Buyer ripped my new vinyl

[SecretNameforMN]

For context, I am a single lady house owner, retired, so on a moderate income.

Just 8 weeks after I had new vinyl laid in my kitchen a local man came to my house to collect something I sold him on eBay for £50. There was a piece of furniture in the way of him carrying the purchased item out of the house, and without asking me or waiting for me to help lift it and move it, he took it upon himself to drag the piece across the vinyl, stretching it and tearing a jagged hole 40cm long and 20cm wide. He was suitably apologetic and said to let him know how much the repair cost, and left.

Flooring man came back and tried his level best to make an invisible mend but because the vinyl had been rucked up and stretched as well as ripped, it was impossible. He glued it down so it wasn't a trip hazard but it looked horrible. He did not charge me.

I tried to live with it for a couple of weeks but it's in a most prominent and brightly-lit spot in the middle of the room. The only solution was to re-buy the whole sheet and pay the fitter again. It cost £350. I messaged the man who did it and he flatly refuses to reimburse me, saying that is a ridiculous amount to pay for his innocent mistake.

And so I am £350 out of pocket, entirely because of him!

AIBU to think that he should reimburse me?

Just not the furniture perhaps....

Morally, yes, he should pay.

As for small claims, you're going to be spending more money than it would cost you to simply replace the floor. Not to mention the time and stress.

You're not guaranteed to win, which will leave you empty handed and with a legal bill if you don't. Even if you do win, you might not see the money for a long time, if at all.

Let it go.

I don't see the point in insurance really if you feel you can never claim? I do think he should be paying the excess though.

The cost part is untrue, it's not much to put through small claims at that amount (nor stressful) In the likely event she is successful it would be paid for by him.

I agree.

The legal advice/fees are where the costs come in. Time off work etc.

Unless OP represents herself, which is often unwise and always a massive time sink.

I also wouldn't assume that it is likely OP would win. She'd have to prove negligence of some sort probably, a court might take the view that this is what insurance is for etc.

Then you run the risk that the guy 'loses' his job at the family business and has no means to pay even if he is found liable.

Unless OP is absolutely adamant about righting a perceived wrong, for £350 I'd be writing it off as a lesson learned.

You do not need legal representation or advice for the small claims court, I've managed it myself three times successfully.

Is it? Mine’s £500. I pick quite a high excess on most insurance policies on the basis it’s rare that I make a claim, and can easily save the excess amount with a few years of cheaper policies. And I’d be unlikely to go through the hassle of a claim for something that low value.

Surely whether an excess is high or low depends on your personal appetite to risk and financial position.

Cheaper policies
have higher excess so less risk of them being claimed on

@Cosyblankets we have quite a high excess on our buildings insurance as we are much less likely to claim on it (unless it's HUGE) and it brings the premiums down quite significantly. Our contents excess is lower (but we'd probably only use it for something significant) and the premiums don't vary much if your excess is £100 or £1000 so we've gone with what we feel we need in our circumstances.

Doesn’t sound like it is ‘likely’ at all. You need a lot of evidence to win a case in the smalls claims court. And even if she did win, it is entirely possible that the judgement would be it is unreasonable to expect him to pay for the whole room to be redone, covering the cost of a repair would be more likely, or maybe a contribution.
Have you asked for a contribution OP, instead of the whole amount?

You must have had very different experiences to me.

It was an accident. I really think that you are going to have to chalk it up to experience.

.....that's a help. Are you a professional pointmisser?