[gficleaning]

Does anyone have a disclaimer document for carpet and upholstery cleaning.  If so would I be able to take a look at it.  If not
where can I find one?

[John Kelly]

What kind of disclaimer are you after. Most are totally useless and have no standing in a court of law. That doesn't mean to say you can't use one.
Basically if you mess up by either using an innapropriate process or have little or no training your Insurance is unlikely to pay up for any damage.

[gficleaning]

According to our current policy with Eagle Star we are not covered for work be carried out on carpets and upholstery only that which could be damaged near to it.  However if we require all treatment cover we have to have a disclaimer notice in place.  I want to make sure I,m covering every aspect.  Areas like warning clients that the carpets will remian damp for a period of time and taking care when transfering from a damp area to say a tiled floor or vinyl covering where they can slip over.  Recently heard of a case where cleaner had no disclaimer, cleaned carpets, owner came home, had a look at his work, went back into her hall which was mosaic tiles, slipped over because her shoes were wet and broke her wrists. He was sued for not warning her that this could happen.

[John Rimmer Marshall & Rimmer Ltd]

From the way i am reading your post you do not have full Insurance cover you just have public liabilty. You should get full asap. Get in touch with McGregor Lloyd Ltd Tel 0121 706 0616 As for Disclaimer Forms not worth the paper they are writen on.

                                     Take Care John

[gort]

Send me and e mail and i will send you what I use. I find them usefull and worth having especially if the customer signs it.

Rob

[JS2]

Dear colleague

As John has advised, certain work-related disclaimers can be useless if it comes to a court case.  The law certainly views the domestic customer as a weak party, so a disclaimer could appear totally unfair and therefore useless.  I suppose it could be different for a commercial client, but contracts are usually handled more professionally, so weaknesses are eliminated before any agreement is signed.  And as to what the courts finally decide . . . is not predictable !

Don't disclaim without sound legal advice.  Train/Practice and have a quality focused approach.

Hope this helps.

Pete (JS2)

[gficleaning]

Thank you all for your comments about disclaimers, I too know that they will have very little relevance in a court case. However, when I have been looking for new quotes for insurance they all want to see a disclaimer notice.  As a company we are fully trained and have 12 years experience but apparently insurance companies want to see disclaimer notices in place.

[andrew chrysler]

Disclaimer: no legal grounds

Contract terms: can have shaky grounds on a consumer contract (not commercial) because of the "Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (and I have a 74 page !!! document tailored to the caravan industry written by the OFT)

Any terms in a consumer contract should be TRANSPARENT, IN PLAIN ENGLISH and FAIR

For example, if you reserve the right to decline work and return any payments made, the customer must also have the right to cancel work and recieve a full refund.......

Best advice I can offer is to provide customers with "advice / information" such as

... warning clients that carpets remain damp
... warning about shrinkage and advising that in the unlikely event, the carpet will stretch again after 2-3 days and you will stretch it for free (or for a certain fee)
... warning clients that they shouldn't put wooden furniture directly on damp carpet
... etc...etc... etc...

Give that document to your Insurance company and call it (in their language) a disclaimer... but in politically correct language it is really advice to the customer on what problems they can expect and how you will deal with them....

Despite insurance companies now coming under FSA regulation (and that's a nightmare, as I sell caravan insurance and had to qualify with the FSA to carry on doing what I have done for years) most insurance companies are still in the Victorian era, with archaic rules and procedures.

You could ask the OFT about disclaimers.... probably find their opinion on the OFT web site.... and you could just print this advice and send that to your insurer.... see what their reaction is....

It's a case of a square peg, a round hole, and all we really want is no hole and no peg!

[John Rimmer Marshall & Rimmer Ltd]

Maybe its me but i am becoming more and more perplexed, namely wye would an insurance company want to see a disclaimer witch has already been pointed
means nothing. The way i read it is this if there was such a thing as a true
disclaimer form, and remember you have to get the potential customer to sign
this form. Whell let me put it this way would any of us let someone possibly a comeleat stranger in our house to do whatever, could be some building work,
new windows, kitchen ect, and then sighn a form to say it does not matter what kind of a job or what kind of damage you do its ok, becouse that is what a true disclaimer would mean. And as for telling a customer that if there capet shrinks
becouse of your actions there might be a small charge to put it right i dont think so Andrew, remember there was nothing wrong with it till we came along, its our problem now, NOT theres

                                               Take Care John