Quick legal question re plumbers bill

[Psychobert]

Have just been chased by company A for a bill for £100 from October, (that I'd actually thought had been paid at the time as they took my card details when I phoned to make the appointment). However, the work they did was laughable - I'd given them the boiler's make and serial number, plus good description of what was wrong - the chap that turned up had never seen a boiler like this apparently, (its the same Baxi I had in my last flat so not exactly uncommon), hadn't been told what was wrong and basically all he did was to turn the pressure down - having got me to google for the instruction manual online. The receipt simply states 'boiler working, the pressure was too high'. The boiler wasn't reassembled properly, (the front cover had been taken off and wasn't put back correctly) and the guy gave his own card and suggested that I called him directly to sort further issues, (he'd recommended a full flush through of the system and quoted £250-300 for it). When I made the booking, I'd not realised it was an agency..

A couple of days later the same problem happened again, (no hot water or heating, sounded like a pogoing dwarf in hobnailed boots was inside the boiler) so I got a different company out who said the pressure was too low, sorted that and replaced a diverter value. All seems perfectly fine now.

So, the question quickly is where do I stand in telling company A where to stick their bill? Now I know its not been paid, as far as I'm concerned I don't think it should be as they did bugger all and didn't even do that properly..

[fadeaway]

I'm no solicitor, but I'd say you'll have a problem as you didn't complain or reject the work at the time.

[FraserLFA]

I'd have thought you should have contacted the first company to get them to re-do the work. However, if it was an emergency, tell them where to stick the bill if their work was faulty and that you won't pay due to shoddy workmanship. However, failing to contact them may have been a mistake. Not 100% sure, but i think i'm right

[skwdenyer]

Psychobert said:

Have just been chased by company A for a bill for £100 from October, (that I'd actually thought had been paid at the time as they took my card details when I phoned to make the appointment). However, the work they did was laughable - I'd given them the boiler's make and serial number, plus good description of what was wrong - the chap that turned up had never seen a boiler like this apparently, (its the same Baxi I had in my last flat so not exactly uncommon), hadn't been told what was wrong and basically all he did was to turn the pressure down - having got me to google for the instruction manual online. The receipt simply states 'boiler working, the pressure was too high'. The boiler wasn't reassembled properly, (the front cover had been taken off and wasn't put back correctly) and the guy gave his own card and suggested that I called him directly to sort further issues, (he'd recommended a full flush through of the system and quoted £250-300 for it). When I made the booking, I'd not realised it was an agency..

A couple of days later the same problem happened again, (no hot water or heating, sounded like a pogoing dwarf in hobnailed boots was inside the boiler) so I got a different company out who said the pressure was too low, sorted that and replaced a diverter value. All seems perfectly fine now.

So, the question quickly is where do I stand in telling company A where to stick their bill? Now I know its not been paid, as far as I'm concerned I don't think it should be as they did bugger all and didn't even do that properly..

Do you have anything from Company B to say that the pressure was too low? If so then I suggest you write a letter to Company A setting out something like:

sample said:

On XXX date I called your office to request a plumber. You asked for, and I provided, credit card details over the phone at the time of booking. I reasonably assumed that you would charge my credit card for the work. You also asked for, and I gave to you, information as to the nature of the fault and the make and model of my central heating boiler.

The technician attended. In my opinion he was neither professional nor competent, and certainly had not been informed of the nature of the fault or the make and model of my central heating boiler. In order to work, he required me to search on the internet for a manual for my boiler!

He decided that the pressure was too high, adjusted it, attempted to solicit me to deal with him directly (he left me his business card, and asked me to contact him directly in future rather than via yourselves), and left a ticket outlining the work done.

Frankly, I was horrified at the way he had proceeded but, believing this work to have been paid by credit card, I simply left it at that - I had neither the time nor the inclination to contact your company again.

When some days later my central heating boiler failed again in a seemingly-identical manner I took no time at all to reject the notion of contacting your company once again; instead I booked an alternate plumber to attend.

This new technician was thorough, and thoroughly professional. He first identified that that the water pressure was now too low (reduced by your technician, you'll recall) and, further, that diagnosed the true cause of the problem - a failed diverter valve. I was very happy with the service I received from this other company but, again, I had no time to waste on filing a complaint with yourselves.

You will, I'm sure, imagine my surprise at your recent communication. It seems that your lack of professionalism extends not only to supplying sub-standard plumbers, but to failing to collect monies using the credit card details you have already taken from me!

Now that you have elected to contact me, and since you have not been paid for the attempted repair by your technician, then I'm afraid that the following are now happening:

1. This debt is disputed on the grounds that the technician you supplied was incompetent.
2. Any authority - implied or otherwise - you may have had to charge my credit card for this work is now revoked.

Enclosed herewith please find a copy of the ticket supplied by your technician, along with the details of the - correct - work carried out by the second company I engaged to resolve this issue. I am also enclosing a photocopy of the business card left by your technician.

I look forward to hearing from you by return that you have cancelled your invoice.

That should put them on the back foot to justify the bill

[skwdenyer]

Psychobert said:

Have just been chased by company A for a bill for £100 from October, (that I'd actually thought had been paid at the time as they took my card details when I phoned to make the appointment). However, the work they did was laughable - I'd given them the boiler's make and serial number, plus good description of what was wrong - the chap that turned up had never seen a boiler like this apparently, (its the same Baxi I had in my last flat so not exactly uncommon), hadn't been told what was wrong and basically all he did was to turn the pressure down - having got me to google for the instruction manual online. The receipt simply states 'boiler working, the pressure was too high'. The boiler wasn't reassembled properly, (the front cover had been taken off and wasn't put back correctly) and the guy gave his own card and suggested that I called him directly to sort further issues, (he'd recommended a full flush through of the system and quoted £250-300 for it). When I made the booking, I'd not realised it was an agency..

A couple of days later the same problem happened again, (no hot water or heating, sounded like a pogoing dwarf in hobnailed boots was inside the boiler) so I got a different company out who said the pressure was too low, sorted that and replaced a diverter value. All seems perfectly fine now.

So, the question quickly is where do I stand in telling company A where to stick their bill? Now I know its not been paid, as far as I'm concerned I don't think it should be as they did bugger all and didn't even do that properly..

Do you have anything from Company B to say that the pressure was too low? If so then I suggest you write a letter to Company A setting out something like:

sample said:

On XXX date I called your office to request a plumber. You asked for, and I provided, credit card details over the phone at the time of booking. I reasonably assumed that you would charge my credit card for the work. You also asked for, and I gave to you, information as to the nature of the fault and the make and model of my central heating boiler.

The technician attended. In my opinion he was neither professional nor competent, and certainly had not been informed of the nature of the fault or the make and model of my central heating boiler. In order to work, he required me to search on the internet for a manual for my boiler!

He decided that the pressure was too high, adjusted it, attempted to solicit me to deal with him directly (he left me his business card, and asked me to contact him directly in future rather than via yourselves), and left a ticket outlining the work done.

Frankly, I was horrified at the way he had proceeded but, believing this work to have been paid by credit card, I simply left it at that - I had neither the time nor the inclination to contact your company again.

When some days later my central heating boiler failed again in a seemingly-identical manner I took no time at all to reject the notion of contacting your company once again; instead I booked an alternate plumber to attend.

This new technician was thorough, and thoroughly professional. He first identified that that the water pressure was now too low (reduced by your technician, you'll recall) and, further, that diagnosed the true cause of the problem - a failed diverter valve. I was very happy with the service I received from this other company but, again, I had no time to waste on filing a complaint with yourselves.

You will, I'm sure, imagine my surprise at your recent communication. It seems that your lack of professionalism extends not only to supplying sub-standard plumbers, but to failing to collect monies using the credit card details you have already taken from me!

Now that you have elected to contact me, and since you have not been paid for the attempted repair by your technician, then I'm afraid that the following are now happening:

1. This debt is disputed on the grounds that the technician you supplied was incompetent.
2. Any authority - implied or otherwise - you may have had to charge my credit card for this work is now revoked.

Enclosed herewith please find a copy of the ticket supplied by your technician, along with the details of the - correct - work carried out by the second company I engaged to resolve this issue. I am also enclosing a photocopy of the business card left by your technician.

I look forward to hearing from you by return that you have cancelled your invoice.

That should put them on the back foot to justify the bill

[Psychobert]

Arse

I did complain as soon as it failed again, and they finally got the guy to call me back - but way after I'd needed to get it sorted by someone who knew what they were doing.. My mistake was probably not doign it in writing - I thought they'd written it off as a bad job and I thought the bill had been paid so figured I'd not get it back from them..

Worth a ranting call to them when they next try to get hold of me..

[FraserLFA]

If you made a phone call i'd tell them to sod off as they failed to correct the situation within (as you saw it) a reasonable length of time. You can't go without hot water for a week or two whilst "bodge it and scarper" puts your address in to his satnav.

[skwdenyer]

Psychobert said:

Arse

I did complain as soon as it failed again, and they finally got the guy to call me back - but way after I'd needed to get it sorted by someone who knew what they were doing.. My mistake was probably not doign it in writing - I thought they'd written it off as a bad job and I thought the bill had been paid so figured I'd not get it back from them..

Worth a ranting call to them when they next try to get hold of me..

In that case, all the better; I've updated my have fun being arsey letter as below - it would be good to add in the timescales (how long did you wait for the call-back, for instance?):

sample said:

On XXX date I called your office to request a plumber. You asked for, and I provided, credit card details over the phone at the time of booking. I reasonably assumed that you would charge my credit card for the work. You also asked for, and I gave to you, information as to the nature of the fault and the make and model of my central heating boiler.

The technician attended. In my opinion he was neither professional nor competent, and certainly had not been informed of the nature of the fault or the make and model of my central heating boiler. In order to work, he required me to search on the internet for a manual for my boiler!

He decided that the pressure was too high, adjusted it, attempted to solicit me to deal with him directly (he left me his business card, and asked me to contact him directly in future rather than via yourselves), and left a ticket outlining the work done.

Frankly, I was horrified at the way he had proceeded but, believing this work to have been paid by credit card, I simply left it at that - I had neither the time nor the inclination to contact your company again to start a complaint at that time.

When some days later my central heating boiler failed again in a seemingly-identical manner I of course called your company again to complain about the recurrence of an allegedly-resolved fault, and was told that the original technician would be asked to call me back. I waited a considerable period of time for this promised call-back, in the mean time suffering without a functioning central heating boiler.

After I had heard nothing, rather than call you yet again, I booked an alternate plumber to attend.

This new technician was thorough, and thoroughly professional. He first identified that that the water pressure was now too low (reduced by your technician, you'll recall) and, further, that diagnosed the true cause of the problem - a failed diverter valve. I was very happy with the service I received from this other company but, again, I had no time to waste on filing a complaint with yourselves.

Eventually, your technician did call me back - after my replacement, professional, supplier had attended and properly repaired my boiler.

You will, I'm sure, imagine my surprise at your recent communication. It seems that your lack of professionalism extends not only to supplying sub-standard plumbers, but to failing to collect monies using the credit card details you have already taken from me!

Now that you have elected to contact me, and since you have not been paid for the attempted repair by your technician, then I'm afraid that the following are now happening:

1. This debt is disputed on the grounds that the technician you supplied was incompetent.
2. Any authority - implied or otherwise - you may have had to charge my credit card for this work is now revoked.

Enclosed herewith please find a copy of the ticket supplied by your technician, along with the details of the - correct - work carried out by the second company I engaged to resolve this issue. I am also enclosing a photocopy of the business card left by your technician.

I look forward to hearing from you by return that you have cancelled your invoice.

I wouldn't do any of this by telephone; make sure the facts are straight then pop a letter in the post.

[streaky]

Sounds typical for (a) combination boilers and (b) plumbers working through agencies.

Whatever, refuse to pay for shoddy work.

Streaky

PS - I'm sticking with my 40-year-old boiler (spares are easily available whatever a certain national gas company tries to tell me ... the last time they tried to pull the, "Can't get spares, you'll have to replace the boiler (at a cost of several thousand pounds)." scam I showed the 'engineer' the part he said was "required but unavailable" listed on a boiler-spares website and offered to call the supplier there and then. Unsuprisingly, he then found he had one in the back of his van. ). - S

PPS - I'm sticking with my old plumber and his mate - despite the plumber having housemaid's knee and not being Corgi (or whatever they're calling it today) registered. - S

[dirkgently]

The firm wasn't Able to do it ?

[andygo]

I'd get a replacement for the card you gave the details of when you booked the visit. They might just find the numbers and debit your card anyway.

[TomJS]

OP - do this by letter. That way you have a paper trail and they can't lie about anything that was said.

The sample letter is quite good. I'd use it OP.

[Psychobert]

Thanks, I'll try that letter.

I've swapped banks in between so any details they did have are no longer valid. If I'd realised it was an agency, I'd never have made the booking - have had nothing but troble with them in the past.