Should I Pay This Bill?

Jo-anneFeesey

Hi, I'm hoping that you may be able to offer some advice. I am in the process of trying to buy a new house and after the survey report decided that it would be prudent to arrange for an electrician to look over the electrics as I believed that they were old and the house would therefore require re-wiring (also it looks as though the current owner has tried a bit of DIY on the electrics and was therefore concerned about safety). Having spoken to the electrician on the telephone he agreed to look at the electrics at the property for me and let me know what he thought and quote for a re-wire if he thought it was needed. Having looked at the property he told my husband on the phone that the property did need re-wiring and raised other issues. The issue I have is that on receiving a written report of his findings and his estimate for the re-wire he also included a bill for £58 which is based on two hours work (to include the time spent typing the short report and bill) at £50 plus £8 VAT. Although I have no problem with people charging for this kind of work I am wondering if I should be asked to pay this as at no time did he indicate to me or my husband that he intended to charge for the work and so the first we knew was when a bill arrived. Can, and should, he do this and should I pay? If I had known in advance that he was intending to charge I would have arranged for someone else to look at the electrics who would given a free estimate. I don't know if there is a rule on this but your advice would be helpful so I can decide how best to respond to the bill.

Noel80

Odd one this. I thought most tradesmen did quotes for free.

I'd pay the bill (you have used his services afterall) but inform him that you will be asking someone else to do the work Someone who doesn't take the mick by charging for quotes!

Don't write anything nasty. Just say you were surprised and disappointed to given a bill when he had made no mention of any charge.

Poppycat

Ask him you are prepared to pay the bill for a quote but that when it comes to work would he be prepared to knock off the bill for the previous quote.

I would be a little unsure know though that he can be trusted. Surely he should have said that it will cost

Put it another way when I bought my house in Feb 07 we had a survey which picked up potential problems with the roof having some infestation sometime in the past. We got a quote from a firm which was free fair enough it would have taken them as long as 2 hours.

baldelectrician

This is an old 'chestnut' - when to charge and when not to charge

Jo public expects tradespeople to come out and give them years of knowlege and hand a written report in all free of charge.

Jo tradesperson can spend 2-3 nights a week quoting and writing up reports, and expects paid for some of this time.

I (in my prescence as an electrical contractor) spell this out on my webite:
I don't like putting links to my site as I am not here to advertise, but I feel this is relevant to this post (feel free to remove link moderators)
http://www.baldelectrician.com/termsandconditions/termsandconditions.htm

I spell this out for the reasons detailed on my site, but generally I find this a percuiliar thing- sites (like this) ask you to get 3 written quotes, but these should be free quotes.

I don't generally do free written quotes (but I am happy to pop in if I am passing and give my verbal opinion, free of charge)

To sum up - you asked for work to be done (limited inspection and written report) from an electrician.
You seem to expect this chap to work for free.
I totally agree this chap should of informed you there would be a charge prior to coming out, but this is his error.

I think the electrician could have handled it better, but to put things in perspective:
How would you feel if your boss said you were not getting paid for the last 2 hours of your 10 hour day?

Most people have household and fuel bills to pay.

Sooler

The electrician did an inspection which you asked for in addition to a quote for rewiring. He's sent you a quote for the rewire and a report of the inspection findings.

His inspection found aditional issues. These issues you would not be aware of if he just gave a quote for rewiring.

I'd say it's fair for him charge for his time and expertise ... although is 2 hours work realistic for what he's done? Has he managed to stretch it out to 61 minutes work? Challenge him on the time charged for, see if he'll reduce it to 1 hour.

Pay the bill and give the work to someone else - be wiser in future.

Jo-anneFeesey

Thank you for your replies.

The survey was actually just a mortgage survey but it did pick up on various issues with the house (i.e. electrics, active woodworm in the loft, old back boiler central heating system which was suggested should be updated, plant life growing out of the chimney - as well as other things!).

I had asked the electrician to go in to the property and have a look around. I didn't actuially ask for a written report, just his opinion on the electrics and a quote for the work (the quote being £3000 to £4000 to re-wire) as I was obtaining all the quotes for the various anticipated work in the hope that I would be able to negotiate a new purchase price with the seller.

Had I asked for a written report then fair enough but he is billing me for a report that I didn't actually ask for and even then, surely it would be justified to have expected him to let me know first?

baldelectrician

The electrician seems to be partly taking the mickey.
You did ask his professional opinion - I refer to my previous post on free working.

He has not done his reputation any favours, and you have learned to ask if there will be any costs prior to engaging someone for work.

kennyboy66_2

"You are in the process of buying a house" & "
You can hardly expect him to provide a free estimate when you don't even own the property yet.
You will pay a higher labour charge when you see an itemised solicitors bill for things like photocopying & typing.
"prudent to arrange for an electrician to look over the electrics".
He is charging you because you asked for an inspection. £50 is more than reasonable.

woodbutcher_2

Seems fair to me,especially if it was for a survey.The quote for works is a different issue but i agree that he should have told you this upfront to avoid confusion.I used to pay for an electrical and gas test yearly when i rented out a house.Didn't take two hours but was £35.00 + vat for each.

On another note,i often spend ages working out quotes and don't get the job.No -one pays me for them.

jcorbygas

As a previous poster said, if we were told that a customer was buying a house and wanted to see what the heating system was like prior to buying we would charge a fee for writing a report. However, we would have told the customer a price first. If however,the customer owned the property and wanted a quote for the work to be done, we would not charge.
I think you will have to pay the bill and learn for the future.
This is why it is hard work being self employed and customers expecting a qualified tradesmans time and expertise for nothing. (and a secretary working for nothing to type up the reports).

woodbutcher_2

To put some perspective on it.Just been to the dentist.5 min check up £28.00.5 min scale and polish(which i never asked for but she's the expert) another £28.00.

There seems to be a thinking in this country that tradesmen should give their time for free.Most quotes in my circumstances are done at night when i have already done a days work.In no other walk of life does this seem to happen.

Barristers even charge thinking time if they have been mulling over a case in their own time.

I'm not having a go at the original poster but i don't think people realise what running a business entails.