Compensation

[Mobythevillan]

I have had a long-standing disagreement with a well-known media company, which has now reached mediation stage with an arbitration organisation. I have been asked by them to come up with a figure of compensation to put forward. I have also requested that the media company provide a full explanation of their actions and a transcript of the telephone conversation that started this. To cut a long story short, I can prove that their version of events did not happen they way they said, and I have been asked to provide a sum for a compensation claim. I really do not know what sum of compensation I could reasonably ask for. Any advice would be gratefully received.

[bednobs]

it's really hard for anyone to advise you, because (probably quite rightly) you have not been specific about what your losses have been
Firstly you need to quantify your actual losses
eg have you had to have time off work to sort it? telephone calls? stamps and paper? this will be fairly easy.
secondly Have you had a loss of reputation? This will be much harder to quantify in monetary terms but can you give us any clues?

[Mobythevillan]

Hi Bednobs, thanks for the response.

Basically, all I will say is that the Media Company's representative logged an account of his actions during a phone call between us, requesting an engineer. This was proven by me to be untrue. It was a simple, straightforward customer complaint about his actions, which was then taken up by one of his superiors. This superior was even invited to our home to view the evidence for himself, which was ignored. Subsequently, I offered to send photographic evidence and again I was ignored. The final communication from them was an email, sticking to the agent's story and fobbing me off with £20 off my next bill. I heard nothing else from them until I contacted OFCOM who gave me general advice on this Companies procedures. As I had reached stalemate with the media company, an arbitration organisation have stated that I may be able to claim compensation of up to £5,000. I'm not greedy, but the media company dismissed my version at every level, even though this could have been resolved at the outset by acknowledging they had made an error. By implying that I had not been telling the truth, they have made me very angry and deeply offended by effectively believing their agent's version over mine. They also quoted the Data Protection Act, as some sort of excuse to not reveal their own records. Since this very definitely involved me, I quoted back to them the Freedom of Information Act as I am of the belief that I am entitled to see this, and also a transcript of the original phone call.

I hope this clarifies at least partly just how strongly I feel about being treated like an 'irritant' to the company, when in fact I am a long-standing customer of theirs.

[bednobs]

your question makes more sense now - i was imagining when you said "well known media company" that the daily mail had run an untrue story about your sex life or something!

Are you able to quantify your actual losses in time? Ie if you had to spend 8 hours sorting it out, then you could ask for 8 hours worth of "pay" (plus telephone calls etc)
I would be very surprised if you were able to obtain £5k off of them, but if thats what the mediation company suggest, nothing to stop you trying i suppose!
if you don't want to go for that much, how about your quantifiable losses + a years worth of service fees+ £200 quid for your trouble?

[factor-fiction]

I'm glad you understand it benobs because I'm not clear a sto what the issue is and what the losses are.
Mobythevillan- can you let us know what sort of losses you incurred and anything else

[Mobythevillan]

Thanks again Bednobs.....

Just re-read my original message. Sorry, but I'm not actually the person with the problem, it was just put to me by a friend of the family, who has been greatly distressed and angered by the actions of this company.

I'll pass your comments on to her, and let her decide how to proceed.

Factor30....

Thanks for taking the trouble to respond.

I think Bednobs has given us enough to mull over for time being. If there are any further questions, I'll post them here.

[boxtops]

It sounds as if most of the claim for compensation will be for frustration, wasted time and phone calls - use £50 an hour as a hourly rate. Is the friend having further inconvenience by having to change provider? If so, add that in too.

[joko]

what exactly have they done? it sounds like the person on the phone mistakenly wrote the wrong thing on a form.

what is the photographic evidence of?

it sounds like you are just in a mood because they havent dealt with your enquiries to your satisfaction.

what exactly have they done wrong?

[factor-fiction]

Sorry, I wanted to help but I still don't understand what the issue is and what losses you feel you have suffered

[cathfromsaron]

ditto ... qualntify every loss inc. inconvenience and expenses, but don't undersell yourself because they won't add money on, for sure ...

[cathfromsaron]

*quantify