Electrician Charges

[its hot]

250 day is a good wage in my book think ive said my views on this thread now will sit back and see where it all goes
one thing i have learnt in this life greed is the downfall of many a person by the way im available for telephone consultations just £90 for a ten min consultation lol

[HotJambalaya]

without getting involved with all the other stuff, as a comparison, I've had a sparky in central london for about 5.5 hours and I've been told I'm on about £300 + vat right now. So yours seems pretty pricey.

[oilydan]

Right, I have an update so let's not let this descend into a 'How much are Electricians worth' thread.

This is about a company, who happen to employ electricians, possibly wrongfully charging for work.

To recap:

Quote given for 3 items; adjusting some fittings/appliances, Changing some sockets, and a suspected split/joined main bonding.

Quote was 360 plus VAT.

On the day the engineer added a bonding to both the AGA and boiler oil lines which might as well have been the same wire as they originate and terminate in the same place.

Changed a socket back box and possibly a couple of socket faces.

AGA line bonding and backbox were invoiced as additional items - fair enough. 70 quid.

Also the 360 was invoiced 'as per quotation'.

I disputed that the main bonding work was done - they got back to me and say it was remedied by adding the boiler oil line bonding. This boiler oil line bonding was not mentioned in the initial inspection of the property, missed or overlooked but easy to see there was not one considering the lines for the AGA and boiler are an inch apart.

I request a full breakdown of the invoice, including the 3 quoted items. What was done and where. Knowing full well that they dont really have a substantial answer for the first 2 quoted items, and the split main bonding was not worked on at all (given that the problem does not exist).

They refuse to supply the breakdown and insist the work was done as per quotation, requesting payment.

I have replied, not accepting and re-requesting the full breakdown.

Question 1: Is substituting in the invoice the fitting of an oil line bonding for the boiler for the work on the suspected split/joined main bonding quoted acceptable. As I understand it the main bonding is a completely different entity to the oil line bondings?

Question 2: If I refuse to pay, based on this, what would/could their next course of action be? Selling the debt? Small claims?

Question 3: If small claims, do I have a leg? If baliffs, what happens then?

Do I need to lawyer-up now?

[Neil - YVM]

oilydan said:

Right, I have an update so let's not let this descend into a 'How much are Electricians worth' thread.

This is about a company, who happen to employ electricians, possibly wrongfully charging for work.

To recap:

Quote given for 3 items; adjusting some fittings/appliances, Changing some sockets, and a suspected split/joined main bonding.

Quote was 360 plus VAT.

On the day the engineer added a bonding to both the AGA and boiler oil lines which might as well have been the same wire as they originate and terminate in the same place.

Changed a socket back box and possibly a couple of socket faces.

AGA line bonding and backbox were invoiced as additional items - fair enough. 70 quid.

Also the 360 was invoiced 'as per quotation'.

I disputed that the main bonding work was done - they got back to me and say it was remedied by adding the boiler oil line bonding. This boiler oil line bonding was not mentioned in the initial inspection of the property, missed or overlooked but easy to see there was not one considering the lines for the AGA and boiler are an inch apart.

I request a full breakdown of the invoice, including the 3 quoted items. What was done and where. Knowing full well that they dont really have a substantial answer for the first 2 quoted items, and the split main bonding was not worked on at all (given that the problem does not exist).

They refuse to supply the breakdown and insist the work was done as per quotation, requesting payment.

I have replied, not accepting and re-requesting the full breakdown.

Question 1: Is substituting in the invoice the fitting of an oil line bonding for the boiler for the work on the suspected split/joined main bonding quoted acceptable. As I understand it the main bonding is a completely different entity to the oil line bondings?

Question 2: If I refuse to pay, based on this, what would/could their next course of action be? Selling the debt? Small claims?

Question 3: If small claims, do I have a leg? If baliffs, what happens then?

Do I need to lawyer-up now?

The bonding is likely to be the same for both.

If you refuse to pay at all, and they take you to court via small claims , you will almost certainly lose. As there is no fault with the work they have done, and they are entitled to be paid for the work they have done.

If you pay them now what you feel is the correct amount, i.e less than their invoice, but a fair amount, then there is 1. a very good chance they will not pursue it, 2. If they do, there is a good chance the judge would see that you have acted fairly, and you may win. (In truth once it gets down to tens of pounds its not worth anybodies time to go through the legal route).

[oilydan]

I'm quite happy to pay for the work done, but they have not invoiced for the work done, only the work quoted.

They will not provide the breakdown in order for us to determine correctly the amount that they should be invoicing. Their avoidance of providing this breakdown leads me to believe that they know they have tried to pull a fast one and are too ashamed/embarrassed/stubborn/crooked to admit it.

[LookAtMyCat]

oilydan said:

Quote was 360 plus VAT.

oilydan said:

Do I need to lawyer-up now?

Remind to ask any of my future customers whether they are PH members....

Two scenarios are likely:

1) You challenge. They walk away because frankly £400 isn't even worth chasing. I recently walked away from £850 because I couldn't be arsed with it (although, I should add, I was completely in the right).

2) You challenge. They take you to small claims. They quoted, you accepted. If the work on the quote was carried out, to a good standard, you will lose.

It's only £400. You could be 'that guy' and just offer them £300 and be done with it and they'll prob take it. Whatever happens; just hope they're not a certain type otherwise you could wake up with 4 flat tyres/expanding foam in annoying places/sausages in your lawn....

[TA14]

oilydan said:

I'm quite happy to pay for the work done, but they have not invoiced for the work done, only the work quoted.

This appears to be very simple, just:

Neil - YVM said:

If you pay them now what you feel is the correct amount, i.e less than their invoice, but a fair amount, then there is 1. a very good chance they will not pursue it, 2. If they do, there is a good chance the judge would see that you have acted fairly, and you may win. (In truth once it gets down to tens of pounds its not worth anybodies time to go through the legal route).

£200??

[Neil - YVM]

TA14 said:

oilydan said:

I'm quite happy to pay for the work done, but they have not invoiced for the work done, only the work quoted.

This appears to be very simple, just:

Neil - YVM said:

If you pay them now what you feel is the correct amount, i.e less than their invoice, but a fair amount, then there is 1. a very good chance they will not pursue it, 2. If they do, there is a good chance the judge would see that you have acted fairly, and you may win. (In truth once it gets down to tens of pounds its not worth anybodies time to go through the legal route).

£200??

Without fully knowing the details, I would have suggested £360 + vat. They didn't complete all the work quoted, but did do some additional work, so pay the original quoted and agreed amount.

[Alucidnation]

I'm totally confused by the problem here!