Patricia Harris slams Bunnings Oxenford over reluctance to settle on car park trailer damage

Out of pocket and left with injuries, a mum has accused hardware giant Bunnings of being and “greedy” over a response to an alleged incident at one of their stores.

They sold themselves for years with the slogan “lowest prices are just the beginning”.

Now a Gold Coast mum says hardware giant Bunnings is showing similar thriftiness in its efforts to settle a claim following an incident at its Oxenford store.

Patricia Harris’s car was damaged after a trailer she hired at the outlet came loose and struck her vehicle as she left the carpark on November 7.

Trailer wedged under Trish Harris's car after an incident at Bunnings Oxenford.

The trailer wedged under Trish Harris's car at Bunnings Oxenford.

“I go out the rear exit and as I turned to go over the speed hump and turn left there’s this almighty jolt and bang and then a second bang, and you know straight away, the trailer’s just hit the car,” she said.

“It was a really hard jolt.

“I stopped the car and got out – and the trailer was right underneath the car.”

The incident allegedly caused damage to the underside of Ms Harris’s car and left her suffering back pain.

It has also caused her major inconvenience because she is in the midst of moving house.

Ms Harris says Bunnings are liable, because a staff member hooked up the trailer to her car.

“As soon as I backed the car up to the trailer, before I’ve even turned the car off, he’s hooking the trailer up and everything,” she said.

“He just said to me, ‘she’s all hooked up, off you go’.”

Ms Harris sent Bunnings estimates totalling $2596.97 from a smash repairer, her physio and for a hire car she will need while her vehicle is being repaired.

Her car is not booked in with the smash repairer until December 7 – the earliest she could get it seen to.

She fears she may incur more costs at this point.

“The smash repairer made it clear that once they pulled the bumpers and all that off they could find more damage,” she said.

“There could be more under there.”

Trish Harris outside her Coomera home with her car. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

In response, Bunnings offered Ms Harris $2000 “as a gesture of goodwill” made “without prejudice and without admission of liability”.

To receive the $2000, Ms Harris was asked to sign an agreement stating that the payment represented “full and final settlement of any claims against Bunnings” arising from the “alleged incident”.

Bunnings regional operations manager Jason Doyle told the Bulletin the company was sorry for the inconvenience caused.

“We are aware of an incident that occurred at our Oxenford store recently, where some damage was caused to a customer’s car by a hire trailer,” he said.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to Ms Harris. Bunnings has offered to pay the cost of the damages, to the value of the repair quote she provided, along with covering further out of pocket expenses.”

However Ms Harris accused Bunnings of being “cold hearted” and “greedy”.

“I said to them that ($2000) doesn’t even cover what I’ve already paid and basic repairs, not to mention the stuff we don’t know about,” she said.

“And they’ve said, no, we’re not giving you anything extra and we’re not taking responsibility.

“Is this really what Bunnings wants to do?”

Follow @keithjwoods