Electrician cost my friend money

Froglet123 · 14 October 2016 at 11:30AM

Hi there

Posting on behalf of a friend.

She called out a local electrician to fix an issue with her property alarm. The electrician spent approx. 4 hours trying to fix it and then said she could not fix it so my friend would need to call BT.

BT engineer came out, walked in, unplugged something and said "fixed". He was extremely surprised that the electrician could not fix it, and said that he did not need to come out as it was a very simple fix.

The electrician has now sent an invoice for the hours they spent on site trying to fix it.

Two things

1. Can she invoice the electrician for the £130 BT callout fee? This was a totally unnecessary cost that she only incurred on their recommendation, when they should have been able to fix it anyway.
2. Should she be expected to pay the electrician's invoice?

Thanks in advance

Biggles · 14 October 2016 at 12:34PM

Why did she call an electrician for an alarm fault?

phill99 · 14 October 2016 at 12:59PM

She may as well have called a pharmacist or a make up artist as an electrician.

No she cannot charge the electrician the BT Call out fee. She should have called them initially. What did the electrician say about any call out fee.

Froglet123 · 14 October 2016 at 1:31PM

Sorry, to be clear...

She phoned the electrician for advice who said she would take a look at it for her. The electrician spent 4 hours looking at it, and decided she could not fix it.

The electrician did not say there would be a callout charge for BT.

Risteard · 14 October 2016 at 1:37PM

Froglet123 wrote: »

The electrician did not say there would be a callout charge for BT.

Probably because she doesn't work for BT. BT should have been asked about any call-out charge.

Of course the Electrician is owed money and is in no way responsible for BT's charges.

shaun_from_Africa · 14 October 2016 at 2:10PM

Froglet123 wrote: »

BT engineer came out, walked in, unplugged something and said "fixed". He was extremely surprised that the electrician could not fix it, and said that he did not need to come out as it was a very simple fix.

Was it a BT monitored alarm?
If so, it may well have been something plugged into a phone socket that was causing interference with the monitoring line.

If there was a problem with the BT equipment then they wouldn't normally have charged for the repair but as this doesn't sound like the case then they are well within their rights to make a charge.

TheCyclingProgrammer · 14 October 2016 at 3:08PM

The electrician is obviously entitled to be paid for his time to an extent and I would expect a call-out fee to be charged at least, but I think he's got a cheek billing for 4 hours time when he clearly didn't know what he was doing (or he would have fixed it).

I'd agree to pay half his bill at most. How can somebody spend 4 hours trying to fix something without realising they don't know how to fix it? He should have been honest and given up after the first hour.

Froglet123 · 14 October 2016 at 3:51PM

Thanks all for your input - i agree that the electrician should have realised straight away that she couldn't fix it!

You are also correct that something else was plugged into the phone line which was causing interference - this is what the BT engineer unplugged!

In response to people saying "why did she get an electrician in", I've been told by my friend that the phone company only cover issues outside of the premises (IE in the exchange, with the line etc), and she was advised to ask an electrician to look at internal wiring issues etc.

Also, having done some research online, the general consensus seems to be that a competent electrician will have some knowledge of phone lines and should be able to fit phone sockets, fix phone wiring etc.

rach_k · 14 October 2016 at 4:45PM

Was the problem internal wiring? I wouldn't personally consider 'something plugged in where it shouldn't be' a wiring issue, just a set-up problem with the alarm, but I'm not an electrician or alarm engineer. If not and that was what the electrician was called out to look at and she did, she is owed payment for her time. If I called out a roofer to look at damp but it turned out to be in internal plumbing issue, I would still need to pay the roofer for looking.

Biggles · 14 October 2016 at 5:58PM

Froglet123 wrote: »

In response to people saying "why did she get an electrician in", I've been told by my friend that the phone company only cover issues outside of the premises (IE in the exchange, with the line etc), and she was advised to ask an electrician to look at internal wiring issues etc.

I was really thinking of an alarm engineer - these things are a specialist area.

rach_k wrote: »

If I called out a roofer to look at damp but it turned out to be in internal plumbing issue, I would still need to pay the roofer for looking.

True, but I wouldn't expect to pay him for farting around for four hours, giving up, and charging the full whack as though he'd completed the job. I would have expected he'd have settled for a couple of hours max if he was out of his depth.

Electrician cost my friend money

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