Issue with tradesman and an invoice discrepancy
Discussion
So, a property I rented out had a leaking shower.
Company estimated it would take 1-2 hours max - bill roughly £150 quid.
I agreed that this sounded ok and let them proceed.
So today, they turned up at the property (I wasnt there) and they completed the work and demanded that the tenant pay almost double that.
Apparantly the job took 2 hours extra however for a 300quid job I may have enlisted somebody else.
Stupidly, my tenant paid the invoice to which I will reimburse him.
Where do I stand as I am annoyed as the bill is double what was estimated?
I know its not much but it just really pissed me off.
Company estimated it would take 1-2 hours max - bill roughly £150 quid.
I agreed that this sounded ok and let them proceed.
So today, they turned up at the property (I wasnt there) and they completed the work and demanded that the tenant pay almost double that.
Apparantly the job took 2 hours extra however for a 300quid job I may have enlisted somebody else.
Stupidly, my tenant paid the invoice to which I will reimburse him.
Where do I stand as I am annoyed as the bill is double what was estimated?
I know its not much but it just really pissed me off.
TEKNOPUG said:
Nowhere really I'm afraid.
Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
The thing is the tenant knew he was to consult me prior to the payment.Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
You know what, I think its bloody cheeky to quote for work and charge double, but thats just me.
Rags said:
TEKNOPUG said:
Nowhere really I'm afraid.
Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
The thing is the tenant knew he was to consult me prior to the payment.Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
You know what, I think its bloody cheeky to quote for work and charge double, but thats just me.
And I hate to say it but it sounds like you paid for 2 men to do the job instead of one?
Rags said:
TEKNOPUG said:
Nowhere really I'm afraid.
Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
The thing is the tenant knew he was to consult me prior to the payment.Put it down to experience. Don't use them again and tell tenants never to pay any tradesman on your behalf.
You know what, I think its bloody cheeky to quote for work and charge double, but thats just me.
Im about to get a plumber out to rod a drain as it causing issues with the ground floor flat... It came back to haunt us on tuesday when the ground floor flooded again.
The tennants agents rang up and said we can supply a plumber to look at it...
I told them they could ring me if they wanted but if I dont get the flat rate and quote the same as what the my plumber said then they can effoffski... they have said they will get the rate to £68 + vat so a little cheaper than mine.
I said I wanted it quoting and not estimating and I would pay the flat rate and nothing more and then they could go round asap and fix it.
All the have to do is get the pipe and clean the inside of it... can guarantee that if I didnt say what I had said a fee of £100+ would hit the mat.
The tennants agents rang up and said we can supply a plumber to look at it...
I told them they could ring me if they wanted but if I dont get the flat rate and quote the same as what the my plumber said then they can effoffski... they have said they will get the rate to £68 + vat so a little cheaper than mine.
I said I wanted it quoting and not estimating and I would pay the flat rate and nothing more and then they could go round asap and fix it.
All the have to do is get the pipe and clean the inside of it... can guarantee that if I didnt say what I had said a fee of £100+ would hit the mat.
TEKNOPUG said:
Add it to the tenants rent seeing as they cost you £150 extra?
Why? What did they do wrong?£300 for 4 hours work? Bloody Hell!!!
Call them and ask them:
1) for a breakdown of why the job took double the estimated time
2) why they didn't have the courtesy to give you a call to discuss that the job had doubled in size
B17NNS said:
TEKNOPUG said:
Add it to the tenants rent seeing as they cost you £150 extra?
Why? What did they do wrong?£300 for 4 hours work? Bloody Hell!!!
Call them and ask them:
1) for a breakdown of why the job took double the estimated time
2) why they didn't have the courtesy to give you a call to discuss that the job had doubled in size
Rags said:
The thing is the tenant knew he was to consult me prior to the payment.
As a landlord I would not have left it to the tenant to deal with, I would have been there myself. I have been in similar situations recently myself, £900+ repair car bill being just one recent situation. I now try to carry out all repairs at my rented properties myself, and certainly plumbing repairs can take much longer than one at first thought.
The guys are charging a good (high) hourly rate there.
We called a plumber to look at a blocked toilet in the house of an old lady we keep an eye on. Two of them turned up at 4PM on a Friday before a bank holidy weekend and were there for 6 hours.
She'd dropped a small glass down a single syphonic pan toilet and it had got wedged underneath the trap. Of course the pan was concreted in and I'm astonished they got it out without breaking it.
I was dreading the bill thinking it was going to be £500+ and nearly fell over when they asked for £150. Gave them a cheque for £195 and £20 beer money.
We called a plumber to look at a blocked toilet in the house of an old lady we keep an eye on. Two of them turned up at 4PM on a Friday before a bank holidy weekend and were there for 6 hours.
She'd dropped a small glass down a single syphonic pan toilet and it had got wedged underneath the trap. Of course the pan was concreted in and I'm astonished they got it out without breaking it.
I was dreading the bill thinking it was going to be £500+ and nearly fell over when they asked for £150. Gave them a cheque for £195 and £20 beer money.
Deva Link said:
How did the tenant pay? If it was a cheque they could stop it if there's still time.
What a lot of people don't know is that stopping a cheque can leave you at the wrong end of legal action.The law sees the payment as a different issue, and in effect with a cheque a different contract to the work.
Therefore if the person who has the stopped cheque wants to they can get an automatic win in court to which there is no defence (unless an obvious mistake or fraud)- no matter how bad the work might be.
Quote or estimate
Contact you directly if £ varies from agreed - for authority to proceed
You pay and not tenantAgree that you should not "dock" the tenant
I tell tradesmen that I am hard work - we use the good old fashioned "shake on it" and I seldom have any issues. Any variation is agreed with me or they know that they will not get paid.
We all live and learn.
Let me just clarify.
I was clear with the tenant not to pay however I was not contactable (was in a meeting) and the tradesman couldnt stay for eternity - these tenants are actually decent people so no point in making a fuss about this - was a one off.
Anyway, having looked at the bill, not all of it was hourly rates - some of it was materials.
Having spoken to the guy, he was alright about it and we agreed to meet halfway as he did do some extra work (sealing the waste pipe).
It was one of those situations where I understand the extra charges as you can say its almost 'unforeseen' work.
Satisfied with the outcome.
I was clear with the tenant not to pay however I was not contactable (was in a meeting) and the tradesman couldnt stay for eternity - these tenants are actually decent people so no point in making a fuss about this - was a one off.
Anyway, having looked at the bill, not all of it was hourly rates - some of it was materials.
Having spoken to the guy, he was alright about it and we agreed to meet halfway as he did do some extra work (sealing the waste pipe).
It was one of those situations where I understand the extra charges as you can say its almost 'unforeseen' work.
Satisfied with the outcome.
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