Rotary Lawn Mower Breaks a Window.

[Deleted member 323070]

I broke a neighbour's window recently with a rotary lawn mower, the hover mower type.
The mower blade caught a stone and flung it at the window. I wasn't aware of it until the neighbour complained. I could hardly argue or deny it because it was perfectly feasible.
Fortunately it only broke the outer pane, so it wasn't urgent.
The cost of repair/replacement was twice the cost of my excess, so I let the insurance deal with it, which was fortuitous because the neighbour found another window which I had also broken, supposedly.

 

[Wayners]

Not me.
Another painter

Painting a house the customer said you cracked glass.
Got a company to come and price and while they were there the customer said there is another window cracked around back.
No painting had taken place around the back.
Turned out to be faulty glass cracking in summer sun. Glass company said. Painter still paid for one.

 

[johnny2007]

Once we went to decorate a place Christmas week when posh owners were on holiday.
I told them to remove all valuables and cover expensive items away from the walls so we didn't have to touch them.
Arrived there and they'd followed all instructions.
Done the job, got paid, all good.
Then, 3/4 days later, lady calls me saying we'd broken an antique dressing table.
I went there to have a look and this thing was indeed smashed, but I was sure it wasn't under the transparent cover when we were there.
Gave her my insurance details because I knew it was gonna be expensive and didn't want to go through the hassle myself.
Reported to insurance and I thought that was it.
Few weeks later I get a solicitor letter asking for almost £7k to replace this dressing table.
I called insurance and turned out that because the table was so expensive and damaged beyond repair, they appointed an expert to assess the damage.
He reported that the damage was not recent and the table had been stored smashed for some time.
The cheeky beach!

 

[securespark]

People are cheeky forkers.

I had a customer.

It was a fault on a ring final circuit.

The installation was old, badly done and one of those that had been added to with lots of dodgy DIY work.
Taking off sockets on the ground floor. Found the faults, put stuff back, tested, billed and ready to leave. Left paperwork detailing all the faulty stuff. Guy queried the bill, despite having verbally agreed to a ballpark, which the final bill was at the lower end of.

Then he started pointing to a cracked socket.
It looked fresh, and I doubted the damage, but I suppose I could have done it. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and swapped it for a new one.

Then he led me upstairs and showed me 6, yes 6 more. All cracked, some badly, all obviously old, with dirt in the cracks.

He said it was my fault.

I told him I didn't even come upstairs.

As I was coming down the stairs, his daughter came in from college.

Dad started telling her what was going on as they headed for the kitchen. I went to load up the car.

As I finished, she came out, waving a handful of notes. I'm really sorry, she said, my Dad's a skinflint and he does this to all the tradesmen, but here's all your money and more for that socket.

Please come back, she said, we have loads more work that needs doing.

I told her it was one thing being careful with your money but quite another trying to rip me off about the upstairs sockets when I had never even been near them.

Her eyebrows raised. Oh...he didn't tell you about that bit, then?

I told her thank you very much for the money, but I'm sorry, I'm not coming back.

 

[Jurassicspark]

People are cheeky forkers.

I had a customer.

It was a fault on a ring final circuit.

The installation was old, badly done and one of those that had been added to with lots of dodgy DIY work.
Taking off sockets on the ground floor. Found the faults, put stuff back, tested, billed and ready to leave. Left paperwork detailing all the faulty stuff. Guy queried the bill, despite having verbally agreed to a ballpark, which the final bill was at the lower end of.

Then he started pointing to a cracked socket.
It looked fresh, and I doubted the damage, but I suppose I could have done it. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and swapped it for a new one.

Then he led me upstairs and showed me 6, yes 6 more. All cracked, some badly, all obviously old, with dirt in the cracks.

He said it was my fault.

I told him I didn't even come upstairs.

As I was coming down the stairs, his daughter came in from college.

Dad started telling her what was going on as they headed for the kitchen. I went to load up the car.

As I finished, she came out, waving a handful of notes. I'm really sorry, she said, my Dad's a skinflint and he does this to all the tradesmen, but here's all your money and more for that socket.

Please come back, she said, we have loads more work that needs doing.

I told her it was one thing being careful with your money but quite another trying to rip me off about the upstairs sockets when I had never even been near them.

Her eyebrows raised. Oh...he didn't tell you about that bit, then?

I told her thank you very much for the money, but I'm sorry, I'm not coming back.

That or having someone spectating your work the whole time.

I once had to fix an issue related to lighting (i think long time ago) and the homeowner only agreed to pay £30 in the end no matter what.

 

[Atgni]

I thought that it would be the neighbours insurance that covered the damage. If my neighbours roof tile fell off onto my car then his house insurance would not be paying for it --- would it ?

 

[securespark]

That or having someone spectating your work the whole time.

I had that a few times (different customers).

Eventually, I told them I would not be insured if they had an injury due to being close to me while working.

A fib, but it worked. Think I got the idea from someone on here!

 

[Mottie]

Honest to God this is a true story. We once serviced a ladies car and she asked for the antifreeze to be checked. I told her we did that automatically on a service. When she collected the car I told her the antifreeze was okay and didn’t need changing/topping up. She asked me if I was sure. I told her I was. Two days later she came back screaming that we hadn’t checked the antifreeze so I asked her why she thought that. "Because I came out this morning and the car was covered in frost"! I explained what antifreeze was for but I think she still didn’t believe me. I have had other customers think it helps with starting the car in cold weather too.

 

[opps]

A mate of mine, a plumber turned up to do some work in a customer's bedroom. The customer had already cleared the room prior to his arrival. On completion they complained about four distinct dents/marks on the floor. They were insistent that the marks were not there previously. Danny the plumber pointed out the dents lined up perfectly with the feet on the bed which they had recently moved out of the room...

 

[Deleted member 323070]

I thought that it would be the neighbours insurance that covered the damage. If my neighbours roof tile fell off onto my car then his house insurance would not be paying for it --- would it ?

It was a discussion between the different insurance companies.
There was a delay in replacing the window, and I was happy to chase up my insurance company. I wanted to maintain good relations with the neighbours. He was old and needed some consideration.
It turned out the delay was due to his insurance dragging their feet.

 

[Exedon]

Few years ago we were installing heating into a 200 odd year old property solid floors both up and down. All pipework surface fixes walls were a right mixture of bricks some 4 -1/2 others 9 odd 13 -1/2 seemed to hit as much timber as brick.
End of second day told my mate to drill 2 holes from hall into lounge ready for morning.
Next morning lady of he House tells us we have drilled through a video cabinet sure enough 2 neat 18mm holes.
Got my wife to report to our insurance company and passed details on.
At time we were regularly working for a specialist insurance contractor and I regularly spoke to loss adjusters.
Week or so after accident a loss adjuster I knew phoned me asked me to run through what had happened.
Turned out they were claiming £1200 for a
'antique video cabinet '
As loss adjuster said the 2 words really go together!
I told him cabinet was veneered chipboard.
He went on site to inspect rang me later to say he'd been very generous and settled for £300.
Went on to say daft part was if claim had been below £1000 claim wouldn't even have been looked at.

 

[ree]

A lawn mower breaking wind - it once happened at Ivor Windybottom's bungalow.

 

[johnny2007]

A lawn mower breaking wind - it once happened at Ivor Windybottom's bungalow.

 

[ericmark]

There is also the reverse, I am sure the small roof over the front door was not damaged before the scaffold for solar panels went up, and down, but can't be sure.

As for lawn mower damage, if it can break a window, what will it do to your feet?

The one I remember was a car reversing on a dirt track and the exhaust dropped, dug into soil bounced up and fired a slug of earth across the road and smashed a window, had I not seen it happen, I would have not believed it.

But the one I remember, friend's son, smashed a window with a ball, he said no problem I have taken out insurance in case my son causes damage, he's covered, ring up insurance, and they said, he is too young, he is not responsible for his actions, and would not pay up, what was the point in the insurance?

 

[blup]

I broke a neighbour's window recently with a rotary lawn mower, the hover mower type.
The mower blade caught a stone and flung it at the window. I wasn't aware of it until the neighbour complained. I could hardly argue or deny it because it was perfectly feasible.
Fortunately it only broke the outer pane, so it wasn't urgent.
The cost of repair/replacement was twice the cost of my excess, so I let the insurance deal with it, which was fortuitous because the neighbour found another window which I had also broken, supposedly.

OOI how much was the replacement pane?