That post by Rum1 one got me thinking about something I pondered the other week.

Sign in a charity shop "All Breakages Must Be Paid For".

Often shops have a sign saying that if you break it then consider it sold - which is not legal anyway . If it is your fault then it is reasonable for you to reimburse them (but not to make a profit) so you`d offer to pay them what they paid for it for instance and possibly costs associated too sometimes but not the full selling price.

However a Charity shop usually get its goods for nothing so do you owe them nought?
LOL.

Conversely a supermarket often sells "Loss Leaders" to get the puntersin , so by the same token they might have paid £ 1.20 for an item that they are actually selling for £1. In that csase you`d owe them more than the selling price to compensate them.

How do think these things up? I`m wierd

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Regards,
Ebee (M I S P N)

Knotted cables cause Lumpy Lektrik

Me too (altough spelt proper) - also related to rum1's post a thought drifted past me, about taking up carpets - it's a pretty hazardous job in some places, sometimes for a very minor job in a house it might be necessary to pull up t'carpet which might cost a few grand to replace entirely if it was damaged - does anyone include a disclaimer in their terms regarding lifting floor coverings and is perceived damage to carpets caused by lifting for access by a non carpet specific lifter generally covered by covered by insurance- or would they say if you didnt employ a carpet technician from the NICfitters to do the work its not covered?

hahaha - fortunately, these carpets had already been scrapped, cut up etc. They may have been trying that on next....

i did make a small hole in the ceiling ready for a TV cable drop near a wall though and now they are saying i've damaged the ceiling and will sue for damages to the ceiling and damge to the floorboards? there was always going to be a hole there and boards had to come as they full well knew.....the mind boggles....

Hi rum1,really, really, no disrespect to you intended, it was just the thought of lifting boards and cartpets crossed my mind at the time ebee posted

PS I`m weird too as well as wierd!

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Regards,
Ebee (M I S P N)

Knotted cables cause Lumpy Lektrik

I have a disclaimer due to various try ons by various customers over the years.
I dont know if it would stand up legally(infact I will seek advice on this)
It basically states that ANTRIC is not liable for any damages or costs caused as a natural incident due to the work involved.We will not be liable for anything that occurs during the course of the work unless it is acknowledged by myself that we have been negligent( and we are genuinley honest if we damage something)
BUT....even though we use dust sheets etc,we tell customers that they must protect or move there own property.
This might sound jobs worth but over the years we have,for example, moved wardrobes that have had a foot loose or actually fell apart and then we are told it was ok before we moved it, but one thing we always do now is if we take out a plug in air freshner,we either put it outside or give it directly to the customer to put in a safe place.If they spill they will damage anything.
We have learn't the hard way about damages so yes get a disclaimer and get them to sign it.Dont do this a quote stage but when you know you have the job.
Regards
Antric

Generally, that should be covered by your Public Liability Insurance. You would probably find that your insurer will want to deal with the matter for you, and would prefer you not to make any comment / admission of blame to the customer.

Regards,

Alan.

Morning! Alan thanks for the reply, but if we reverse the jist of my post, does a carpet fitters PLI cover them for any mistakes they might make with regards to the electrics?

Lets say for instance if there were floor mounted sockets that needed removing to fit a carpet correctly - if they removed the socket and then refitted it not quite as good as it should have been done and it caused a fire or shock, I'd hazard a guess that their insurance company would say that they aren't covered as they arent qualified to work on electrics and should have got an electrician in, and of course there are not many electricians who are members of the National Institute of Carpet Fitters.

Must say I like baldelectricians take on this: typing into google 'electrician carpet damage' his T+C's rank number 10 on the first page, he specifically says that he doesn't allow for damage to carpets in his quotes (must be an optional extra? )

Much more seriously though, we do sadly occasionally hear of well publicised fatallities that are directly related to electrics, such as the Emma Shaw case, but how come you don't hear about the involved insurance companies paying out in these circumstances? No disrespect to Miss Shaw's memory and her family she left behind, but I can't find any reference relating to any kind of insurance payout, surely if an insurance firm had to cough up a couple of million in compensation it would have been mentioned?

I am sorry to say that unless anyone can suggest otherwise regarding the above case or any other it suggests to me that the insurance market is just a big rip off, and the main targets for this scam are as usual the folk who do their utmost to do a good responsible job.

Hi weirdbeard

No offence taken...in fact it made me smile that it wouldn't surprise me if people will stoop so low as to moan about carpets!

Unfortunately, there are many of things like that in this increasingly specialised world - e.g. who should fit an electric shower over a bath? Someone with electrical qualification? Someone who can comply with water supply by-laws? Or someone who can handle the tiling side of the job? (with holes in the right places for cable & pipe). Your typical odd-job man would probably make a reasonable attempt at all three, but how many have the paper qualifications for all?

- Andy.