What are my chances of winning in the small claims court against Comet?

[Bob A Job]

I bought a dishwasher from the Comet Clearance website in Sept, it was delivered faulty and has not worked properly at any point. I have had 5 visits from engineers and they still cannot get the right parts to fix it. I have exchanged e-mails with their head office and the have offered me a refund on a 'gift card' and a £35 cheque. But I have taken 4 days off work and made nearly £20 worth of calls to their service dept.
I have bought another dishwasher from elsewhere and contacted them asking for a full refund and compensation for loss of income whilst taking days off for their useless service dept to fail in fixing the machine. the amount is £500 including original price of washer and delivery. They have stopped replying to my e-mails and the deadline I gave them to settle this dispute has passed.

What chances do you think I have of the claim being successful?

[askyourgran]

First of all I would read the small print on their invoices/paperwork, Those clearance places are for second hand, demonstration or damaged models hence the cheaper prices. If you feel you have not been offered enough by way of restitution go to see a solicitor, who will advise you the best course of actiion.

[Bob A Job]

I've read the small print, and they say they will offer a refund. It was sold as having only cosmetic scratches, but has not worked at all due to a faulty part.
I have lost 4 days worth of income because I have taken days off of work for engineers to arrive without the right parts, or with no prior knowledge of the complaint and unable to do anything. One engineer even gave me a 'SED' number and told me to go to the local store and the would arrange a replacement, I did this but they wanted a further £100 to deliver a new one as my one was a return.
I cant afford a solicitor, and have heard the small claims court could be my way forward. But don't want to do it if it will take years or a lot of money to do.

[askyourgran]

I believe you will still have to make an outlay to go to the small claims court. If you are successful, the other party will pay up.
http://www.courtrooma...ll-claims-court.html. I would tell Comet what you intend to do. But be careful, they have made the offer of a refund and supplied the engineers to repair the faulty item. The court may look upon that as trying to do their best to help you.

[saintpeter48]

small claims doesn't take years to resolve, pop into your local court and get the papers, its pretty easy to complete. first though, write to the head office of the company outlining what your claim is about, make sure you send it by signed for delivery so that you'll have proof that you have sent it. keep all corespondence and receipts, give them a deadline to give you a refund, say 14 days, if they dont pay or respond take your completed forms to the local court, a small fee will have to be paid but you'll get this back if you are successful, the fee is about 10% of what you are claiming. believe me, it is really quite easy to do. if you're unsure your local citizens advice will help you fill the forms in. go for it.

[Bob A Job]

Thats what I was scared of.
But although they have offered a refund (only after 5 visits from engineers) they still sold me a faulty product that was obviously not tested before auctioned off.

There is also the issue of the incompetence of the service team, 3 visits with the wrong part. and a final visit with no part or no knowledge of what was wrong. Even after a refund I believe I would have a case for a claim of loss of earnings wouldn't I?

[Bob A Job]

SP48
I already have been exchanging e-mails with their head office. And told them that if they cannot offer me a settlement i would take action in the SCC. I gave them a deadline of 7 days (the same amount of time they give you to respond on their e-mails) and that expired yesterday.

[ojread22]

From the SOGA page on the government web site
"When you go shopping anything you buy is covered by a law called the Sale of Goods Act 1979. This means that when you buy a product it should be:
as described
fit for purpose
of satisfactory quality"
http://www.direct.gov...sumerrights/DG_182935

I am sure, that regardless of it's 'shop soiled' status when you bought it, you have the same rights as when you buy a perfect dishwasher. This means that, because your d/washer has a fault and it is less than 6 months old you are entitled to a full refund. Period!
Electrical goods that are unable to perform properly within the first 6 months are considered to have what is known as an inherent fault, which means it is considered it was faulty before it left the shop.
You'll find everything you need to know in the above link
If you want to go to SCC you can do it online very easily

[Bob A Job]

Thankyou
But as I said above. Their useless service and faulty product has meant costs and a massive loss of income, double what I paid for the machine. A refund does not cut it as far as i'm concerned. What are my chances of successfully claiming for this in SCC?

[saintpeter48]

When you fill the form in put all of this on your claim, number of hours spent on chasing them, times hourly rate, cost of phone calls, stamps, etc, also put interest charge on your total from the first day of your claim. Believe me it is very straight forward. I have won a few judgements in the SCC but most people/companys choose to settle BEFORE it gets to court and a few haven't bothered to turn up at court, so therefore you win the case. I wouldn't send emails, you can't beat good old fashioned letters, again make sure you send them recorded delivery and check after a few days whether they have received the letter. You seem to be worried about it all, just go for it, in my experience judges sitting in on these cases generally favour the 'small' guy and feel that there is no smoke without fire. I think that you have a good case but you must go about it the right way. 1) write a recorded delivery letter to either the manager of the shop, or head office, giving them 14 days to pay. 2) get down to the SCC and get the forms, study them and get everything together, paperwork, receipts, copies of emails etc. 3) if you're not sure get down to the citizens advice.

[maclarencat]

No one can tell you wether you will succeed as it lies in the hands of the court. It is not expensive to go to the small claims court (do it on line) and even if you lose it is a small additional loss to what you have already lost and if you win well it will have cost you nothing as you get your costs back. My daughter took Comet to the small claims court over a fridge freezer that stopped working and they settled a week before it was due in court. They did initially oppose the claim meaning that my daughter would have had to attend court if she hadnt agreed the settlement. I think it is their policy to oppose the claim so be prepared to atten court. (Its not as bad as it sounds just a room with a few people in it) Good luck Their customer care is not good.

[maclarencat]

That should be attend not atten

[R1Geezer]

75% of small claims succeed. Assuming the dishwasher was meant to be new, go for it, you'll win. I have exprience of this and Comet will not lt it go that far, they'll setle, file the suit and wait.

[thugulike]

CAB will help and they are free.

[R1Geezer]

The CAB can advise but the won't get your dosh back, go tsmall claims it's a lot simpler than you think, belive me they'll pay up before court and if they don't you may get to send in the baliffs!

[bushbaby_de]

Please be aware that on contract law you are not entitled to restitution of consequential pure economic loss eg loss of earnings, so if they offer you a full (cash) refund I would take it. They cannot insist that you take the refund on a store card though.

[Bob A Job]

Sorry Bushbaby, I dont get you?
They sold me an untested returned item, that was faulty, and failed to fix it during 4 visits from engineers and I cant claim for loss of income?

[ELVIS68]

Trading Standards will advise you to write to them telling them you are going to take legal action, they will react to this and offer you something, it`s then up to you to take the matter further.

It cost me about £75 when I did it, unfortunately the company went into administration just after I started legal action

[bushbaby_de]

Your loss of earnings is not directly linked to their breach of contract in supplying you with faulty goods, therefore it is highly unlikely you would be successful in a claim for them.

[Bob A Job]

Not directly linked?
I had to take days off of work for them to try and fix a machine that sold me that has never worked?!?!?

How is that not directly linked?

[bushbaby_de]

Whilst I see what you're saying, in law it is not directly linked. I'm not going to argue with you about it as you are clearly going to believe what you want to, but if you google it you will find a great many web pages and forums discussing consequential and pure economic loss in relation to contract law.