Verbal agreements

dazzer21

As 'pragmatic' as I tried to be (because after all, she might have been the one to call him, but ultimately I'M the one paying him), when he got particularly aggressive as I pointed out the error of his ways (to agree to quote is, after all, to agree to quote!), the last thing I want is for him to vent that aggression on the equipment I have asked him to repair. Do I really want him to unnecessarily (as I say again, had he quoted like he said he would, he wouldn't have even got a sniff of the thing) pull it apart AGAIN for him to put it back together AGAIN, without me even being able to vouch that it DOES come back in exactly the same condition it left in? I think not...

bella*donna

I don't agree. What the op seems to be bothered about is that the guy said he'd look at the computer and then call with a quote for the cost of the work to be done and the op could decide what he wanted to do and then the guy turned up with the computer fixed and so the op had to pay him.

A similar thing happened to me a few years ago with my car. It was a banger (my first car) and its mot was due. It wasn't worth much and I knew it needed some work doing and I was trying to decide to get it fixed and mot'ed and run it for a while longer or to scrap it and get a new car. A local garage offered to do a pre mot check so I could have an idea of how much it would cost to get it through the mot and decide wether it was worth it or not. I dropped the car off, man said he would call. He called and said he hadn't got round to it that day, and I could collect it lunchtime the next. When I got there, he had done all the work and handed me a bill for nearly £500, much more than the car was worth. I hadn't authorised the work and was furious.

A verbal agreement may not be worth the paper its written on, but I can see dazzers point!

dmg24

ccotaxc wrote: »

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

I can't help but think that the wife had more input on this than the OP is letting on.

dazzer21

dmg24 wrote: »

I can't help but think that the wife had more input on this than the OP is letting on.

Can you explain that comment. Her only input, ultimately a mistake, was to call the bloke in the first place. She then called me as soon as he called her to say the work had been done and that he'd deliver it in the morning. That's it.

At that point I could have argued the toss with him over the phone but:

a) the work had already been done - what's the point?;
b) I decided to ask him to justify himself face-to-face.

ccotaxc

So you have no idea what conversation took place between your wife and the repairer?

TonyMMM

The easiest and quickest way to diagnose a blown PSU is to fit a new one , so at that point the job is already done ...

dazzer21

ccotaxc wrote: »

So you have no idea what conversation took place between your wife and the repairer?

She's the one who called him in - that's all she did - got his ad out of a local trade directory. I was there when he collected it and explained exactly what the situation was (in terms of the machine's behaviour) - having experienced that sort of thing before, I was pretty sure that it was either a) a psu problem or b) bad RAM. I told him this personally when he collected; he told me personally that he would quote. He didn't and here we are...

ccotaxc

Maybe you should have called him before he got there to cancel his visit? I do understand why you are vexed, the work shouldnt have been carried out until he spoke to you but at least your wife has a working compputer!

dazzer21

ccotaxc wrote: »

Maybe you should have called him before he got there to cancel his visit? I do understand why you are vexed, the work shouldnt have been carried out until he spoke to you but at least your wife has a working compputer!

You mean before he came to take it away in the first place, or before he came back with it? If you mean the former, I don't see how this situation could possibly be predicted to happen – I merely wanted to be greeted on the doorstep by a savvy, business-literate, expert computer repair person who was professional enough to stand by his word.

If you mean the latter, why? What actual good would that do?

Hintza

Were you expecting him to strip it down and diagnose the problem for free?