I do admire the small man who stands up to the giants of industry after suffering an injustice, those David and Goliath stories, like motorist David Bond who sent the bailiffs to Tesco when they refused to compensate him fully for damage to his van
after buying contaminated fuel from them.
This could not be more embarrassing for the superstore, hot on the heels of its pledge to pay for damage to vehicles following the latest faulty petrol disaster. Hopefully, Tesco will have learnt from this, and fully compensate customers for any car hire too, without making them go through hoops.
I also hope motorists who have no proof of purchase will ask supermarkets to check their CCTV cameras, I don’t know why that hasn’t been mentioned before. If there is no paper trail, this must be the best method to provide evidence to back their claim.
It just goes to show how the small man can take on the big boys – and win. It happened to me once. During a family holiday in Disney World, Florida, where I badly gashed my head on the sharp edges of their tiered metal grandstand seating at a show. I had to have several stitches and was not allowed to get my head wet or wash my hair for the following week, which is pretty unpleasant on holiday, as well as suffering headaches.
I took photos of the jagged metal and my head injury and pursued a claim when I returned home. People told me you can’t sue Disney, but I did and I won a small settlement, without the aid of a lawyer too. Like the angry Tesco claimant, we knew we were in the right, but luckily for me, Disney resolved my grievance in a civilized way. For me it was a matter of seeking justice, wanting to be listened to and treated fairly.
Have you ever made a claim against the big boys? Do you think large companies are too dismissive of their customer’s grievances?
I say bravo to you and anyone else fighting for justice. Here a big scoundrel is WalMart in North America. I`ve heard many bad things about them and though they have loads of deals and goodies I refuse to shop there.
tea
xo
On the other hand Ellee if you deal with the general public or with your clients you soon learn that they are always aggrieved. I am not impressed with this anti large companies sort of attitude they do a far far better job than the government and people simply willl not acceot that accidents hapen and thats part of life.
All you do is push up Insurance premiums and thereby the price until yet another activity becomes impossible to cost.
I used to like Fairs but they are disappearing due to the cost of Liability Insurance , same with Fireworks and much more . In my job I see it all the time and we need less claiming not more.
In the case of cars it simply increases the number unlicensed and uninsured
I spent three years fighting the Student Loans Company who insisted that I wasn’t paying my repayments when I was. Despite being told on many occassions where the problem lay they continued to send threatening and abusive letters. It got to the stage where they issued a County Court summons. I replied with all my evidence and the problem disappeared. It shows that if you are in the right the system will help, but it was a long hard slog.
I think that big companies do try to bully individuals, but you can stand up to them and win.
With the small claims system, if you are claiming less than £5,000, the defendant cannot claim back their legal expenses if they lose.
It’s always worth a pop if they won’t compensate you.
Good for you regarding Disney. The small person can win sometimes.
A lady friend of mine sued McDonald’s on a visit to the US. She slipped on a chip which had not been cleared from the floor within the statutory time (proven by CCTV).
It is worth noting that McDonald’s tried to butter her up by relocating her to 5 star accommodation and providing a chauffeur driven car for the rest of the holiday. A sharp suited lawyer presented a form and a cheque for 10k (I think). She declined stating that her knee injury required further attention – good on her – the final settlement was considerably higher.
Sadly, Corporations are frequently an all too easy target and they will pay up to protect their reputation i they itneary.
As for the chip story- only in America… at the moment)
Not a fan of litigation myself I hasten. I just don’t like McDonald’s – along with Disney World it’s at the forefront of the baby-fication of western civilisation.
In fact it’s all part of establishing American non-culture in a form of insidious and unspoken imperialism – Coaca-Colonisation I think they call it. No-win-no-fee litigation is their baby too.
They’ll be banning conkers and the Ten Tors next …
My family fought the local government over a land issue. They zoned 6 acres of our land to “open space” and then offered to buy it at a far lower value.
We argued they could, but at the highest zoning which was industrial. We had it valued at 3 million $ ( BTW this was in the 80’s). Council offered us $200,000.
There is more to the story,( A lot of intrigue) but my father and uncle took them to the land and environment court and won. It took us 10 years
I think the council expected that we did not have the resources, or knowledge to fight them.
But we did.
Simon, Excellent stuff, it’s a case of knowing in your heart and mind that you are right and will stand up for your rights. I’m delighted that your family stuck it out and achieved succes.