To want to sue these idiots for every damn penny they've got?

[Emprexia]

Something happened today that i'm still absolutely hopping mad about.. i can't believe anyone would be so fucking stupid as to do this.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad had some work down on the window in his lounge, and it would appear that while using a Stanley Knife to pick out the old window seal, one of the Glaziers broke the tip off said knife.. and declined to TELL anyone.

This afternoon, while keeping my parents dog company as they'd gone for a day out without him, i noticed DS had a cut on his arm about an inch long, and while tending to it, i noticed him chomping on something.

Not realising what it was, i fought him to fish it out and it fell down the side of the cushion and i didn't think about it until i'd sorted him out.

When i picked what i thought was just a piece of plastic up from where it had fallen, i noticed it was infact a shard of metal.. yes, you've guessed it. My 9 month old baby had been cut by and was chewing on a shard of broken knife blade!!!

thank god he didn't swallow it is all i can say. That and thank god i didn't rip his mouth to ribbons while i was trying to get it out of his mouth before he DID swallow it.

I just can't believe that someone would be stupid enough not to tell the customer to be careful because they'd broken a knife and hadn't found the piece.

I didn't say i was going to sue, i asked if i was being unreasonable for wanting to sue them.

I know i wouldnt have a case as he's not injured (thank god) i'm just so angry that they broke a knife blade and didnt say anything to my parents.

Nevermind that my DS found it - that shard of metal could have ended up in my parents feet or even have been picked up by the dog at any point in the last week.

They will be recieving a phonecall from my father (as the customer) and i wouldnt want to be whoever he talks to because my Father deals with VIP businessmen every day and doesn't take any prisoners.

Depending on the outcome of the phonecall , an official complaint will be made regarding negligence to H&S.

Oh in that case, NBU.

Kaishay - trust me - H&S people are so over stretched that if no injury has occurred it's unlikely they'll do any more than phone the company for a brief chat.

I sit on the opposite side of a partition fron the H&S Officers at my local council.

And if you say that 'Am I being unreasonable? : To want to sue these idiots for every damn penny they've got?' then you can't be surprised if people assume that that's your intention.

Im not surprised - which is why i posted to clarify.

of course you are not unreasonable !

but i think you know it would be a waste of time

get any injuries documented, and write a stinking letter and report to any trades ombudsman you can

That is terrible. and sorry 40+ but even if H&S are pushed to the limit the company should have their hands slapped for not respecting H&S highlighting the safety bit. and a 9 mth old with a cut arm and potential cut throat sounds a bit serious to me ..

Can I also just point out that when you or your father phones them, tell them that you are going to the local papers to highlight their gross breach of safety, their employees attitude towards leaving broken knife blades in customers' houses and the injuries to your baby son! That ought to get a reaction.

Is it annoying but when you have builders and do DIY there is always sharp stuff around afterwards - that's why it's so important to have a thorough clean-up afterwards!

You could have had the same situation if your dad had broken a wine-glass - it's just one of those unfortunate things.

It's shocking and scary for you but I think you are (understandably) over-reacting a bit.

I wouldn't recommend making any threats that you don't then carry out. And I definitely wouldn't go to the papers with this because the bottom line is that you can't prove that it was them who left the knife. I'd never publish anything I couldn't prove, simply because I don't ever want to be on the wrong end of a libel suit. But then, I'm ultra-cautious.

I think what happened to your ds is awful and I'm really thankful it wasn't more serious.

However you say that they glazing work was done a couple of weeks ago so there is absolutely no way you can prove it was due to them. Even if it was done the same day you can't prove they left this as its something anyone might reasonably have in their house (a stanley knife I mean, to do diy - not a bit of blade on the floor).

I would write a letter of complaint to the company in question - hopefully this will mean they be more careful in the future. But I also agree with the poster who said that leaving things in a mess is a fact of life after having diy done and if you want to prevent this happening in the future you neeed to check yourself.