Heating Engineer - Unexpected Call out Charge

robcole86

Hi,

Following a problem with our boiler we called a few heating engineers to come out and quote us for a repair. Two different engineers have quoted just fine and that's that but one other engineer has since sent me an invoice for £50 stating call out quote fee.

I found the person on checkatrade.com and he has very good ratings but nowhere did it state that there was a fee for quoting. Upon calling him to come out nothing was mentioned and even on the visit to the house he didn't tell me there was a fee for quoting. I received the quote which I haven't followed up on just yet.

I have since received an invoice via email, what are my options?

Kind regards
Rob

bris

Ignore it.

robcole86

I replied with 'sorry for the miscommunication but nowhere was this explained to me whether that be on the website, over the phone, nor in person when you visited' I failed to mention I'd replied in my original post sorry!

shaun_from_Africa

It might be worth taking screenshots of all of the Checkatrade pages relating to the engineer in question just in case it gets updated in the future.


It's unlikely to come to anything but it's free to do and may come in handy at a later date.

pendragon_arther

This is what I can't understand with some tradesmen. Electricians when asked to come and quote for a job will either change a fee or give their hourly rate; so you don't know how long or how much the job the be.

robcole86

This is the thing, if I'd have known it was £50 for a call out to quote, the likelihood of me using this engineer would be slim to none.

Also if I had to pay it I'd have got my monies worth as he was only there for 10 minutes!

kaya

Unless it said "no call out fee"or"free quotes" what made you assume you could use this persons time and fuel for free? Would you pop into a resteraunt and order a meal for free? Or expect to have your car serviced for free as they didn't tell you differently?

neilmcl

kaya wrote: »

Unless it said "no call out fee"or"free quotes" what made you assume you could use this persons time and fuel for free? Would you pop into a resteraunt and order a meal for free? Or expect to have your car serviced for free as they didn't tell you differently?

What rubbish! Unless they specifically state a call-out fee is chargeable for a quote then there's no reason to expect one and absolutely no obligation to pay. Quoting is just another accepted way of getting business and should not be charged for.

No, I wouldn't expect a car serviced for free but I would expect to get a price for the service without being charged for it.

George_Michael

kaya wrote: »

Unless it said "no call out fee"or"free quotes" what made you assume you could use this persons time and fuel for free? Would you pop into a resteraunt and order a meal for free? Or expect to have your car serviced for free as they didn't tell you differently?

A contract (whether written, verbal or implied) must state what the parties involved are liable for and in the OP's case no charges were agreed beforehand therefore nothing is due.

robcole86

I checked out a link on Citizens Advice earlier called 'Paying call-out charges for building work and other repairs' which states the following:

A call-out charge is a charge for coming out to you which is on top of the cost of any work or repairs.

So, for example, a plumber might charge you £100 for coming out to look at your faulty boiler and working out what the problem is. Then they might say it will cost you a further £300 if you want them to fix the problem.

It’s a legal requirement under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) for the plumber to make it clear they are charging you for the visit and that this is separate from any work they may or may not do. They should tell you this before they come out to you, and tell you how much the call-out charge will be. If they don’t tell you about a call out charge and then charge one, you may not have to pay this additional cost. If you've been misled, you may be able to take action under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

And as advised above you are not required to pay unless the fee was agreed beforehand. I called this gentleman first of all. Text the next day. Met him in person for the quote. Received an email for the actual quote for the work. Then when I hadn't used him 4 days later i received an invoice for the call out. Not once in those prior engagements nor on his website nor on checkatrader.com did anyone make it apparent there was a cost.

He emailed back this morning explaining to me it wasn't a call out fee and it was more a diagnostic fee, which is amusing on the basis that the invoice states 'call out fee'. So he justified it as finding my fault therefore was more than a quote. I disagree with this as how can you quote without having a quick look as to what the problem could be?

I've sent a very polite email back stating that if i'd have known about the cost i would have been happy to pay it, however the likelihood of me using someone that charges to just provide a quote is slim to none.

Will let you know if anything comes of this but I think it's sorted!

nomoneytoday

kaya wrote: »

Unless it said "no call out fee"or"free quotes" what made you assume you could use this persons time and fuel for free? Would you pop into a resteraunt and order a meal for free? Or expect to have your car serviced for free as they didn't tell you differently?

..showing the menu is free at most restaurants