Electrician Company Threatening Court

MoneyAdvice · 16 October 2017 at 1:51PM

Earlier this year, about six months ago, my support worker helped me arrange an electrical company to install my electric cooker. They were only on site for around 5-10 minutes and then left because they were unable to perform the job due to (reported) missing parts on the cooker. Personally I think they were just incompetent because another electrician installed the cooker without any issues.

When I contacted the electrician company (former), they said they were going to bill my card and then send me invoice, even after I requested that I'd like to be invoiced first. So I immediately cancelled the card.

Seven months later, I received an invoice with a payment demand. So I forwarded this on to the debt advisors at my local autism centre, who said they would take over liaising from here. A month later (last week), the electrician company sends another demand and threatens court action.

I know your advice will be to talk to the debt advisor, but my question is will this electrician company actually go to court for £126.00?

Some Key information about me:

I have Asperger's Syndrome / Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I have an Autism support worker and I'm on ESA & PIP.

Before anyone judges, I am unable to work due to sensory issues that my brain experiences, which is why I'm on PIP.

sourcrates · 16 October 2017 at 2:50PM

Hi,

My son is autistic, so i can sympathize with you on this.

Quiet often a company will threaten legal action as a means to get payment from you, even if they did, you will have a chance to put your side of the case, submit a defense, and the matter would be dealt with accordingly.

I have hardwired many electric cookers in my time, it takes, as you say, around 5 mins to do, usually a simple job, certainly not worth £126 in my opinion.

Dont worry about court action, you don't actually have to go to a court, normally, its all done online and by post, unless its decided to have a hearing.

But i don't`t think it will come to that, your debt advisor is the best person to deal with this matter, i would dispute the size of the bill, as they never actually carried out any work, all you really owe them is a call out charge, in my opinion, no more than £50.

National_Debtline · 16 October 2017 at 4:32PM

Hi Money Advice,

I think it would be worth contacting your debt advisor again, as the best thing to do is try and resolve this before the risk of court action. I would suggest asking for a breakdown of the £126 and copy of their code of practice/ billing information etc. I suspect this bills includes some kind of standardise call out charge and possibly another charge because they couldn't take the payment. Beyond that I couldn't say how they are justifying this bill, and I agree that is an expensive bill for the service you received.

You could speak to the Citizen's Advice Consumer Service - 0345 404 05 06 to discuss the situation in more detail. Make sure that the communication is done in writing, keep copies of everything sent and make sure everything is sent recorded delivery. Good luck,

Laura
@natdebtline

[Deleted User] · 16 October 2017 at 10:16PM

Hi OP gosh I have bought electric cookers for £100 that included delivery and connection, so yes they are ripping you off and if they didn't do the job then they shouldn't be asking for payment, as above speak to you advisors and make sure they understand the job wasn't done.

Marktheshark · 16 October 2017 at 10:23PM

Advise them that the contract was for completed task and they were unable to complete the task due to incompetence and therefore the contract was unfulfilled.
The fact a second Electrician was able to complete the task within ten minutes without any issues strengthens the position that they were not only incompetent but unable to fulfil a simple basic contractual task.

StopIt · 17 October 2017 at 8:24AM

If you're unable to, get your support worker to send them a stern letter stating that they cannot bill you for work that they failed to do.

As Marktheshark says, use the 2nd electrician to prove this. get them to write a letter saying there was no issue with the cooker that wasn't solvable by a competent engineer, and the initial installer failed in their work, so you're not liable for their time.

They're literally trying to prey on the vulnerable here, so don't let them get away with it.

Electrician Company Threatening Court

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