Hi all,
I have a problem that I need some help and advice with.
My wife recently had a very unfortunate incident whilst travelling in a friends car. This suffered a high speed tyre blow out and she called the Well Known Breakdown Company on her membership card. They sent a patrolman out who changed the wheel for the spare. The damage to the original tyre was pointed out and he even commented that it was a "nasty gash". Well the "nasty gash" was infact a cut around the entire circumference of the tyre. This was caused by a faulty brake shield (anti - rattle shim according the the repairing garage) that had become loose and jammed under the hand brake cable touching the tyre.
Approximately 3 miles down the road (on the A1 motorway!) the same thing happened again.
Fortunately no one was injured, but the vehicle now had to be recovered as it had run out of tyres. Because of a series of cock -ups (the WKBC twice apparently sending recovery to the wrong location) this took over 3 hours before they were eventually rescued.
So obviously we complained to the WKBC. After a couple of weeks they wrote offering to pay for the second tyre as full and final settlement. The exact wording said that they would not be raising liability for the damage to the second tyre as an issue. So not quite an admission of liability. We rejected this and they then said we could cash the cheque as interim payment. They said that they would consider a claim for loss of earnings whilst the car was off the road, but my wife's friends employers paid her anyway (out of goodwill!)
I am aware that we don't really have any other material losses that we can claim in a court of law, however I would have thought they would offer some goodwill or ex gratia payment if only in lieu of the botched recovery (which they have not mentioned in correspondence). Considering what could have happened I think we and they, got off pretty lightly so need to do something.
Especially considering that the 3 people in the car were all individually of the WKBC members. My wife only made the call because she found her card first.
Many thanks
Best wishes
Peter
Edited by Pugugly on 19/10/2009 at 20:51
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looked better last night with all the names in
just like the don't buy your car here thread unless you want to be treated like an amoeba that disappeared 56 seconds before it
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You made your point, they've offered to pay for the second tyre, you are left with the inconvenience of the errors but not the cost of the further tyre.
Perhaps they could have been more generous, but stuff happens. My advice (and this is what I would do) is to get on with the rest of your lives, and if you feel they lack competence, tell all your friends and change your allegiance on renewal. Life's too short.
The person who will suffer most from the stress of an ongoing dispute is you (or your wife), but if you enjoy a scrap you could issue proceedings against the WKBC, the car manufacturer and the garage that last put the brakes back together, but I think I'd just put it behind me.
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i agree manatee, you wont beat them so why bother,its not worth getting high blood pressure over
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I'll rewrite the reply I wrote last night!
What I'd like to hear is that in future the company's mobile operators would consider the root cause of severe tyre damage before simply changing the wheel.
I had an issue with a manufacturer regarding skimpy servicing and premature MOT failure. I wrote well constructed letters to senior manager and all I got back was 'phone calls from dippy customer service girls who had no appreciation of the issue. Their only response to my complaints was ever increasing compensation offers but what I actually wanted was some acknowledgement of the core issue.
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There is a cultural problem in this country with saying the magic word "sorry" (an actually meaning it !) - how often have you heard the statement (usually linked to a politician) "Mr XXXXXXXXX has been asked to apologise ?" What value has that got ??? A sincere apology is a rare commodity.
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BP,
quite right. A "whoops we got it wrong but we won't do that again" would go a long way but managers who realise that they are there to set, maintain and even improve standards, and motivated employees seem to be few and far between. Hence some of the mega disasters like MOD procurement and social service scandals. Same thing, bigger scale.
Meanwhile back at the OP I agree with the "get over it" advice as, short of reprogramming everyone on the planet, you're wasting your time and causing yourself stress. And anyway, I'm analogue :-)
JH
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