Moral dilemma

nicky376

Hi guys. I'm in need of some advice.

My boiler was making rumbling sounds, so I phoned up some servicemen around the corner from where I live. When I explained the situation and asked for a quote, the man never said a price at all, but said that he'd to pop around quickly to tell me the price. He took a look at by boiler, flicked 2 switches quickly and then turned around to me and said that would be £60.

I threw a wobbly, as if I'd know that was the minimum charge, I wouldn't have asked him to come out. I gave him £20 saying that I wanted to give him something for his time but was angry that he hadn't told me the min charge beforehand.

However, I hate doing things like that and it's left me feeling sick and guiltly. Should I send him a letter enclosing the last £40, saying that I'm still annoyed, but should have paid the full price?

Nicole

custardy

has he fixed the boiler?

nicky376

I can only say hopefully at this point. He only left about 15 minutes ago. The rumbling was not constant - only occuring every few hours I think. I was just worried that it might start causing some damage in the future.

If I did send it to him, I would write that he HAD to let people know about the mininum £60 charge in the future. I hate feeling guilty, but I also hate that something that takes 2 minutes to fix costs £60. Is that a fair charge compared to others? I would have waited for more quotes if I'd known that price.

Torby

he said "he'd to pop around quickly to tell me the price"

I say he was very well paid for what he did...

£20 for not telling you a price?

rca779

The thing is you're paying for his experience & knowledge, not just his time.

How long would it have taken you to work out how to fix it?
What is another company came around and said you need x, y & z and that will be £300?

INT1

Did he just accept the £20?!

If he went away happy, I wouldn't worry about it.

Meepster

NO WAY should you pay him anymore. You never instructed him to fix it, just to have a look at it and give you a quote. He fixed it off his own back. Personally, I would have refused to give him ANYTHING...

Torby

rca779 wrote: »

The thing is you're paying for his experience & knowledge, not just his time.

How long would it have taken you to work out how to fix it?
What is another company came around and said you need x, y & z and that will be £300?

he was popping round to give a price, I reckon he knew it would be a simple fix (it was) yet he still should have quoted his price before starting any work....no doubt if he'd said "simple job...2 minutes 'll do it, bung us £20...bosh no problem" that would have been easily sorted....but he started without agreeing a price and then tried to stick his arm in...

you say "What is another company came around and said you need x, y & z and that will be £300?"...simple get another quote...if it was in the realms of £300 to fix yet he did it by flicking a couple of switches...another £300 cowboy bites the dust...if it genuinely takes £300...so be it..


"The thing is you're paying for his experience & knowledge, not just his time."...not very much experience then if he didn't realise he had to quote and be accepted before he started work....

nicky376

RCA779 made a very good point. I think I'd have been more happy to pay, even if it did cost a lot if there was actually lots of work to be done. It was the fact that his fix was to literally flick 2 switches on the boiler.

When I said that I really wasn't happy, he pretty much just stormed out, but I turned around and said that I wanted to give him something for his time, just that I was very annoyed because I wouldn't have asked him to come out if he'd said it would be at least £60. I said that other places said that they wouldn't charge for call-out or a quote. His reply was that he hadn't charged call-out, and that they would have charged at least £90 and were lying as you couldn't give a quote for this sort of work. He left, but obviously was as annoyed as I was.

I would have definitely paid if he had just said over the phone that he couldn't give a quote, as he would need to take a proper look to sort it out and that his min charge was £60. Sorry about the long ramble, but I just hate confrontations.

nicky376

I'm still thinking about this, but just on a side note I want to thank everyone so far.

The situation has made me have a quick look at my bank account (I just became unemployed on Friday, which I think is what in part made me so mad at the price). While looking at it I discovered that a direct debit that should have been cancelled last December was still going. I'd never noticed before as it's the same price as another direct debit I have. I've just been in touch with my bank and the company and have hopefully now got that sorted too. At least something's happened today to put a small smile back on my face.

adam.mt

Leave as be, it seems a fair compromise.

He's entitled to charge for his work (and to be honest it's not that unusual to be charged £60 for a few mins work at a customer's house) but on the other had he shouldn't have done any work, or even come around, without giving you a rough estimate of costs and getting your go ahead.