Builders have over charged my aged parents

daughtersdilemma

My elderly parents, father 92 and mother 78, recently asked the local building company, small town in the country, 'do up' their bathroom that adjoins their bedroom. New basin/vanity unit (very ordinary), which they asked my mother to approve of months before the work commenced as it was on sale, approx 50 tiles around the bath, on sale at 10 pence a tile which were put over the existing tiles, new little fan heater on wall, paint the room, room size: 5 feet x 8 feet, then my mother asked if they could paint the landing while they were at it, not skirting boards or ceiling.

They charged my parents £4,600.00.

My parents did not get a quote beforehand. They trusted the local builders. Remember...very small village. When i asked how much they charged I was shocked and furious. I made a generous calculation on paper of what it should cost and came up with less than half of that bill. I have called them three times asking them to produce an itemized bill of their work. Nothing.

Please help! What should I do?

Thank you.

daughtersdilemma

Forgot to say: My parents paid the bill. And when I asked them they were so ashamed.

southcoastrgi

if they haven't replied to you & have totally ripped off your parents then i don't think they will repay any money, so i would be straight onto your local trading standards, you said you did a quick costing of the job, now i don't know how much the basin/vanity was or if any pipework was needed to be altered however if i take your describtion at face value i would say the total job was worth somewhere between £800- £1200, there are laws about ripping off senior citizens

A1P

I totally agree with southcoastrgi.This is a total rip off.His figures re-the job are fair if job done well.I note that the tiling has been done on top of existing tiles.This is bad practice and fixing like this is potentially insecure and rarely looks well.I would want the wall heater checked out,once again not the best choice.The materials seem to have been selected for cheapness.I hope you are successful in pursuit of this company.You say this is a small community perhaps the possibility of involving the local paper and/or trading standards might help in putting some pressure on.Good luck.

phill99

But it's not cut and dried.

If a quote / estimate wasn't obtained prior to the work starting, how do you know it's over priced. It may well be overpriced to other people, but it may reflect the company's scale of charges.

I agree about tiling over tiles etc, but unless the work is of a poor standard and the company are refusing to rectify it, I am not sure what TS will do.

PasturesNew

I think they should pass a law that says anybody over 70 needs an independent family signature to approve anything .... you know it makes sense.

One of the things that disappears with age is the ability to make proper decisions; there's something in the brain that fades, the ability to make judgement on what's right/wrong. That's why so many get sucked in.

My dad was a sucker for "his mate".... everything was done by "my mate around the corner" ... various "mates" aka tradesmen, that were doing not bad jobs, but not always the right/best option. Luckily he wasn't ever ripped off, but he was short of advice and direction, thinking he knew what he was choosing all the time.

Old people..... we'll all be like that one day (unless the Govt find a way to tax us to death).

robatwork

I got a whole new bathroom for less than that including stripping the old one, new units, quality bath and shower and tiling from top to bottom and underfloor heating. Fair to say they have been taken for a ride... sorry to hear it

A1P

phill99 wrote: »

But it's not cut and dried.

If a quote / estimate wasn't obtained prior to the work starting, how do you know it's over priced. It may well be overpriced to other people, but it may reflect the company's scale of charges.

I agree about tiling over tiles etc, but unless the work is of a poor standard and the company are refusing to rectify it, I am not sure what TS will do.

I agree a quote(legally binding and fixed) should have been obtained.The company has simply taken advantage.Regarding this reflecting their scale of charges,materials £450 max. then add labour at £150 a day which is hard to get in the current climate.Max 2-3 days.They have charged around £4000 instead of around £400 in labour.You have asked for a breakdown of their bill and I believe you are entitled to that.I would want at least £3000 returned.If this turns out to not be something for Trading Standards,I might try threatening them with the local paper or put together a leaflet based on this post and point out that this could be delivered locally.As long as it is based on the facts as outlined in your original post you should not have a problem.I know this a somewhat aggressive approach but this makes me so angry.My son has completed full,larger bathrooms and supplied quality fittings + 20 sq.metres tiles + 10 days labour for under £4000.I note robatwork has posted on this being a fair figure for a full,quality re-fit.

southcoastrgi

alot of my work is re-fitting bathrooms & i don't care what their scale of charges is the OP's parents have been totally ripped off.

NVRAM

Im looking at completely stripping the bathroom new suite, things moved around and a new wall fitted, budget isn't anywhere near what your Parents have been charged.

Hope you get it sorted and are able to get their name int he press to prevent this happening to anyone else.

daughtersdilemma

Thank you all of you for writing, I really appreciate it. I Know they have been ripped off and it drives me mad! So, my next step is to call again then march down to their office or place of work and present them with an opportunity to pay my parents back some of their money. If they refuse to look at this reasonably then I shall be in touch with trading standards and seek advice of possible slander implications etc and then get the newspaper involved. Because it is under the 5k of small claims, I may go to CAB and get advice about court proceedings. Something I'd rather not be doing and would rather they fess up.

By the way, my mother bought the paint too....

This has happened before with my mothers dentist. Her teeth were removed, had a titanium post put in fora bridge, she paid up, both her dentist and the dentist in hospital, it went septic, they removed it under great stress and since we have found out that she needed at least 3 posts to hold a bridge. I called her dentist and asked why this happened and that surely she should have some money back since their decision to only put one post in was wrong and that is why it could not hold the teeth. He paid up £1500.00, his part in the job. Decent, I thought. I have not tried to gain some funds back from the dentist in the hospital.

It never ends. There must be a law in place to protect our elderly from these criminals!

Thanks again for all your support.