Potentially being taken to court. What should I do?

[armyash]

I'm going to write a letter tomorrow to explain everything to them. I will ask for all the relevant information, say why I don't accept liability.

I will say I surely needed to be made aware of the situation before any repairs were Carried out or at least been informed sooner than I have been.

Will say all calls will be recorded and logged.

Will explain it was an accident and that all reasonable care was taken when carrying out the work. Will add some plumbing related stuff in about pipe in screeded floor depths, not being run in the best place. Toilet was already there.

Will add plenty more and may have to write it a few times. Will send recorded delivery.

All thanks to the replies on here! Thanks.

If it ended up in court and I lost. I could live with that but I don't like how it's all been done.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

i would say this "Will explain it was an accident" as it sort of admits

i would say along the lines of

sometimes accidents happen etc

 

[armyash]

Does anyone have a link to something that shows I legally should have been made aware of the problem or been given a chance to arrange repairs before it got this far.

I have been told to quote consumer act 2015 but I can't find anything that shows what I need. Im hoping to quote something in the letter.

 

[Scott_D]

I would probably say something along the lines of
Please send me pictures and copies of all invoices and reports so that I can pass it onto my insurance company to investigate. Unfortunately as you didn't notify me of the issue, give me chance to rectify myself ,arrange another comply to do so or involve my insurance provider I don't think there is anything that can be done.

 

[Best]

You will probably over think this and worry too much.
Just keep gathering any evidence and facts together and stay calm. Also hope the woman gets angry and says something stupid in writing.
Get a friend who has some experience in legal sort of issues to help you at each stage.

 

[Welder]

Shaun etc. Sorry, but you are wrong on the recording of your own calls.

You DO NOT need to inform anyone you are recording UNLESS it is to be used by another party. That was straight from the ICO and when we joked about that being recorded he said perfectly fine.

YOU may legally record what you like so long as it is for your OWN use. That includes using it as evidence if ness as that's for you. As soon as third parties are involved (training, quality etc) then notification is needed.

I'll carry on reading now...

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Shaun etc. Sorry, but you are wrong on the recording of your own calls.

You DO NOT need to inform anyone you are recording UNLESS it is to be used by another party. That was straight from the ICO and when we joked about that being recorded he said perfectly fine.

YOU may legally record what you like so long as it is for your OWN use. That includes using it as evidence if ness as that's for you. As soon as third parties are involved (training, quality etc) then notification is needed.

I'll carry on reading now...

You sure about this as there's new rulings coming down due to the Facebook stuff that includes all records etc

 

[Best]

You sure about this as there's new rulings coming down due to the Facebook stuff that includes all records etc

Still think the rule - as long as the information isn't passed on to a third party, then it is still legal.
I did it once to protect myself from any possible allegations and it proved handy to note take later precisely what was said.
Sadly I think recording audio and often video is now the way to do a lot of business, just to keep accuracy and to protect ourselves from false allegations.

 

[Welder]

AA. Your life, but as I've explained, I've been there done it and won.

As I have already said, you are being mugged. This is actually VERY simple to resolve so do not be sidetracked.

Send a letter asking for full details of everything. By that I mean a complete breakdown - her story and copies of everything. Happy to put it together for you if it would help. You have my number so you can text me an email address. The point of this is to see what they have. You cannot begin to negotiate if you have no info and no point to start from. The letter needs to 'infer' that its point is to assess your liability so you can cough up an appropriate amount. However it must not even infer any form of liability.

Once the info is received it shows their hand. Once their hand is exposed an appropriate response can be formulated. It allows you to go back and either say 'fine here's £50' or 'go away'.

DO NOT try to make a letter look legal. It is fraught with problems and will immediately put them on the defensive. It has to be an honest letter (always keep 1/2 and eye on the fact it may end up in court), reasonable and open. In other words very carefully crafted an unambiguous in its content.

This can very easily go away. Let me know if I can help.

 

[Welder]

100%. GDPR applies from 25th May and until then its old (98) data protection act. Even so, so long as it's for personal use its fine. GDPR is all about non exploitation.