Non collected repairs

[Wobble]

We are a long established small specialist shop that has done out of house repairs for many years , we do not really advertise the fact we do repairs as this is not our primary line of work and only really do it due to it being requested . All repairs are done by a separate trusted individual who we have worked with for 30 + years

In the last few years we have seen an increase in repairs (electrical) not being collected , These are normally non repairable items or not worth repairing due to age of item and cost of repair . Such items are always spoken about verbally to the customer and either arranged to be picked up or destroyed,

We are now sitting on 8 items that are not worth repairing and all customers have been spoken to regarding them and all have agreed to pick up the items . some items have been sitting around now for about 4 months and customers spoken to more than 5 times regarding them .they still state they will collect items .

no fees are due as we don't charge to look into faults so nothing is owed to us .

These items are not small - 50 " Tvs , surround systems ect.

At what point is it reasonable to discard un-collected items ?

 

[Paul Norman]

I am not sure what the legal period would be, but I suspect that there is a need to clearly advise the clients in advance of intention to dispose of these items - a simple letter saying that collection must happen by a certain date, following which it will not be possible.

I would have thought that provided you are not unduly hasty - which you are not - about this, that would be sufficient.

 

[FarrellMackennon]

You don’t really want these items cluttering up your plumbing shop and it sounds like the customers aren’t too bothered about them either otherwise they would have come by and collected them. I would give them one more call each telling them they have to be picked up by a certain date otherwise they will be disposed of. Follow this up with a letter stating the same fact so everything is in writing. Then they have no come-back if they fail to collect.