Good stuff.
Take the time to organise your thinking. Write down the sequence of events (that’s the timeline) with dates and times. Thus, you are getting facts straight.
Then, set out your direct costs - these are the costs you incurred directly due to what happened (bus fares, taxis, phone calls and time)
Now set out consequential losses (they f’king hate “consequential loss” and probably exclude it in their own insurance policies!!!) - these costs you incurred because of what happened such as loss of earnings, reputational damage (as a sole trader, “unreliable” or “he never showed up” is a rep that’s quite difficult to shake off!) and other examples like not being able to price jobs etc I mentioned earlier.
Being sensible about it, you’d be surprised how easily you’d come to figure that gives a value amount. Take all emotion out of your thinking. Now you’ll have a figure to assess any “offer” against or at least a figure to determine how much you’re prepared to spend chasing that amount. (Bluntly speaking, their view of an “offer” is simply “how much for this idiot to p1ss off?”
They have elected not to have a validation rule in their system that would have immediately flagged an mis-keyed VIN and you are collateral damage as a result. All you have to do is set out that “seek £00’s amount because of xyz reasons (setting out your rationale for the amount, not the costs you have assigned) This is due solely to an error on their part. Give them 14 days to respond or you’ll tootle off to Small Claims.
Oh, and don’t forget to practice your “sad face” - the Daily Fail loves a good “sad face” pic!!!
Surely it's better to be known as a perv, than to be suspected of reading Owen Jones's column?
