charged for free glazing quote

pinkstellacat

Hi,
I'm in dispute with a glazing company at present who came out to give me a free quote when my window was broken. Whilst at the house the workman said he would make it safe and put a piece of film over the door. 2 weeks later I received a bill for £111.21 that claimed I was 7 days overdue with payment. I have since rung the company 3 times. In my last call the woman I spoke to accepted that I had rung for a free quote, however I should have assumed that I would be charged if he did anything else while he was there.

She has now reduced the amount to £65 as a 'good will gesture'. I still feel that this is wrong however, and a lot of money to put a piece of plastic onto a pane of glass! is this right? Should I assume I will be charged large amounts of money when a company has at no point explained this to me and therefore agree to pay the reduced amount? Or am I right in thinking that it's not up to the consumer to 'assume' but up to the company to make charges clear?

I would be grateful if any one could advise me on this as I am not sure what to do next now.

Thanks

Tom_Jones

A difficult one here, personally you probably have entered into a verbal contract with them, although they did not ? inform you there would be a charge.

Send a letter to the company via recorded delivery stating that at no time were you informed of any charge for the work carried out, and see what their reply is and then decide what you do after the reply.

If you decide to pay you could always try to claim the cost back from your home insurance, although your excess may be more than the cost of paying the bill.

bestyman

Hi,
Not wishing to sound as if I am having a go but why do you expect or assume anything for free?

If tradesmen come to your house and do work you sjould expect a charge.
You are not on your own in your thinking though. I work as an emergency plumber and because I advertise no call out some people think that that also means no hourly rate and no materials cost.

I do think the company were slightly underhand, personally I always state charges to customers even if they do not ask.

As mentioned before I am a plumber and not a solicitor but as far as I know If no charges are agreed before the law sees it as done on a quantam merit ( please correct spelling ) which translated means ` for what the job is worth`.

In my opinion I would get quotes from other companies for the work and use this as basis for what the job is worth. Again my opinion is £65 is possibly too expensive especially as it was not an emergency callout but is not by any means unreasonable.

Lesson learnt is the only free cheese in this world is found on a moustrap.

Welcome to MSE .

Bestyman

Aiadi

I really feel for you pinkstellacat, and I don't agree with bestyman. As a consumer if I opened the yellow pages and found the words 'FREE QUOTE' and I arranged for a 'free quote' and then the window guy came and offered to put the plastic up- I would be thinking that it is not going to be charged because he hasn't stated he would charge.

In addition I would also think that he was trying to seem helpful and impressive by helping out with a bit of plastic (which surely can't cost him much timewise or material wise), so increasing the chances of me employing him to do the job.

Other than what the others have said I don't really have any advice other than have you looked into the laws or codes of practice regarding this?- not sure where you could find these-possibly a google search?

Hope you find a resolution soon, let us know what happens.

MrT_5

Phone local trading standards. Think they are having a laugh personally. Did you ask them to make things safe or did the guy do it off his own back?

Bestyman you are having a laugh too. You are condoning what sounds like a con. The OP didn't ask for a call out, they asked for a free quote as advertised. There is a vast difference.

ben500

Pay nothing before consulting with Trading Standards and having another look at the ad, you may well find some smallprint stating any emergency/make safe work will be charged at laughaminute rate.
You may even find they have a rep for this kind of thing and are already known.

kenshaz

Problem is this could escalate,if they take you to the small claims court,best pay and take them to them to court ,then you have the moral high ground,it is quite an easy procedure,just a few forms.Perhaps this was a communication problem,I realise how you feel ,and the cost cannot be justified ,so right is on your side,chase them ,not them chasing you ,also involve trading standards,do not want your credit damaged for £65,this all seems like a sneaky way to get a call out charge,it is probably down to the guy not the company, he gets nothing unless he tricks you into making safe ,which you could have done,bet you will not make this mistake again

ben500

kenshaz wrote:

Problem is this could escalate,if they take you to the small claims court,best pay and take them to them to court ,then you have the moral high ground,it is quite an easy procedure,just a few forms.Perhaps this was a communication problem,I realise how you feel ,and the cost cannot be justified ,so right is on your side,chase them ,not them chasing you ,also involve trading standards,do not want your credit damaged for £65,this all seems like a sneaky way to get a call out charge,it is probably down to the guy not the company, he gets nothing unless he tricks you into making safe ,which you could have done,bet you will not make this mistake again

I would agree with most of this, this is almost certainly a way of duping the customer into paying for something they have not requested, here's the deal.
Ball/burglar/shoe/cat etc goes through window, you see free in ad and call em out, little chit chat ensues maybe a little fear factor thrown in "what you gotta wotch fer my luv is if the little !!!!!!s come back an rob yer" if you want I can put something up there to keep the draught out and you can shop around and give us a call if our quote is good, if they don't get a call for the job you get a BILL for the work!

Don't pay a bean before speaking with Trading Standards I say, if they are known to them or better still already under investigation, they will give you the same advice if not then you can consider paying and suing.

bestyman

MrT wrote:

Phone local trading standards. Think they are having a laugh personally. Did you ask them to make things safe or did the guy do it off his own back?

Bestyman you are having a laugh too. You are condoning what sounds like a con. The OP didn't ask for a call out, they asked for a free quote as advertised. There is a vast difference.

No , Bestyman is not having a laugh, in fact I was trying to advise this new member based on 20 years of self employed call out experience in the building trade.

Why are you so suprised? The OP did not ring Shelter or the salvation army. The OP rang a business and not a charity. Businesses survive by charging customers.

Sometimes I will offer to give a free quote and this will result in work been done. As stated before if you take goods or services from them expect to pay . The fact that you have not agreed charges in advence does not make you excempt from payment, if this was the case I would be getting a free taxi ride home every night.

At some point in the conversation /free quote the OP will have asked for or agreed to WORK been done.

Would you do your job for free? Get up tomorrow and fill your car with fuel , spend time doing your work and lay out materials and then charge the customer nothing? If the answer is yes then let me know what you do , Im sure I`ll find you something to do at my house.

Bestyman

Coupon-mad

Bestyman, could you let us know your company name so we can avoid calling you out for a free quote when we next have a building problem? Thanks.

To the OP, I agree with the others who say phone Trading Standards first, see if the firm has already got a reputation for this sort of con (for that is what it is).

MrT_5

bestyman wrote:

No , Bestyman is not having a laugh, in fact I was trying to advise this new member based on 20 years of self employed call out experience in the building trade.

Why are you so suprised? The OP did not ring Shelter or the salvation army. The OP rang a business and not a charity. Businesses survive by charging customers.

Sometimes I will offer to give a free quote and this will result in work been done. As stated before if you take goods or services from them expect to pay . The fact that you have not agreed charges in advence does not make you excempt from payment, if this was the case I would be getting a free taxi ride home every night.

At some point in the conversation /free quote the OP will have asked for or agreed to WORK been done.

Would you do your job for free? Get up tomorrow and fill your car with fuel , spend time doing your work and lay out materials and then charge the customer nothing? If the answer is yes then let me know what you do , Im sure I`ll find you something to do at my house.

Bestyman

Really? Thought the idea of a quote was just that. You don't like the quote you are given so you get another one is the way I see it and as it is free you dont pay a bean. How many times are people told to get three or more quotes? Don't assume that others on here do not have your experience either.