A tree fell on my car. Where to start?
Discussion
KungFuPanda said:
And all those expecting the supermarket to make an ex grate payment to keep a customer happy. They won't.
I think it's unlikely, and sets a dangerous precedent. If they pay for tree damage in high winds, why not damage by runaway trolleys that others have discarded carelessly, and why not hit whilst parked by unknown vehicle?None of those are the punter's fault either.
Then you'd get people with previously damaged cars saying it was done in the Sainsbury car park. Where does it end?
garyhun said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Apart from the small matter of negligence. I minor issue I know, it's just a shame that the entire law of tort revolves around it.
Instead of posting this utter tripe, why don't you actually spend 30 seconds on Google and educate yourself.
Do not feed the troll.Instead of posting this utter tripe, why don't you actually spend 30 seconds on Google and educate yourself.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Apart from the small matter of negligence. I minor issue I know, it's just a shame that the entire law of tort revolves around it.
No it doesn't. The law of the tort of negligence is all about, er negligence, but there are lots of other torts. Tort is a French word that means wrong or harm, although the law of tort is derived from the Roman law of delict (and in Scotland tort law is still called delict). Buy a book about tort law and only one section of it is about negligence. Breadvan72 said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Apart from the small matter of negligence. I minor issue I know, it's just a shame that the entire law of tort revolves around it.
No it doesn't. The law of the tort of negligence is all about, er negligence, but there are lots of other torts. Tort is a French word that means wrong or harm, although the law of tort is derived from the Roman law of delict (and in Scotland tort law is still called delict). Buy a book about tort law and only one section of it is about negligence. Breadvan72 said:
Tort is a French word that means wrong or harm, although the law of tort is derived from the Roman law of delict (and in Scotland tort law is still called delict).
Scottish legal terms are much more fun that those of E&W. The one that always amuses me is pursuer instead of claimant.I have this mental vision of a furious aggrieved party chasing his/her opponent all round the court.
rxe said:
Having worked for these guys in the past, they are a decent outfit, and will probably do more than the right thing to sort out a customer.
If the store manager said “get some quotes”, then do just that. He’s not an idiot.
Actually in my experience that is exactly what he is!If the store manager said “get some quotes”, then do just that. He’s not an idiot.
Having worked for these guys (briefly, thankfully) in the past they are an over-priced outfit desperate to cut corners at every opportunity!
They paid a contractor to remove and store the front seats of the Sprinters so they could put more weight into them and store the front seats until the lease ended (but only did that after a driver got nicked for being over-weight)!
They'll go out of their way to keep a customer happy, but won't do anything for their staff that they paid just above the minimum wage (but may not even do that now)!
Sorry OP, but it isn't looking good.
Mr Tidy said:
Actually in my experience that is exactly what he is!
Having worked for these guys (briefly, thankfully) in the past they are an over-priced outfit desperate to cut corners at every opportunity!
They paid a contractor to remove and store the front seats of the Sprinters so they could put more weight into them and store the front seats until the lease ended (but only did that after a driver got nicked for being over-weight)!
They'll go out of their way to keep a customer happy, but won't do anything for their staff that they paid just above the minimum wage (but may not even do that now)!
Sorry OP, but it isn't looking good.
Sorry, but unless you have knowledge of the manager, at the as yet un-named store, how do you know he's an idiot? Unless you're suggesting that all Sainsbury's store managers are idiots? The manager at my local Sainsbury's has been with the company for 35 years and knows the business inside out.Having worked for these guys (briefly, thankfully) in the past they are an over-priced outfit desperate to cut corners at every opportunity!
They paid a contractor to remove and store the front seats of the Sprinters so they could put more weight into them and store the front seats until the lease ended (but only did that after a driver got nicked for being over-weight)!
They'll go out of their way to keep a customer happy, but won't do anything for their staff that they paid just above the minimum wage (but may not even do that now)!
Sorry OP, but it isn't looking good.
Why is their removing the seats an issue? Payload on these vans is not huge so why not run smaller fuel tanks and remove un needed seats? Each store still maintains enough 2/3 seaters for driver training, assessments etc.
The weight of each order is known and totaled for each run so if procedure is followed no van should go out overweight.
Customers are a vital part of their success, why should they not go out of their way to keep them happy? In this situation, Yellowjack is their customer, so let's hope they do go out of their way to keep him happy!
OP again! No updates of any note from me, I'm afraid.
Sorry to say that this has knocked me back quite a bit. I was coming to the end of a course of 'therapy' for depression and anxiety issues when it happened. It's taken me until now to get myself back together, and as a consequence, I've not actually got around to getting any quotes/estimates yet.
Anyone got any particular recommendations for good bodyshops in and around the Farnborough/Aldershot area? I'm going to give myself a "damned good talking to" with a view to getting things moving again on Monday now...
Sorry to say that this has knocked me back quite a bit. I was coming to the end of a course of 'therapy' for depression and anxiety issues when it happened. It's taken me until now to get myself back together, and as a consequence, I've not actually got around to getting any quotes/estimates yet.
Anyone got any particular recommendations for good bodyshops in and around the Farnborough/Aldershot area? I'm going to give myself a "damned good talking to" with a view to getting things moving again on Monday now...
Bloody hell yellowjack, talk about skiving - get on with it.
There is a bodyshop in Deepcut that always has loads of insurance work on. They have the contract for the police and ambulance vehicles, and there are always lots of cars of all marques partially stripped on view. Take it there and get them to have a look at it and price the work. You might also take it to the local Ford garage to get a quote from them, although I suspect they send it somewhere else for the work anyway.
There is a bodyshop in Deepcut that always has loads of insurance work on. They have the contract for the police and ambulance vehicles, and there are always lots of cars of all marques partially stripped on view. Take it there and get them to have a look at it and price the work. You might also take it to the local Ford garage to get a quote from them, although I suspect they send it somewhere else for the work anyway.
Chester draws said:
Sorry, but unless you have knowledge of the manager, at the as yet un-named store, how do you know he's an idiot? Unless you're suggesting that all Sainsbury's store managers are idiots? The manager at my local Sainsbury's has been with the company for 35 years and knows the business inside out.
Why is their removing the seats an issue? Payload on these vans is not huge so why not run smaller fuel tanks and remove un needed seats? Each store still maintains enough 2/3 seaters for driver training, assessments etc.
The weight of each order is known and totaled for each run so if procedure is followed no van should go out overweight.
Customers are a vital part of their success, why should they not go out of their way to keep them happy? In this situation, Yellowjack is their customer, so let's hope they do go out of their way to keep him happy!
Why is their removing the seats an issue? Payload on these vans is not huge so why not run smaller fuel tanks and remove un needed seats? Each store still maintains enough 2/3 seaters for driver training, assessments etc.
The weight of each order is known and totaled for each run so if procedure is followed no van should go out overweight.
Customers are a vital part of their success, why should they not go out of their way to keep them happy? In this situation, Yellowjack is their customer, so let's hope they do go out of their way to keep him happy!
I had the misfortune to know the line manager at this previously un-named store (Bagshot Road, Bracknell) - the first time he drove a van he hit a bollard (but never owned up to it)! As for the store manager I never met him - he'd gone home long before I finished my shifts (and no, he never made the effort to even speak to anyone who didn't do his hours).
The weight of each order is indeed potentially known, but until someone got nicked for being over-weight was doubtless never actually acted upon (although of course it is on the self-scan tills).
The "procedure" to which you refer was introduced afterwards - like everything else in that firm!Removing the seats was a gamble - the winter before I went there was 2010/2011 and they had to send the vans out with bags of kitty litter and 2 staff to keep them moving! And we ended up with 2 vans out of 7 with passenger seats.
They got lucky after that because the weather was kind - but they had no winter tyres and no hope of any assistance given there was only a driver's seat!
They wouldn't compromise on the fuel tank - after all going back to the store to refuel would have been an added cost due to the mileage getting back there and the time it took.
Have you ever had a just above minimum wage job like that?
As soon as I got offered a better position elsewhere I left - it was probably the most depressing role I've ever had.
But the customers were the best part of it - the management were f*****g usless! What is your role BTW Chester draws?
Mr Tidy said:
Actually in my experience that is exactly what he is!
They'll go out of their way to keep a customer happy, but won't do anything for their staff that they paid just above the minimum wage (but may not even do that now)!
How much do you expect supermarket shelf stackers to be paid in the grand scheme of things?They'll go out of their way to keep a customer happy, but won't do anything for their staff that they paid just above the minimum wage (but may not even do that now)!
On line driver. Part time for past ten years.
Tbf I've had more bad managers than good ones in that time... But the bad ones haven't been there more than a few months each.
I'm sure it's no different to any other industry with repetitive tasks and a high turnover of relatively unskilled staff. If the policies and procedures are set correctly, and everyone follows them, there should be no issue.
Its when colleagues think they know better and skip the parts they don't want to do, or the manager doesn't enforce these that there is problems.
I will agree that the customers are what make it rewarding, and that some managers are idiots.
Anyway, that's not what this thread is about....
Tbf I've had more bad managers than good ones in that time... But the bad ones haven't been there more than a few months each.
I'm sure it's no different to any other industry with repetitive tasks and a high turnover of relatively unskilled staff. If the policies and procedures are set correctly, and everyone follows them, there should be no issue.
Its when colleagues think they know better and skip the parts they don't want to do, or the manager doesn't enforce these that there is problems.
I will agree that the customers are what make it rewarding, and that some managers are idiots.
Anyway, that's not what this thread is about....
As it stands, it's been placed (by Sainsburys) into the hands of a law firm.
They've given themselves 3 months to investigate. Because I was slow in getting an estimate for the repairs to them, Sainsburys passed it along to this legal lot before they'd even seen my quote/estimate.
Me? I got an estimate for repairs from the local Ford Accident Repair Centre. It's not looking good really. I paid £30 to have the estimate done, and they reckon it'll cost £7845.61 inc VAT to put things right, and that's presuming they won't need to break any more eggs to make a bigger omelette. To be honest, it's most of the value of the car, and possibly more than it's worth too.
No response yet from them after I emailed a scanned copy of the estimate.
So it's still full of dents, I'm still driving it, and it's all still up in the air really.
I'm not sure what to do next. The insurance renewal is coming up fast, and the MOT will be due too. Who knows? It may pass for the bodywork, in which case I can continue driving it. If not, then it becomes next to worthless, I'll have no car to use, and it's too big to be of any use as a paperweight.
The only plus really is that it drives as well as ever it did, and everything still works as it should. It literally is only metal panels and a window trim part that are damaged. I might have had this sorted a lot quicker if it were a non-rotten tree that fell on it, and it had been an obviously undriveable write-off from the outset...
They've given themselves 3 months to investigate. Because I was slow in getting an estimate for the repairs to them, Sainsburys passed it along to this legal lot before they'd even seen my quote/estimate.
Me? I got an estimate for repairs from the local Ford Accident Repair Centre. It's not looking good really. I paid £30 to have the estimate done, and they reckon it'll cost £7845.61 inc VAT to put things right, and that's presuming they won't need to break any more eggs to make a bigger omelette. To be honest, it's most of the value of the car, and possibly more than it's worth too.
No response yet from them after I emailed a scanned copy of the estimate.
So it's still full of dents, I'm still driving it, and it's all still up in the air really.
I'm not sure what to do next. The insurance renewal is coming up fast, and the MOT will be due too. Who knows? It may pass for the bodywork, in which case I can continue driving it. If not, then it becomes next to worthless, I'll have no car to use, and it's too big to be of any use as a paperweight.
The only plus really is that it drives as well as ever it did, and everything still works as it should. It literally is only metal panels and a window trim part that are damaged. I might have had this sorted a lot quicker if it were a non-rotten tree that fell on it, and it had been an obviously undriveable write-off from the outset...
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