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Original poster

If Ocado dropped a glass bottle of oil on your kitchen floor...

126 replies

JivinMissDaisy · 17/05/2013 13:37

.. what would you expect by way of apology or compensation?

Mr Ocado accidentally (poor chap, not his fault..) dropped a large glass bottle of oil all over my tiled kitchen floor.

It took an initial 30+ mins to pick up the glass, soak up the worst of the mess with 6 bathroom towels, then mop it all with liquid floor cleaner. A couple of sweeps to check for remaining glass. Then all the towels had to be cleaned in the machine of course as they were dripping in oil. A week later, and another mop from our brilliant cleaner, you can still see a very fine film of oil in parts.

Well anyway, Ocado have offered me £7. Does that seem reasonable...?

OP posts:
CashmereHoodlum · 17/05/2013 15:19

How do you get them to bring the stuff into your kitchen? I've tried all the supermarket delivery services and they never come past my doorstep. Next door (identical house) has them deliver into the kitchen too. I must be giving off axe-murderer vibes as they all dump the plastic boxes on the doorstep and run off to hide in the van until I have unloaded everything.

At least I don't have trouble with them smashing bottles of oil on my floor.

flanbase · 17/05/2013 15:19

It would have a made a huge mess on the floor and a total hassle for you

TSSDNCOP · 17/05/2013 15:28

Cash trades men's entrance Wink

I agree with the very first poster. Accidents happen.

Out of curiosity what exactly were you expecting other than the vague hope that MN would agree with you so you could e-mail the thread to Ocado customer service on Monday?

bruffin · 17/05/2013 15:44

Next time pour flour on it and then you can sweep it up. It makes it so much easier to clear up.

TheSurgeonsMate · 17/05/2013 15:47

If it was the sort of accident that could have happened to anyone, I'd have expected an "oops!" and an offer to replace the oil.

If genuinely because of Ocado man being silly about how much he could carry, I'd have expected "oops!" and I'd have really wanted him to replace the oil.

I wouldn't expect £7 in addition. Or more than £7 or less than £7. Shit happens.

RedPencils · 17/05/2013 15:53

'Paid for the clean up'
An extra load of washing and a bit of extra mopping. £7 adequately covers that.

flanbase · 17/05/2013 15:57

sure redpencils - the company should refund any loss to the customer compensate for the hassle. It depends on the kitchen tiles as stone would be really difficult to clean it all off from where as something like lino would be easy

flanbase · 17/05/2013 15:58

also floorboards would be difficult to clean if unsealed and not filled between the gaps

notso · 17/05/2013 15:59

They never come in here either cashmere although I think that's because DS2 then 18 month old merrily egged one of the drivers while I was unloading one of the boxes, and he spread the word!

OP what would you have been happy with out of interest?

Madamecastafiore · 17/05/2013 16:04

Wait rise compensated me for new skirt and cardigan as was ruined when bleach spilt from cap that was not properly screwed on. I can't for the life of me understand why you would expect more than a replacement bottle of oil to be honest.

Madamecastafiore · 17/05/2013 16:07

Why have some people said cost of cleaning the towels? Seriously do you have a laundry service who sends you a bill itemised? I mean how much can a few towels cost to bung in the machine???

TolliverGroat · 17/05/2013 16:12

Ocado refund me half the monthly delivery cost (so £5 or so) just for being half an hour late without warning me (which has only happened once (and they've only been late with warning me about twice)) even though it didn't really inconvenience me at all. So on that basis £7 for breaking a glass bottle and making you spend considerable time clearing it up does seem a bit stingy just in comparison. But at the same time it's more than I suspect you'd get from many of the other delivery companies.

TolliverGroat · 17/05/2013 16:20

I mean how much can a few towels cost to bung in the machine???

Electricity costs are typically about 15p a load (plus another 50p-ish for drying if you tumble dry as well). Brand name detergent about 30p a load, plus fabric conditioner if you use it about 10p a load.

So one load washed with detergent and conditioner then tumble-dried could come to around £1.05. Not sure on size of towels so whether there would be one or two loads in this case.

AintNobodyHereButUsKittens · 17/05/2013 16:29

I'd expect them to not charge for the oil and throw in a bottle of wine or a fiver for the inconvenience. A tenner would be nice though. 7 quid is a bit random. In terms of the person hours it actually takes to clear up something like this - 15 mins? 30 mins? then it's a reasonable hourly rate

MrsDoomsPatterson · 17/05/2013 16:33

I'd want a new house.

TSSDNCOP · 17/05/2013 16:37

Ocado probably can't even imagine why anyone in their sane mind would have used towels to clean it up? Surely you chuck flour over oil then scrape up the solid mess.

So I'd compensate for a bag of flour and new bottle of oil.

propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS · 17/05/2013 16:39

Agree you are being greedy. It was an accident.

SoupDragon · 17/05/2013 16:43

Welcome to MN, OP.

ShatnersBassoon · 17/05/2013 16:44

I really need to know why bath towels were used to mop up the mess. Come on op, come back and explain the towels, and also give us a rough idea of what compensation you're hoping for.

DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 17/05/2013 16:45

I'm not sure it would warrant compensation but it wouldn't have killed ocado to send a bouquet of flowers to apologise and keep the customer happy. Oil mess is a bugger to clean up. I hate this compensation culture but I like good customer service.

MrsDoomsPatterson · 17/05/2013 16:47

What happened, I'm guessing here, is the oil was 7 quid, the driver refunded that & drove off because it had been cleared up. He didn't say anything back at base, you didn't ring them to ask for more compo (where there's blame, there's a claim, don't forget) & this is where things have stalled.

You must ring them & demand more. Tell them you know your rights.

Hope that helps.

Ashoething · 17/05/2013 16:53

PMSL at "isn't this forum supposed to be civil?"-quote of the week surely? You have been offered compensation op-your floor is fine.Move on and perhaps shop with Asda in future?

flanbase · 17/05/2013 16:54

It does come down to customer expectations and what is acceptable. To me having oil all over the kitchen floor would be a significant hassle and would take effort to clean. I'd expect the company to recognise that fact.

OwlLady · 17/05/2013 16:55

i would buy fillipo bereo, it comes in plastic bottles

JenaiMorris · 17/05/2013 16:56

£7 seems a little tight.

A bottle of oil all over the floor, plus glass, would take bloody ages to clean up. And I bet it got everywhere - I can see the need for towels.

£30 as a gesture of goodwill would seem reasonable, assuming your floor isn't actually damaged.

It doesn't matter that it was an accident. Back when I worked in hospitality, if someone had something tipped on them by a member of staff (accidentally!) they'd be compensated for the cost of cleaning and have been given at least a bottle of wine. I don't think this is much different.