Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: maxcarpets on March 17, 2008, 01:11:12 pm
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Had a bad start to the week. Working at a £1million pound house finished all the bedrooms, done landing went out to van to turn power down and chamge tools and the phone rang ao had a quick chat not realising that as I walked away from machine soloution pipe burst! as I walked in entrance hall I could see water running down the wall!!!! I sucked up what I could but needless to say custy was not happy! I am waiting for call from husband to tell me what action he is going to take! I just spoke to insurance and I am covered for this but a bit of nightmare non the less!
Justin
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Luckily nothing like this has ever happened to me but I feel sorry for you! Good thing your insurance covers you but I wouldnt worry mate $hit happens!
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Justin
I bet your heart stopped for a second. Anyway nobody died so let the insurance take the strain.
This is also one reason for chargeing much more than his pauper mate down the road who lives in a 2up 2 down.
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Hi Mike,
My heart is only just recovering, I must admit I do feel pretty gutted though.
Justin
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My favorite quote on insurance..
If I had my way, I would write the word "insure" upon the door of every cottage and upon the blotting book of every public man, because I am convinced, for sacrifices so small, families and estates can be protected against catastrophes which would otherwise smash them up forever.
It is the duty to arrest the ghastly waste, not merely of human happiness, but national health and strength, which follows when, through the death of the breadwinner, the frail boat in which the family are embarked, founders and the women and children and the estates are left to struggle in the dark waters of a friendless world.
Winston Churchill
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Nightmare !
but not a lot you could do. at least you have the insurance to cover it.
its good you feel gutted - shows you care about your customers.
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About a year ago, my Ninja sprung a leak unbeknownst to me and dripped onto a solid wood floor. I mopped up the little puddle but it was only the next day when I received the call to say that their hard wood solid wood floor in the hall had warped (and big style it was) that I had that "Can I start today again" feeling.
The next thing was my heart stopped and then training kicked in. I apologised (always the first and correct thing to do) and arranged to go and assess the damage.
Took photos (and apologised again) and consulted a friendly hard floor company. They went to inspect and told me the floor hadn't been fitted correctly.
So when I filled in my claim form for my insurance they picked up on this and refused to pay up.
Customer spent a lot of time complaining to the insurance company who then gave in and paid up. Why hadn't they done so in the first place and we would all have looked more professional.
But who was to blame? Was it me because I was in charge of the machine when it sprang a leak? Was it the fitter of the flooring who if he had done his job properly would have meant the wood wouldn't have warped in the first place? Was it the manufacturer of the machine who knew that there was a fault with the valve but had not recalled the machine or notified me of the problem to get it sorted?
But the worst thing is the feelings of devastation when you know you have damaged a customer's house (even when you are sure the insurance will cover it[less the excess, of course])
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The thing is it makes YOU as a professional look really bad. You cant really justify or offer a good reason why it happens. I explained that as I was 150ft away when it burst I couldnt have acted quicker or done anything else, her reply was maybe you should check your equiptment! What can you say?
A gutted
Justin
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Husband has just called to say that laminate floor in hallway has also lifted mmmmmm, not to sure about that their wasnt really much of a puddle as most of it soaked into upstairs floor board and ran down the wall. It had stopped dripping when I left and carpet was only damp. Again, what can you say?
Justin
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Just say fine the Assessor will have a look at it.
I don't think it will make much difference to how much you pay in the end and if he's taking the mick that's the insurance peoples problem.
I had a claim last year and I was gutted and worried. Looking back at it now all the grief I inflicted on myself was a waste of time and energy.
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Don't beat yourself up too much Justin, As Mike says let the adjuster take care of that. It would'nt take much water to raise laminate and could have got under neath by transferring along the floor under the carpet.
Just bad luck mate.
Pete
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how old was the line ???? im changeing mine after about 9 months and moveing them down the line to aviod black death
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12 months old!
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I've been in many £1 million plus homes, but never come across laminated flooring in any of them !
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Justin, it can happen to anyone.
I had a leak inside my Ninja the other day, burst pipe but spotted it straight away....leaking onto carpet.
Some years ago had a carpet shrink but caused damage by the gripper rod pulling out the loops.
Claimed on the insurance to repair it but they would not pay out at first due to a clause that had nothing to do with the claim. Loss adjuster said it was not cosher, so I sent them a 3 page letter of complaint, then all was well!
As long as you are shownig concern to your customer and doing all you can, I would not worry.
I went to a house today where a previouse cc had put all the furniture back without putting pads under legs etc, leaving rust marks and unmovable wood stains. Custy said I rung them and said I could sue you! Company owner said if you do that I will fold the business!!! :o The mind boggles!
John
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a few weeks ago , i had nearly finished a job when the solution hose split spraying BLACK mess everywhere
white leather suite and white carpets!!!
luckerly it all just wiped off or flushed out
PHEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Carpet guy, a million pound house around where Justin and I come from is nothing really and not so special. The Average house price in Wokingham is £385,000 and thats with a population of 200,000 for a town.
Justin, its always horrible when this happens but it happens to us all and the only thing you can do is move on. The worst problem is dealing with the Insurance companies, if they can get out of it they will.
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I always take it to heart, but being there a having seen it just pass it off to insurance and walk away.
A good rule of thumb is be honest, "my insurance excess is £250 Mr Smith if you'll acept this along with a full refund I write a cheque out now, or otherwise please pay my invoice for £^%$ and I'll pass it to my insurance company. 48 hours later you'd be surprised how many take the cash.
Anyway get it in writing email of fax is good as well, and walk away and put it down to experiance, had to do this 5 time in 20years so no bad thing just trying to help
If you trashed the joint however just be glad your insured !
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Cheers guys,
Laminate floor is just in the hallway. The damage is nothing really but we all know how it works. I have said I'll pop back on Thurs to see how things are my insurance co said tell them we will deal with it now and dont get involved with the custy but that doesnt seem right.
Justin
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If you discuss with customer just be very careful what you say.
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"with all due respect" is a good caveat
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I've often thought about fitting one of these to stop burst pipes powerwashing the livingroom
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Hydraulic-Hose-Burst-Valves-Female-Female-Body-1-bsp_W0QQitemZ310033053684QQihZ021QQcategoryZ48718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://i20.ebayimg.com/08/i/000/da/b9/5572_1_sbl.JPG
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Our insurance runs out in April and we got our re-newal through the door last week. It had gone up by £100 so I rang them and asked why. They said that it is due to more claims now being made in this industry :o
Are there more unfortunate incidents occuring - that can even catch us pro's out like Justin, or coincidentaly do you think there have been more claims by people trying to do this job with no training and then getting caught out ???
Anyway, we rung around and got the same policy approx £100 cheaper elsewhere!
Kev