We had a policyholder who was recently accused by a client of damaging a brick wall near a tree he worked on. Luckily, the Tree Surgeon had very carefully videoed the whole site on his phone before the work started.
Three days after the completion of the works he received a demand for several thousand pounds to repair the wall he had ‘damaged’ and of course the claimant was refusing to pay the bill of £1200.The prudent Tree Surgeon then sent the claimant the video with a very strong rebuttal and demanded his bill be paid within 24 hours. Not only was the claim dropped, he also received payement within a few hours.
There is a clear lesson here for all. In order to help prevent frivolous allegations of ‘damage’ whilst on site, we are reminding you of the importance of taking photos (or videos) of ‘before’ and ‘after’ when you are on site. This is particularly important if there is already visible damage to something. These images can be vitally important to defend the ‘You’ve damaged my wall’ allegation that is coming to you soon.
If you do accidentally damage something – photograph it, so you can be sure that the repair bill is in proportion to the damage caused. Too often that broken flowerpot becomes a smashed patio door, which coincidentally needs replacing anyway!
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