]

And when you do send it. Make sure that it is recorded delivery, emailed or both.