Was this a breach of the Sale of Goods Act {services} ?

McKneff

The man was doing you a favour by fitting you in.


I cannot see why you are creating such a fuss for the sake of such a small sum of money.


Just pay him and move on. You used his time. you should pay for it.


Tradesmen are all matey with each other, if you have a flood or all your lights go out you may have to go further afield to get any help. And have to wait a lot longer.


Your making a mountain out of a molehill.

whitegoods_engineer

Jay_23 wrote: »

...the man appeared later that day out the blue. He was let in and went to look at the machine {which had, as it does in it's old age, randomly started functioning again}. After a minute of looking at it {I had come downstairs} it was clear he was just playing around with it. I said it was working fine and joked about how it magically comes back on depending on the weather, he said 'It's all the same to me son, I get paid regardless' - at this point I thought my staff member had misunderstood my instructions and made an appointment.
Again, no quote was given, no appointment made.
He bought some {awkward} time doing basic and unnecessary checks which I'd done before anyway, and weren't needed since it was working, so it appeared he had done something. When I went to speak to him about this he was on the phone about another job and rushed out after leaving a scrawled bill for fourty two pounds for 5 mins work, qhich we hadn't agreed an appointment for, and no quote had been given ahead of time.

Basicly, do I have grounds to dispute the charge, since he wasn't asked to come {but only if/when he would be able}, and didnt give a quote?
I appreciate the call out in itself is a service regardless of action needed, but he just showed up, spent half the time on his phone, did nothing and left. The staff member made no appointment...

Any and all help would be welcome, apparently we used this guy in the past and stopped since he's a bit of a cowboy. Invoice itself is half done, the approval for work coming from 'staff' he rode over...

You sound a bit confused. How on earth can a tradesman give a quote, without coming out to assess the fault??

You say he did unneccessary checks, which YOU had done anyway (So you're qualified to do the checks then?) You then say he did NOTHING??

I'm sorry, but if somebody travels to your appliance, makes checks and cannot find a specific fault on the day, do you expect him to do this for nothing?

The fact you let him look at the machine implies that you were happy for him to assess the fault. You could simply have turned him away.

You then quibble over a very reasonable £42, for which you received the services of an appliance engineer, his assessment, and his costs in both time and fuel getting there.

Unbelieveable!

stebiz

whitegoods_engineer wrote: »

You sound a bit confused. How on earth can a tradesman give a quote, without coming out to assess the fault??

You say he did unneccessary checks, which YOU had done anyway (So you're qualified to do the checks then?) You then say he did NOTHING??

I'm sorry, but if somebody travels to your appliance, makes checks and cannot find a specific fault on the day, do you expect him to do this for nothing?

The fact you let him look at the machine implies that you were happy for him to assess the fault. You could simply have turned him away.

You then quibble over a very reasonable £42, for which you received the services of an appliance engineer, his assessment, and his costs in both time and fuel getting there.

Unbelieveable!

I must say I find it very odd as well. Why not tell him as he knocked on your door that it was now working??

powerful_Rogue

Jay_23 wrote: »

I want to know if we're liable for his call out if we didn't ask him to come.

That goes totally against what was said in your first post!

Jay_23 wrote: »

they were asked to find out if they were available that afternoon

Jay_23 wrote: »

'I may be able to squeeze you in this afternoon'

Jay_23

...please try and remain polite.

Again, the potential availability was asked for, not any actual appointment.
He was let in by a confused staff memeber who 100% did not make an appointment with him as he was not asked to come, neither was a time agreed.
When I came across him he was getting ready to leave, as the confused staff member contacted me, as they assumed I had called independently to invite him round.


The quote asked for was the base call out price, the one he charged. Obviously anything else, parts, time, etc would change the cost....


All of these replies have missed this key point in order to make some other one...I want advice on the law in these specific circumstances, not personal pedantry and opinions...perhaps this is the wrong forum to be asking this question. I can't help but feel people want to give their opinion more than clarify a point of consumer law...

Again...his *availability* was asked after, only this, he mentioned the possibility, then hung up mid conversation saying he'd call back. No such call back, and no such appointment was made.

arcon5

Sorry but it sounded like you wanted the guy to come out but he simply couldn't commit to a time. I suspect had he not turned up and the machine not started working you would have been on the phone to him asking where he is.

You have a cheek refusing to pay the call out charge.

If your member of staff is competent then get rid - shy or not, frankly if he cannot communicate effectively he/she's no good! Or maybe offer up some training to help them develop their skills.

In the absense of an agreed price I believe the law states charges must be reasonable.

powerful_Rogue

Jay_23 wrote: »

...please try and remain polite.

Again, the potential availability was asked for, not any actual appointment.
He was let in by a confused staff memeber who 100% did not make an appointment with him as he was not asked to come, neither was a time agreed.
When I came across him he was getting ready to leave, as the confused staff member contacted me, as they assumed I had called independently to invite him round.


The quote asked for was the base call out price, the one he charged. Obviously anything else, parts, time, etc would change the cost....


All of these replies have missed this key point in order to make some other one...I want advice on the law in these specific circumstances, not personal pedantry and opinions...perhaps this is the wrong forum to be asking this question. I can't help but feel people want to give their opinion more than clarify a point of consumer law...

Again...his *availability* was asked after, only this, he mentioned the possibility, then hung up mid conversation saying he'd call back. No such call back, and no such appointment was made.

I cant see anyone thats been rude to you.

If you didnt want this person to come out, what was the point in the original phone call?

Your story really dosent make sense a keeps changing. At first you said:

After a minute of looking at it {I had come downstairs} it was clear he was just playing around with it. I said it was working fine and joked about how it magically comes back on depending on the weather, he said 'It's all the same to me son, I get paid regardless' - at this point I thought my staff member had misunderstood my instructions and made an appointment.

He bought some {awkward} time doing basic and unnecessary checks which I'd done before anyway, and weren't needed since it was working, so it appeared he had done something. When I went to speak to him about this he was on the phone about another job and rushed out after leaving a scrawled bill for fourty two pounds for 5 mins work, qhich we hadn't agreed an appointment for, and no quote had been given ahead of time.

Which seems to imply you noticed him at the start of the visit because you noticed all the checks and him appearing to be carrying out work, then you go onto say:

When I came across him he was getting ready to leave

McKneff

arcon5 wrote: »

Sorry but it sounded like you wanted the guy to come out but he simply couldn't commit to a time. I suspect had he not turned up and the machine not started working you would have been on the phone to him asking where he is.

You have a cheek refusing to pay the call out charge.

If your member of staff is competent then get rid - shy or not, frankly if he cannot communicate effectively he/she's no good! Or maybe offer up some training to help them develop their skills.

In the absense of an agreed price I believe the law states charges must be reasonable.

Ah, maybe your shy confused member of staff heard 'I wil call back' where he equally could have said 'I will call'


Arcon5 has hit the nail on the head with the last sentence. And as most of us have said £42 is a reasonable price.


If your staff member is shy, you are probably frightening the life out of them to be honest and making them worse. Ive been there, in their position. They may be so confused by now that they don't know what on earth was said.

unholyangel

Jay_23 wrote: »

All of these replies have missed this key point in order to make some other one...I want advice on the law in these specific circumstances, not personal pedantry and opinions...perhaps this is the wrong forum to be asking this question. I can't help but feel people want to give their opinion more than clarify a point of consumer law...

Again...his *availability* was asked after, only this, he mentioned the possibility, then hung up mid conversation saying he'd call back. No such call back, and no such appointment was made.

There is no consumer law issue. You are a business, not a consumer so you do not benefit from consumer protection laws.

Everything on here is advice/opinions given by us. We cannot advise you in a professional capacity regardless of our qualifications as then MSE could be held liable.

What other posters are saying however is that he shouldn't have been allowed to look at it if you were only looking for a price and were not looking to get someone out (and obviously your employee was under the impression you needed a repair man if they let him in after you asking them just to get a price). As much as you not feel like it, its likely that this misunderstanding is partly down to having a shy employee and partly down to lack of procedures in place to deal with these situations - which is managements responsibility.

Sometimes we just need to learn from our mistakes instead of trying to undo them.

whitegoods_engineer

You let a tradesman in to check your machine over. You came downstairs after 'a minute' as you admit, and you watched him doing checks.

You therefore are responsible.

Had you or your nervous staff member turned him away at the door, I'd have some sympathy, but you let him in to check the appliance.

When all's said and done, for pete's sake, we're talking £42 pounds???

Just pay what you owe the man and shut up!