Overcharged - advice needed

[rpm]

Danm phone! Tennant it's supposed to say tennant

Is a trip to specsavers due? lol

 

[kris]

At that prices I dare say repeat business is a defo no,

 

[REDSAW]

pay half under protest then let them contest it. if its valid and they can proove the contract from you then they will take it to small claims and even then the judge will see if its reasonable charge!

i would if i could proove you owe me £500 outstanding!
one things for sure they will not be out of pocket for 2hours work and 50 parts..and even then they would have to provide a sample charge for that day through invoices!!

 

[Ray Stafford]

If the tenant agreed to this price then I'm afraid you will struggle to recoup your losses. You probably won't get an accurate charge from people you ask on here as its impossible to quote without seeing the job. I think its probably fair to say its quite steep though.
James.

Unless you authorised the tenant to contract on your behalf with the plumber, you do not have any losses. Your tenant does.

pay half under protest then let them contest it.

I would strongly recommend against this. Unless the tenant was specifically authorised to deal as your agent, you have no part in this contract.

To make a part payment would run the risk of a judge construing that such an action joined to you the contract.

OP - can you make it clear whether the tenant was acting on their own, or with your permission? Your best course of action depends entirely on this fact.

 

[wetdrip]

Was it Wayne Rooney doing the job?

 

[drip-dry]

Unless you authorised the tenant to contract on your behalf with the plumber, you do not have any losses. Your tenant does.

I would strongly recommend against this. Unless the tenant was specifically authorized to deal as your agent, you have no part in this contract.

To make a part payment would run the risk of a judge construing that such an action joined to you the contract.

OP - can you make it clear whether the tenant was acting on their own, or with your permission? Your best course of action depends entirely on this fact.

if only life was so simple

the tenant will have signed an agreement in which they agree to take reasonable actions to protect and look after the property..if they had done nothing about the leak they would be liable to costs incurred....they took action in an emergency to protect the property, which they would be under contractual obligation to do so,they entering into a questionable contract but they would plead ignorance,as they are not aware of property maintenance costs,as not property owners and they were placed in a situation were their hands were tied if the landlord does not agree with their actions ,she should have made advanced arrangements and written it into the contract

the landlord has a contract with the tenants and the tenants have a contract with the contractor,as said unless a special clause set in the tenant..landlord contract..the landlord is liable...as emergency works..you discuss charge of works..can you imagine possible cost of repairs if works not carried out by call out....suddenly cost not so great .... but as said..these contractors are chancers...you may well get away with paying a % of the bill

 

[REDSAW]

I would strongly recommend against this.
OP - can you make it clear whether the tenant was acting on their own, or with your permission? Your best course of action depends entirely on this fact.

i would but i play poker so will call the bluff!!

 

[Dannypipe]

As much as us guys who can only dream of charging this (myself included) I think you have to pay the bill.

If the company have charged you their standard rate for the job (not some hiked up cost as they were trying it on) then that's their price. They were called in - they didn't turn up unannounced. They did the job. That's their cost. Learn a lesson and get a regular plumber in your phone who you can trust and doesn't charge crazy rates.

There is something about door to door selling, and disclaimers that may help you here. But others on the forum will know the details better than I.

 

[REDSAW]

As much as us guys who can only dream of charging this (myself included) I think you have to pay the bill.

If the company have charged you their standard rate for the job (not some hiked up cost as they were trying it on) then that's their price. They were called in - they didn't turn up unannounced. They did the job. That's their cost. Learn a lesson and get a regular plumber in your phone who you can trust and doesn't charge crazy rates.

There is something about door to door selling, and disclaimers that may help you here. But others on the forum will know the details better than I.

theres something about a cooling off period as well!!

 

[Masood]

There is something about door to door selling, and disclaimers that may help you here. But others on the forum will know the details better than I.

theres something about a cooling off period as well!!

Doorstep selling regs and the cooling off period don't apply in emergencies IIRC.

 

[Masood]

if only life was so simple

the tenant will have signed an agreement in which they agree to take reasonable actions to protect and look after the property..if they had done nothing about the leak they would be liable to costs incurred....they took action in an emergency to protect the property, which they would be under contractual obligation to do so,they entering into a questionable contract but they would plead ignorance,as they are not aware of property maintenance costs,as not property owners and they were placed in a situation were their hands were tied if the landlord does not agree with their actions ,she should have made advanced arrangements and written it into the contract

the landlord has a contract with the tenants and the tenants have a contract with the contractor,as said unless a special clause set in the tenant..landlord contract..the landlord is liable...as emergency works..you discuss charge of works..can you imagine possible cost of repairs if works not carried out by call out....suddenly cost not so great .... but as said..these contractors are chancers...you may well get away with paying a % of the bill

I'm absolutely certain that you're wrong on this drip-dry. The tenancy agreement will include a clause that the tenants are obliged to look after the property, yes. But not that they have authorisation to contract on the landlord's behalf.

I've been in a similar situation where a lettings agency refused to pay part of my invoice on the grounds that they could have had the job done cheaper (it was a Sunday callout and I charge double time). I took the legal route and was told that my contract existed solely with the tenant. They tenant ended up having to pay.

What a decent landlord / lettings agency will do is provide a 24-hour emergency number to a someone who can then call in trusted tradespeople as required. Not many of them do this, unfortunately.

 

[Leo21]

What about contesting for the time charged? Did they have to get parts? Where they an unreasonably long time collecting.
or perhaps your not happy with the quality of the work?

 

[stevetheplumber]

we did some work on a flat for a company we did a lot of rental work for and a couple of weeks after the tenants moved in they had a leak on a sunday and called an emergency plumber out for some exorbitant amount
the landlord who had over a properties and a big legal team tried to get it reduced
basicly the plumbing company said that their contracts which tenants sign is absolutely water tight and that they had been tested in court many times and they had never lost when his legal team went through it with a fine toothed comb they reluctantly had to agree and he had to pay
he then tried to charge us but we told him he should have called us to repair if it was our work and as we had only refilled the existing system it wasnt down to us

 

[Unregistered]

Thank you all so much for your responses - I really didn't expect so many.

Whilst I have learnt a very expensive lesson, I have been informed that trading standards are looking in to the company.

The charges also included them taking pictures of the leak and the work they had done which the tenant didn't ask for and therefore probably bringing us over the 1 and a half hour to cost another £200+, not including the time spent in the van looking for the parts!!

I will definitely be looking at checkatrade next time!

many thanks

 

[drip-dry]

I'm absolutely certain that you're wrong on this drip-dry. The tenancy agreement will include a clause that the tenants are obliged to look after the property, yes. But not that they have authorisation to contract on the landlord's behalf.

I've been in a similar situation where a lettings agency refused to pay part of my invoice on the grounds that they could have had the job done cheaper (it was a Sunday callout and I charge double time). I took the legal route and was told that my contract existed solely with the tenant. They tenant ended up having to pay.

What a decent landlord / lettings agency will do is provide a 24-hour emergency number to a someone who can then call in trusted tradespeople as required. Not many of them do this, unfortunately.

you are quite right,the contract is with the tenants,I said that in my first post

If you were not paid....,you would have to go for the tenant ,who you had the contract with and they would have to go for the landlord to get the money back through their contract with them

But if you had been paid..as in this case..you would just sit there and let them do the work and it is not as easy as explained for landlord

You say the agents would not pay the extra.that is them tying to cover there bums as they should of provided arrangements ,as we have said the landlord should have in this instanc

So they have got away with paying you the same as one of their contractors would have charged normally,......you agree because you want to get paid.....if you had been paid......they would not of won the argument in a court,,which is why most emergency work has to be paid then and there......

 

[Masood]

I will definitely be looking at checkatrade next time!

You would do a lot better, in my opinion, in posting your location on this forum.

Members here have a lot more to fear than bad customer feedback - criticism from their own peers is harder to dodge. Also no spurious positive feedback from friends and family, which allegedly goes on on some of the review sites...

 

[Mike Jackson]

Checkatrade actually vet the feedback so it's very difficult to get friends and family feedback. You also need to get constant feedback to stay near the top of the listings and consistent repeat feedback would look very suspicious.

 

[gasmanrob]

I fill out 2 check a trade things Now and again for a few mates never had a call from them to check I was a legitimate customer

 

[rpm]

You would do a lot better, in my opinion, in posting your location on this forum.

Members here have a lot more to fear than bad customer feedback - criticism from their own peers is harder to dodge. Also no spurious positive feedback from friends and family, which allegedly goes on on some of the review sites...

^ As above.
Better of having people you know and can trust> Plumber, decorator and sparky covers most if not all you need. I know of people on Checkatrade that really shouldn`t be on it.

 

[REDSAW]

wouldnt go there myself or any other 'pay to play' reference sites. too much false positives imo

 

[village idiot]

Thank you all so much for your responses - I really didn't expect so many.
I will definitely be looking at checkatrade next time!
many thanks

Check-a-trade fffftttt. I still fail to understand why people come on here for advice and help? If you really believe that members of this forum give you good advice, then what reason is there to go somewhere else to look for a tradesman/woman than ask on here??? When things go wrong, UKPF members should help explain, but UKPF members are not fit to be contacted in the first instance to do the job? Am I missing something?
OK, I agree the likes of Village Idiot should be avoided, but there are many other decent trades people on here. Why not use them? I think I need a drink now.

 

[rpm]

Check-a-trade fffftttt. I still fail to understand why people come on here for advice and help? If you really believe that members of this forum give you good advice, then what reason is there to go somewhere else to look for a tradesman/woman than ask on here??? When things go wrong, UKPF members should help explain, but UKPF members are not fit to be contacted in the first instance to do the job? Am I missing something?
OK, I agree the likes of Village Idiot should be avoided, but there are many other decent trades people on here. Why not use them? I think I need a drink now.

Been a bad day has it? lol

 

[WaterTight]

So if the consensus is that as long as you advertise your hilarious rates in advance then the customer must pay, why don't we all buy a pay-as-you-go mobile, trade under a name unaffiliated with your normal business, advertise as £150 per half hour emergency, put out some ads and wait for the occasional fish to bite and more than justify the whole adventure?

Is it just out of moral decency? Of course that is the primary adversion. But for me personally it would also include an inescapable feeling I would end up being prosecuted. So either that is paranoia or there is likely good grounds to contest work done even if price were accepted upfront.

"Do not expect to avoid judgment if you attempt to rob people with a false prospectus rather than a knife." Christopher Hitchens.