In the last few months several important things have happened:
- I had contact from a solicitor working at Geoffrey Leaver solicitors, on behalf for Dell. He had two objectives, one was to re-arrange collection of the extra laptop which finally happened in mid April and the second was to discuss my claim
- We had several conversations based around the fact that I was looking to achieve two core objectives:
- Primarily to have Dell publicly acknowledge and apologise for their poor Customer Service
- Receive appropriate compensation for the time and effort I have gone to and for my son for the upset and inconvenience of not receiving his Christmas present on time
- Despite several calls, I think the main focus from the solicitor was retrieving the laptop and he never really gave serious consideration to my case
- Consequently, time passed, various deadlines for the court elapsed and I continued the process
- On Monday 2nd August, I had to pay a final listing fee to the court for the case to proceed. I received a letter from the solicitor on Saturday 31 July with a Without Prejudice offer from Dell. This offer of several hundred pounds would just about cover my costs incurred so far, but I feel still did not give me any compensation for the all the hassle I have gone through. Furthermore, the offer was conditional on not publicising the offer and payment in any format, such as this blog.
- I replied to the solicitor, making these points and stating that not only was the cash on offer unacceptable, but also the fact that I would not be allowed to mention the settlement was totally against one of the primary purposes of me taking this case to court in the first place
- I suggested that an improved offer, accompanied by a public letter of apology from Dell would be acceptable.
- This was formally rejected by Dell, their solicitor stated: “My clients do not consider this proposal to be reasonable and it is rejected.”
What is most interesting is a story that I saw on BBC TV news this week – which is also available on the BBC News website – here
This story was about a 59-year-old man from Rotherham who has successfully billed British Gas for his time after two years of ongoing disputes with the energy supplier.
Barry Payling said he was paid more than £2,000 by the company after he threatened to take them to court for a "horrendous catalogue of errors".
British Gas said it had paid the money as "a gesture of goodwill, an apology" - not for Mr Payling's time.
BBC TV News interviewed Sarah Pennels, a well-known personal finance journalist and broadcaster, who runs Savvywoman.co.uk
This is perfect timing for me, setting a great precedent and I will contact Ms Pennels to see if she is interested in my case
I will try to update this blog over the next few days as and if things develop, watch this space
No comments:
Post a Comment