Plumber Unfair Invoice How to handle it!

graemeinfo

Hello All,

I have a property which is rented out. Recentley I instructed an authorised plumbing and heating company to do a Gas Safety check. All was fine and I paid the bill. The day after the tennant contacted me to say that the shower was running constantly hot and there were some problems with the heating system.

I rang the company and was put through to the owner who agresivley denied that the check would cause these problems. I asked him to visit the tennant to see what was wrong and he agreed.

I heard no more until the tennant sent me a messaging saying all was fixed about week later. I have now recieved a bill for work undertaken to fix the shower a total of £47. I contacted the comapny and asked why they had charged me when all I wanted to know was what was wrong. Again the very aggresive owner said this was a call out charge which all of his customers know about. This is complete rubbish and no one at any stage communicated this charge to me nor did I authorise any work.

The question is where do I stand now. Am I forced to pay for something I never ordered? I am tempted not to pay but dont want to have them taking legal action.

Any thoughts on what I should do next, I do not like being ripped off.

dopester

graemeinfo wrote: »

Am I forced to pay for something I never ordered? I am tempted not to pay but dont want to have them taking legal action.

The plumber went around a 2nd time and also fixed the problem, and you're getting into a frenzy over just a £47 charge of call out and fix. You should be thanking the plumber/engineer imo.

pramsay13

dopester wrote: »

The plumber went around a 2nd time and also fixed the problem, and you're getting into a frenzy over just a £47 charge of call out and fix. You should be thanking the plumber/engineer imo.

I'd second that. That's a bargain IMHO

keystone

graemeinfo wrote: »

Any thoughts on what I should do next

One thing you should not do is start two different threads on the same subject in two different parts of the forum.

My answer is on your other thread but BTW the two posters above are spot on.

So what you should do is take a chill pill and get your chequebook out TBH.

Cheers

ET1976

Agree with the above - there was a problem and it's been fixed and only cost you £47.

I sympathise with the fact that you weren't informed about the charges and weren't explicitly consulted before any work was done (although the plumber could have interpreted a call out as a request to fix what was broken), so use another plumber in future if you don't like the way the operate, but don't give yourself hassle over this situation.

clutton_2

""I rang the company and was put through to the owner who agresivley denied that the check would cause these problems.""

if you rang my engineer and accused his LGSCheck of causing a shower to get hot... he would get VERY aggressive and he is defo NOT an aggressive man !!!

a LGSC is an INSPECTION it is not a service.... it is not a service of electrics either....

£47... nothing.... pay up and be cheeful.. do you want happy tenants or not ???

moneysaver

If the £47 was a callout charge, what did he do to fix the problem?




Moneysaver

roses

moneysaver wrote: »

If the £47 was a callout charge, what did he do to fix the problem?




Moneysaver

I agree. I would never pay a call out charge unless I was explicity yold before hand, even if it was £20.

Find out what the guy did to fix it. Then decide whether you will pay. Yes £47 is cheap but if he didn't inform you beforehand then they can't force it on you now for going to your house & not fixing anything (if they are charing for a call out and nothing else). Was it definitely not a tenant error of not putting a setting correctly and the plumber corrected it?

BitterAndTwisted

Can someone please tell me how you can arrange for a decent plumber or heating engineer to arrive WITHOUT paying a call-out charge? This isn't just the charge for someone to arrive at the property it's their minimum charge.

I'd consider that paltry £47 as an investment in the landlord/tenant relationship. I can't believe that anyone, either householder or landlord, could be so petty!

eschaton

If my shower wasn't working right and I got a bill of £47 to fix it I would be delighted.

OP must be on verge of going under to complain like that.

BitterAndTwisted

Agreed and most probably a rank amateur at that