Which party is liable?

5starpool

Hopefully this doesn't break forum rules, apologies if it does.

In a case where someone asks a company (service provider) to do something, and they use a 3rd party contractor to carry out the work, if damage is caused, who would be liable from the customers point of view, the party they asked to do the work, or the 3rd party? The customer would not have been aware that there was a third party involved at the time.

hullaballoo

The question is too vague to answer definitively.

Liability is determined by the underlying facts and the nature of the supposed wrong.

lifeandtimes

Your contract is with the original party you do business with. If they hire someone else the onus would be on them to vouch for said company and if something goes wrong it's up to them to resolve it

5starpool

hullaballoo wrote: »

The question is too vague to answer definitively.

Liability is determined by the underlying facts and the nature of the supposed wrong.

I'm not sure what details I can go into here, but I'll post some.

I contacted sky about a house move, they arranged it. Engineer came and damaged our TV by lifting it by the screen. I was not there, only my heavily pregnant wife, and due to house move stuff the TV was not near a socket to test install. Sky hire a 3rd party to do their installations, Actavo. They have admitted liability but all sky do is say it is up to Actavo to compensate us, but Actavo won't contact me to discuss despite telling sky agents who call them that they accept liability.

It has been dragging on 4 weeks at this stage, and I'm contemplating comreg or small claims court, but I'm not sure who from my point of view should be compensating us.

Samuel T. Cogley

It's €25 for a small claims so if you get the parties wrong you'll not be out a great deal. Personally I'd start with Sky, purely because they're the one's who'll want an ongoing relationship with you and most large companies have policies for once things 'go legal'.

Have you tried the talk to forum here on boards?

gimli2112

Would have thought Sky are vicariously liable for damage caused by their sub-contractors. So bad large companies cause such grief to their customers over what is a relatively trivial matter (to them).

Samuel T. Cogley

gimli2112 wrote: »

Would have thought Sky are vicariously liable for damage caused by their sub-contractors. So bad large companies cause such grief to their customers over what is a relatively trivial matter (to them).

Generally in a large company this sort of thing is easily sorted out. The problem is getting to the write person (see what I did there!) hence why the letter is (the one with a stamp) is such a powerful tool these days.

5starpool

Thanks all.

I'm not quite at the point yet where I am submitting something to comreg or small claims but I'm close. Talk to would just be another helpful and well intentioned agent who would do the same as previous agents. I may give it a go, but only because it is easier than ringing and being on hold for 20 minutes each time when I need to contact them.

I'm not trying to get free sky for life ordering scam them, I just want fair recompense for careless damage caused. I don't really care who pays.

ForstalDave

5starpool wrote: »

Thanks all.

I'm not quite at the point yet where I am submitting something to comreg or small claims but I'm close. Talk to would just be another helpful and well intentioned agent who would do the same as previous agents. I may give it a go, but only because it is easier than ringing and being on hold for 20 minutes each time when I need to contact them.

I'm not trying to get free sky for life ordering scam them, I just want fair recompense for careless damage caused. I don't really care who pays.

Try the sky boards reps on here they may be able to help and at least its one point of contact rather than hoping the person you rang can be asses looking up the call details of before

hullaballoo

5starpool wrote: »

I'm not sure what details I can go into here, but I'll post some.

I contacted sky about a house move, they arranged it. Engineer came and damaged our TV by lifting it by the screen. I was not there, only my heavily pregnant wife, and due to house move stuff the TV was not near a socket to test install. Sky hire a 3rd party to do their installations, Actavo. They have admitted liability but all sky do is say it is up to Actavo to compensate us, but Actavo won't contact me to discuss despite telling sky agents who call them that they accept liability.

It has been dragging on 4 weeks at this stage, and I'm contemplating comreg or small claims court, but I'm not sure who from my point of view should be compensating us.

Mind if I PM you?

seamus

Your complaint is with Sky. You have no agreement with the 3rd party.

Neighbour had a similar issue - Sky installer from a 3rd party managed to puncture a radiator pipe while doing the install. He put a bit of tape on it and then told them to ring the call centre to sort it. Had an emergency plumber out that night and they paid for repair works that were needed.

5starpool

hullaballoo wrote: »

Mind if I PM you?

Not at all.