Would you be annoyed if.....
Discussion
To start with i'd just like to say our neighbours are very lovely people, look after the cats while we're away etc, they both work from home, she makes blinds/curtains/dresses etc etc and he does the paperwork side of the business.
Anyway we've been slowly doing up the house and got to the stage where we wanted to get some new blinds for the kitchen (kitchen window, back door half height on the door, then full length on the glass side) nd we approached them to do it.
They came over, had a couple of drinks with us, measured up and a couple of days later told us to order x amount of fabric.
We did this, got it in, popped it round to there's asked how much it would all be etc. Got the usual response oh Andy does that side of stuff i'll get him to let you know blah, blah. Blinds will be ready in 6 weeks or so. Told them no rush as we got the impression they were doing us a bit of a favour. 6 weeks came and went with no news, after about 8 weeks bumped into her outside who said they were nearly ready, week 9 I get a phone call saying as they still have a spare key could they pop by the next afternoon while we were at work and fit them.
No problem for us, so we agreed. Got home and still no bill. Week or so later get a phone call asking what we thought of them and that they wanted to pop in and tweak one of the fixing slightly. I said no problem let us know when you want to do it but heard nothing from them.
Fast forward to Sunday (around 4 weeks since the blinds went in) I fitted a blind to the lounge window, last night there was a knock on the door and our neighbour outside with out spare key and our "invoice" dated 9th Dec.
Said thank you very much blah blah, went back inside opened it and nearly fell to the floor. The bill is £385!!!!!
If we'd have known it would be this much we'd have got pricing for different options and/or waited. We asked them numerous times how much it was going to be and each time we got fobbed off, it had got to the stage where we thought they were a wedding present (got married in July).
In all honestly it's (apparently) not that bad considering that is for 3 custom made blinds including blackout lining etc (we supplied the main fabric) but i'm still a bit miffed.
Now in the spirit of keeping neighbourly relations upbeat we'll pay the bill (just glad we didn't go with the original plan of getting them do a blind for the lounge as well) but there is no way we can pay it all in my go this side of Christmas.
There are no payment terms on the invoice - anything to stop us paying in installments do you think?
I think they've seen the new (wooden slat) blind in the lounge and then remembered they hadn't invoiced us.
What's the PH view point? I was very tempted to go stomping round there to make a scene. Don't want it to affect our long term relationship with them as we have to live so close but it's p
d me right off.
Grrr!
Anyway we've been slowly doing up the house and got to the stage where we wanted to get some new blinds for the kitchen (kitchen window, back door half height on the door, then full length on the glass side) nd we approached them to do it.
They came over, had a couple of drinks with us, measured up and a couple of days later told us to order x amount of fabric.
We did this, got it in, popped it round to there's asked how much it would all be etc. Got the usual response oh Andy does that side of stuff i'll get him to let you know blah, blah. Blinds will be ready in 6 weeks or so. Told them no rush as we got the impression they were doing us a bit of a favour. 6 weeks came and went with no news, after about 8 weeks bumped into her outside who said they were nearly ready, week 9 I get a phone call saying as they still have a spare key could they pop by the next afternoon while we were at work and fit them.
No problem for us, so we agreed. Got home and still no bill. Week or so later get a phone call asking what we thought of them and that they wanted to pop in and tweak one of the fixing slightly. I said no problem let us know when you want to do it but heard nothing from them.
Fast forward to Sunday (around 4 weeks since the blinds went in) I fitted a blind to the lounge window, last night there was a knock on the door and our neighbour outside with out spare key and our "invoice" dated 9th Dec.
Said thank you very much blah blah, went back inside opened it and nearly fell to the floor. The bill is £385!!!!!
If we'd have known it would be this much we'd have got pricing for different options and/or waited. We asked them numerous times how much it was going to be and each time we got fobbed off, it had got to the stage where we thought they were a wedding present (got married in July).
In all honestly it's (apparently) not that bad considering that is for 3 custom made blinds including blackout lining etc (we supplied the main fabric) but i'm still a bit miffed.
Now in the spirit of keeping neighbourly relations upbeat we'll pay the bill (just glad we didn't go with the original plan of getting them do a blind for the lounge as well) but there is no way we can pay it all in my go this side of Christmas.
There are no payment terms on the invoice - anything to stop us paying in installments do you think?
I think they've seen the new (wooden slat) blind in the lounge and then remembered they hadn't invoiced us.
What's the PH view point? I was very tempted to go stomping round there to make a scene. Don't want it to affect our long term relationship with them as we have to live so close but it's p
d me right off. Grrr!
Edited by pmanson on Wednesday 10th December 14:01
hugoagogo said:
you should really have found out how much they'd be before going ahead, eh?
With hindsight without a doubt, but if you can't trust your neighbours who can you trust.We asked both of them many times to give us an estimate but nothing was forthcoming.
Edited by pmanson on Wednesday 10th December 14:03
Annoying but as they charge this amount to everyone for their services, maybe they just thinbk it is normal. Do you think their agenda is to rip you off?
A mate of mine had a similar expereince with a friend of his who owns a hi-fi shop.
He asked him to order a HDMI cable with a max' price of £75. He said he'd sort it. three weeks later he was invoiced for £140 worth of cable.
He paid so as not to offend
A mate of mine had a similar expereince with a friend of his who owns a hi-fi shop.
He asked him to order a HDMI cable with a max' price of £75. He said he'd sort it. three weeks later he was invoiced for £140 worth of cable.
He paid so as not to offend
Edited by Pferdestarke on Wednesday 10th December 14:38
illmonkey said:
You are complaining about a fairly reasonable price, when you didn't ask for a indication or fixed charge to begin with?
We asked them many times for an indication of what the cost would be and would have quite happily paid cash or whatever they wanted but never got an answer from them. illmonkey said:
Take this one, but learn from it. Dont piss your neighbours off.
Lesson has been learnt, just not sure how you avoid it in the future. illmonkey said:
They done the work AND fitted, which they probably will charge anyone else £100.
True, I just find it a bit insulting that they created the invoice 2 days after another blind had been fitted by myself and 4 weeks after the work had been completed. Seems an odd way to run a business.
It's on the board of one of life's lessons and not a mistake i'll be repeating.
In the interests of neighbourly relations I'd probably pay it (I'm a bit soft). Considering it took so long for them to invoice I don't see that they can push for immediate payment so given that money is a bit tight you could pay half now. Explain that the other half will be forthcoming shortly because money is tight and you didn't expect it to be so much but don't make a big thing about it. After you pay them off next year everything will be normal and think of the cash you save on cattery bills.
Pferdestarke said:
Annoying but as they charge this amount to everyone for their services, maybe they just thinbk it is normal. Do you think their agenda is to rip you off?
Not at all, they are a very nice couple just wasn't expected a bill like that so close to Christmas.Pferdestarke said:
He paid so as not to offend
As will we. 
Sheepy said:
pmanson said:
hugoagogo said:
you should really have found out how much they'd be before going ahead, eh?
With hindsight without a doubt, but if you can't trust your neighbours who can you trust.
t, I saw that in the garage the other day and was going to drop it off but I got dragged up to MK to go shopping. Sorry mate - will get it sorted.
pmanson said:
Sheepy said:
pmanson said:
hugoagogo said:
you should really have found out how much they'd be before going ahead, eh?
With hindsight without a doubt, but if you can't trust your neighbours who can you trust.t, I saw that in the garage the other day and was going to drop it off but I got dragged up to MK to go shopping. Sorry mate - will get it sorted.
Weekend is your best betesselte said:
pmanson said:
Seems an odd way to run a business.
Don't take this the wrong way,no offence meant but if you wanted "mate's rates" then why would you want them to be "business like"?Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff