Peter Crosland wrote:
On 25/06/2013 21:19, Colin Stamp wrote:
Here's a not-so little story for your amusement...

I rented a Makita HR5211C for a week to help with the knock-through on
my kitchen extension. With the wall and the huge concrete lintel duly
demolished, I took it back about 15 minutes before the end of the last
day of hire (yesterday). They accepted it without looking at it.

Today, the hire company phoned me to say they'd just noticed it had been
damaged and looked beyond repair. Could I come and have a look? Off I
went and they showed me the damage - a dent in the aluminium panel
surrounding the roto-stop control and a bit of plastic casing which
looked like it had bowed and come unhooked from its mating half. I was
then directed to the boss, who I must now come to "an arrangement" with,
despite my protestations that it hadn't been damaged whilst I had it.

The boss explained that the tool, dispite still working, was now scrap
since it was uneconomic to repair and certain to fail a test vital to
allowing it out on hire (PAT presumably). I would have to pay for a new
one but, luckily for me, I would only have to pay 485 quid, since he
could get them cheap. I offered to buy the "broken" tool from them for
200 quid since I could do with a decent breaker and I didn't care about
the "damage". This met with laughter. The tool was "only six months old"
and only a brand new replacement would compensate them for the fact that
it was now a total loss.

There followed a discussion about what my options were. The boss urged
me to make a claim on my house insurance. I elected instead to refuse to
pay, which would result in the dispute being escalated to "the
directors". The boss warned me that "the directors" weren't likely to be
as understanding as him and they would probably come after me for the
full list price which he helpfully looked up - 1200 quid. If I still
refused to pay, it would go to court and "we always win".

The tool was quite gnarly and I was a little sceptical about it being
only six months old, so I asked to see it again to take the model and
serial numbers. When I commented that the serial number started with
"2008" the boss, quick as a flash, said "That's the date of the design".
I bade him farewell and left.

Back home, I rang the Makita service department who were very helpful.
They confirmed that 2008 was the date of manufacture and that, from my
description of the damage, the tool would be quick and cheap to repair.
I passed this info on to the boss at the hire firm who responded that
the tool had been bought as "pallet stock" but was still effectively new
six months ago. He did seem much more accommodating though and said he
would take it to Makita and show me their repair price before
authorising a payment.

All in all, I've come to the conclusion that these people won't be my
first choice next time I want to hire something...

The manager either bull****ting or does not know his law. Did you hire
this as a member of the public or as a business? In any case the maximum
the hirer can legally claim is the cost of repair or the market value at
the point you hired it. Anything else would be seen at "betterment" which
the law does not allow. I would put your case in writing and don't let
them try and browbeat you.

The company accepted the return at the end of the hire period. They can't
later spin around and claim damage after accepting return of an undamaged
tool.

I'm sorry for the OP but you shouldn't have paid a penny the "boss" was
simply a bully trying to extort money that he had no right to.


--
€¢DarWin|
_/ _/

On 30/06/2013 08:14, wrote:

By now we can be sure that the total cost to the company far exceeds the £50 they made out of you.

Yep. They'll lose more than that in business from me alone. It's a shame
but now the trust has gone, there's no way to salvage any kind of
business relationship.

Cheers,

Colin.

On 30/06/2013 09:33, Bob Eager wrote:
On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:14:56 -0700, wrote:

By now we can be sure that the total cost to the company far exceeds the
£50 they made out of you.

Assuming that the company actually saw the £50....!


Presumably they did, since it wasn't cash, but deducted from the deposit
refund on my card. It did appear on the final invoice too.

Cheers,

Colin.

Yep. They'll lose more than that in business from me alone. It's a shame

but now the trust has gone, there's no way to salvage any kind of

business relationship.



Cheers,



Colin.

Probably goes part-way to explaining HSS Hire's very high prices.

They're going to price all but gross damage/theft/loss into the hire price - as attributing it to a particular customer (even if it's bang to rights in other circumstances) is enough to loose a customer permanently.