Whether as a consumer, a patient, an employee, a tenant, or simply a private person: in everyday life you will be involved in disputes sooner and more often than you would wish. And even when you are in the right, you still have to fight your corner. Consider the following situations:
- You rent a vacation home for three weeks. Unfortunately, when you get there you discover that it does not meet the terms of your contract at all. You now want to be reimbursed some of the money you paid out, but the company that rented you the apartment has no intention of paying up.
- You employ a painter and decorator to repaint the walls in your living room and are pleased with the results: the colour is just right. Unfortunately, the bill is far from perfect. The painter is asking for four times the amount specified in their quote – for no good reason. What now?
- One of your children has to go to the dentist. But the treatment didn't go as intended and you want the mistake rectified.
- You ask an employer you worked for until six months ago to provide you with a statement of your remaining entitlements. But your former employer fails to act. How can you claim your legal entitlements now?
- You are moving into a new apartment with your family and have already given up the old one. As you carry the first removal boxes into your new apartment, you realize that construction work is still under way and you can't move in. You and your family are forced to take up temporary accommodation in a hotel. But who will pay for it?
