I have a success story to share...
My wife an I ordered a new white bathroom suite from Wickes to replace the avacado green we had grown a little tired of. The suite was delivered by Mark Two Distributors, and arrived as scheduled. The packaging gave no indication of the contents (not even a bar code), but as far as we could see everything looked OK. The plumber arrived the next day to fit the suite, but found that the cistern was from a different range and would not fit. So, we contacted Mark Two and a replacement cistern was sent the following week. The plumber came again and fitted the correct cistern. All was well.
The plumber presented us with a bill for the extra day of work (£120). No problem, we thought, we can claim the money back from Mark Two as they were responsible for the extra expense. Ha ha, what a joke!
Several calls to the "help" desk and two cheques later (one for £25, one for £50, both of which we refused) we reached a brick wall. So, we logged on to
www.moneyclaim.gov.uk , entered a few simple details, and paid a £25 fee.
In a couple of days a manager from the help desk called to offer us a full refund, including the £25 fee, provided that we dropped the claim. The cheque for £145 arrived this morning and the claim was dropped this afternoon. At last, everyone is happy.
Having gone through this little experience, I would offer the following advice:
- Only put in a claim if you are sure you are in the right and you have already made several attempts to get the money.
- Don't be fobbed off by "help" desk script readers.
- Don't let it get personal. We were tempted to ask for money for "inconvenience" (no pun intended), but decided to keep the claim to the plumber's invoice.
Finally, even though it is a very small victory, it is still a victory. And it feels good!