Hi there, three days ago, i parked in my local supermarket car park. As i went to get out of the car, i noticed a trolley heading for the N/S rear door pretty quickly! despite efforts to get in and pull away very promptly the trolley hit my car door. There is now a huge dent in the door where the trolley hit. I went inside the store to complain about this. The woman behind the customer service desk explained that this happened all the time and that the supermarket would have to pay for the damage. The supermarket aparantly, dont lock their trolleys together so not to inconvenience the customer. I rang the supermarket the following day to find out who to complain to. after about 2 hours on the phone, they explained (in the most patronising way possible) that they wern't going to pay for my door to be repaired!!! I am wondering of i shoud take them to court??? any advice from someone is greatly appreciated,
The door is said to cost about £800 to repair
Thanks
{actual shop name substituted for the word supermarket. Can others who stumbled on this post before I edited it please NOT use the actual shop name either please - DD}
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What was the force propelling the trolley? Had it been pushed by a supermarket employee or Joe Public?
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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>>>Had it been pushedby a supermarket employee or Joe Public?
Sorry, i must add that the wind blew it into my car,
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I can't work out what case you'd have against the supermarket. Presumably they have provided trolley parks with little lips to prevent the trolleys escaping, in which case they've done everything they can to stop this happening. I can't imagine a court ruling negligence against the supermarket for that. You *might* have some sort of case for negligence against the person who failed to return the trolley, but you'll never find them.
Sorry to be pessimistic about this, but that what's fully comprehensive insurance is for. It's a shame that these days an 800 quid repair bill is likely to be cheaper than a claim, once you've footed the loss of NCB and hiked premiums. What's the point of having insurance if you end up paying more than the cost of your claim back for being cheeky enough to make a claim? What a racket.
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Presumably they have provided trolley parks with little lips to prevent the trolleys escaping,
I think you're being a little bit optimistic that all people return their trolleys to the trolley park. Most supermarkets I use seem to have them scattered all over the place except in their proper place. Left in empty car bays, left on the footpaths, etc.
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The first thing is to report your incident in writing to the Manager of the local store and then copies to their Head Office.
Youe letter should detail time, date, and place of incident and
the person you reported this to verbally.
This has to be answered and you then have a paper trail for any action you may be taking.
State in your letter politely that you expect them to reimburse you for the cost of this accident but with no threats.
They do have a duty under the H&S to provide a safe working environment for both employees and visitors to site.
I feel sure with persistence they will reimburse you.
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Are the disclaimer notices displayed in supermarket carparks applicable in this case?
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Does the supermarket have fenced off bays to hold the trolleys?
If the bay was overfull and the cart that hit yours was not properly contained within the bay - you could have a claim.
The claim being that the supermarket failed to keep control of the trolley bays and allowing them to overflow posed a known danger.
As said by others take some pictures if this proves showing overflows etc it will help your case.
I suffered a BIG V in the bonnet of a car many years ago - it must have been a fully laden trolley - needless to say we do not park in row 1 opposite the main door anymore.
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I've read somewhere (maybe buried in the Back Room somewhere) that this is so common that some supermarkets have arrangements with local bodyshops.
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I don't think the supermarket has done verything they can, if trolleys are known to be left around the carpark (as we all know they are) then they should have someone collecting every few minutes or install coin operated releases.
I'm waiting for a national news story about some kid getting knocked over by a abandoned trolley, it will happen one day.
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I think you should have a claim against the supermarket but I would also question the repair costs
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Roll on the day when all supermarkets are like Morrisons - £1 in the slot or no trolley. As a result there are no trolleys being blown around the car park.
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Indeed, £800?! Someone's having a laugh.
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Having just been made redundant from a large supermarket chain, and shortly to start with another, my experience is
1. What the woman at Customer Services says is irrelevant and she would likely get into trouble if she was heard saying that.
2. They should have completed a fully detailed accident report and although you may not get a copy of this as it is an internal form, you should have been given the reference number and the head office address to claim for.
3. In my store we had a "Liability Discharge limit" of £200. basically, for something like this, ruined clothes at dry cleaners etc, we could pay out £200 at the store and the matter would be done with. I would ask is your door damage really £800? Is it too bad a dent for the likes of dent masters to deal with? Or put it another way, would the £200 cover it better than getting nothing from head office if you know what I mean?
4. As mentioned above, store has a duty of care for health & safety. If you have photographic evidence that there are trollies all over causing damage, risk of damage etc then add this in to your claim. Remember, however, that the supermarket cannot be held liable for its customers actions and since you have no proof of how the trolley came to be running into your car, you might be on a sticky wickett with this.
My first port of call would be to the store manager, especially if you have photos showing how his car park is breaching safety rules. However, tread carefully, if someone came into me not wanting to make a fuss but just wanting to get sorted out, I would be more willing to help than I would to someone who came in all guns blazing!
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In reply to BobbyG:-
ATTITUDE IS THE ART OF GUNNERY! Don't forget it.
VBR......M.
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Threaten them with court action on the grounds that their trolleys are not secured/ don't have passive breaking system/ it's their fault /not your fault.
Phone first, point out that you DO hold them responsible, get the name of the department and the responsible person and the name of the person that you spoke to. Follow up by recorded delivery letter.
It worked for me with BAA at Thiefrow.
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Was there a witness to the incident? If not then how will you deal with the shop's potential response of asking you to prove it?
It's unlikely that this would happen since the shop would not want the publicity but you need to make sure you have all angles covered before getting solicitors involved.
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I suffered a very similar thing some years ago: I tried the obvious things, like asking nicely, writing to head office, all of that stuff.
Eventually started to speak with citizen's advice, solicitors, etc: All said the same: No chance!
I'm normally pretty resilient, but know when I've had enough: Got the damage repaired for £130, against initial quotations of £730 + VAT - Tell them that you're paying for it yourself, it's not an insurnce job - and offer to take the car in when it's convenient to them, and the price comes crashing down.
Even with protected NCB, I feel that it's worth a few hundred quid to avoid making a claim?
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Oh, and if it's not too inconvenient: Shop elsewhere in future.
It'll make you feel better!
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Doesn't help you much, but my cash and carry has new trollies, which include a 5th fixed (non-castor) wheel in the centre which is pressed down by a trailing arm with two springs. Not only does this make steering the trolley totally effortless, it also stops them 'floating' around in all directions when parked. Hopefully this design will catch on, I can't think why noone thought of it before.
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"I can't think why noone thought of it before."
I expect they have. But it would cost more.
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You wouldn?t like my x-brother-in-law. He was supposed to be helping me load some grow-bags in a garden centre in North London. But as I was loading up the car, he was busy tying strong garden twine to the trolley, feeding it through the parked cars and tying the other end to someone?s bumper about six rows away.
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You're right - we wouldn't!
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should have kept quiet about about what I saw in new Supermarket car park, if I was an Ambulance chaser I'd have had them b y the trollies !
I'd have publiclly shredded their disclaimers.
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