Twelve months ago we reviewed the work provision contracts that we have and realised that one of our largest contracts was unprofitable. The work provider is well known within the industry for having unrealistic hourly rates but we thought we would be able to make it work, we now realise that we can’t. We terminated the contract months ago and adjusted our business accordingly. When we gave notice to the work provider they informed us that they have retained a percentage of the total amount they owe us.

When questioned they said it was for warranty claims but we are responsible for paying warranty claims. What should we do?

In Games Retail Limited v Laws UKEAT/0188/14 the Employment Appeals Tribunal, ‘EAT’, was asked to reconsider the finding of an Employment Tribunal, ‘ET’,  that Mr Laws had been unfairly dismissed.

The ET found that his dismissal was unfair because in the employment Judges’ opinion the decision to dismiss did not fall within the band of reasonable responses of the hypothetical reasonable employer.

The EAT disagreed with the ET and found that the Employment Judge had fallen into the error of substitution mindset, and had substituted his view for that of the reasonable employer, and/or had reached conclusions that were either inconsistent given earlier findings or failed to take into account relevant matters or were simply perverse.

The EAT did not however consider that only one outcome was possible in this case, and therefore ordered that the matter should be remitted to a new ET. The new ET is to decide whether after applying the range of reasonable responses test it was reasonable to dismiss.

On occasions Customers ask how much it will cost to repair the accident damage to their car, it’s a normal question that some interested customer want to know. We have been told by an insurer that in no way should we discuss with vehicle owners the cost of repairing their vehicle. What should we say?

The saying ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’ springs to mind.

It is normal for some of the more interested customers to want to know how much it will cost to repair their vehicle. Not every car owner will want to know but some will and to be denied this information by their insurer seems unfair.
The two questions we need to consider are;

1. Whilst it may seem unfair is it? And
2. What do you say if the question is asked?

A customer was being very difficult insisting that we invoice another company for a repair they wanted to be undertaken to their car. The other company were not happy to accept the invoice and so we refused to undertake the repair to the car because it looked like we would not get paid.

The customer is upset that we have refused to repair the vehicle and has issued a claim against us for breach of contract. The customer is seeking to claim the cost of repairing her car and the loss incurred from the insurance company for transferring her insurance to our courtesy car.

Has she got a claim?