Verbal agreements

dazzer21

My wife's computer died and as she needs it for work, a computer repair man was called in (unfortunately she did this without my knowledge but hindsight is useless on this occasion). The man came and took it away. His last words before he left were "I'll tell you what it is, give you a quote and then you can take it or leave it". I was fine by that.

The wife calls me yesterday to say that the computer is fixed. The power supply needed exchanging and a new one had been fitted - total £70!!! Tried getting in touch with him and left a message on his answerphone.

He came around this morning with the machine and we had an extremely heated discussion (read argument) about the whole situation before I told him to take the thing away, swap out the new for the old and bring it back again. Then my wife cut in and said she needed the PC for work and so I had no choice but to pay the man and send him away with a flea in his ear.

I can't name him for obvious reasons, but surely being held to ransom to pay for work that hadn't been previously agreed is illegal, isn't it? He seemed to think it would be no trouble to take it back and leave it in the state it was previously in (cheeky s*d even told me I'd have to go and collect it) - why do the same amount of work twice for what is effectively no payment?

Unfortunately, there was no written agreement (I shall make sure that that gets covered next time around) but I feel really aggrieved to have to have given him the money (I could always bounce the cheque I suppose :rotfl:) - what consumer rights are there against this sort of thing?

maninthestreet

Have you got quotes for the repair performed from other computer repairers? How do they compare to the £70 you are being asked to pay by this man?

Optimist

£70 for a new PSU and the time taken..Bargain

neilmcl

Optimist wrote: »

£70 for a new PSU and the time taken..Bargain

+1. Totally agree. They've repaired the PC for a good price, I can't see what the OP is moaning about.

Also this bit made no sense at all:

dazzer21 wrote: »

I can't name him for obvious reasons, but surely being held to ransom to pay for work that hadn't been previously agreed is illegal, isn't it? He seemed to think it would be no trouble to take it back and leave it in the state it was previously in (cheeky s*d even told me I'd have to go and collect it) - why do the same amount of work twice for what is effectively no payment?

Isn't that what the OP wanted hime to do!

Reggie_Rebel

aren't worth the paper they are written on.

dazzer21

Firstly, the principle is the main issue. But secondly, if it wasn't for the fact that both our next door neighbours (IT professionals for the NHS) weren't on holiday, I could have got the labour done for free and the part at cost. In the past they've sorted out virus problems on the machine and they've said that they'd help out any time we wanted.

The only problem in that regard is that they were down on Cornwall for two weeks at the time it went down (it worked but would cut out intermittently); as it was, the wife needed the PC for work (ideally) but I do have a reasonable reserve machine that I could set up in an hour or so for her to continue working on. But, as you do, the man was called out because it was... convenient.

So in actual fact, I could have got it done for ~£15-£20, the approximate trade cost of the PSU. The bloke didn't give me the chance to turn him down. If I worked at a garage and he came to me saying his car didn't work, and then I rang him a couple of days after to say "yep, found the problem - engine's gone. I've put a new one in - that'll be two grand please", I doubt he'd be best pleased.

When I have to quote on prospective work, I usually have to pitch against others - I can't just do the work and then expect a client to say to me "Oh well, we could have got it done a couple of hundred pounds cheaper by someone else, but as you've done the work already, we'll use yours and pay you for it"

He told me he'd diagnose it, quote and then I could take it or leave it - no fix, no fee. I told him that if he were to take it away and swap out the new part for the old one he originally took out, it's approx twice the work for no money - it's not good business acumen. He wouldn't see that, of course.

So I've HAD to pay him. He's held me to ransom. It's the equivalent of being robbed at gunpoint. And then refused to send me an invoice for the job. SURELY someone can see my point...

ccotaxc

Sorry I cant see your point - If you were that bothered about saving money you would have waited until the neighbours would have got back. You paid extra to get done quicker so that your wife has a working laptop!

dazzer21

I only paid extra because I HAD to - he gave me no choice. As I mentioned - I had contingency I could have fallen back on. He was called because it was 'convenient'; he welched on his verbal agreement. An hour of my time to set it up isn't going to cost me £70!

Hintza

You don't even have a contract with the guy, your wife has and she has obviously ben pragmatic about it.

We can all fix these things with time and effort, your wife decided it was easier to pay the man.

If it was me I would have taken it back too and put you back in the position you were in before too if you had insisted you weren't paying. You weren't held to ransom.

Optimist

You expected this gent to work without pay ? To diagnose the problem then let you get someone else to repair it for free. Sorry but I'm not aware of any tradesman who would put themselves in that position. You would either pay for the diagnosis or/and the repair.

I would hope your first post about stopping/letting the cheque bounce was a joke.
A cheque is a promise to pay and you would have no effective defence to stopping it if he were to sue.

ccotaxc

Did your wife definetly say dont do any work until agreed by her? I d just be happy that it was fixed.