How to pay some of builder's/plumber's bill using credit card?

rosie383

As we are always being told, pay at least £100 of any bill by credit card to gain that extra protection. I am not sure how to do this for a tradesperson. So far, we have had their bank details and transferred the necessary money to them.

I would now like to pay some by CC to get the protection, but how do I go about it if I am not going into an office and using a machine? We need to pay the remainder of the heating guy's bill as he finished installing the new CH yesterday. I also would like to make the next payment to the builder in this way.

If anyone knows how best to do this I would be grateful for advice.

victor2

Ask the builder if he'll take credit card payments, as many won't. They're often not set up to take card payments because it costs them money to do so. Good old cheques, (or even better, cash) is preferred.
If he will take payment on card, it can be done over the phone or by giving him the details - so long as you trust him with your card details, including the security code printed on it.

rosie383

victor2 wrote: »

Ask the builder if he'll take credit card payments, as many won't. They're often not set up to take card payments because it costs them money to do so. Good old cheques, (or even better, cash) is preferred.
If he will take payment on card, it can be done over the phone or by giving him the details - so long as you trust him with your card details, including the security code printed on it.

They have been happy so far with bank transfer. But how do people get that protection if most builders/tradespeople aren't set up to take CC payments? We just forget about it and hope for the best?

It's not even the builder so much as the new boiler and CH system which we have just had installed. The heating engineer supplied and fitted everything, so he would have the relationship with the retailer, and not us. So am I right in thinking that if there were a problem, it wouldn't benefit us anyway to pay him by CC?

Hoploz

It's very unlikely any tradespeople would have the facility to collect cc payments. They might if they were part of a large firm, but not if they are just working on their own or a small ltd company.
Taking cc requires a merchant account which involves set up fees and ongoing costs, not to mention a fee per transaction, so as most people would be happy to pay them in other ways it wouldn't be worthwhile bothering to have all this set up.
Only if you had bought the materials directly would you have the protection.

cyclonebri1

To be honest the best way to protect yourself is by being aware of the state of the job, ie, materials used and % completed.
Then pay in accordance. You should have agreed a payment plan, staged payments etc, to be honest if you didn't ask to pay part credit card at that stage it's unreasonable to want to do that now

robatwork

Will he take a paypal payment instead?

As you know bank transfer gives you 0 protection
Paypal gives you some (it's a little grey)
Credit card gives you section 75

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/PayPal-Section75

southcoastrgi

I'm a sole trader & I take CC payments, ask them if they do,

Just one point which you are getting wrong, you don't have to pay over £100 by CC to be covered under sec 75 it's the bill that has to be over £100 so you could have a bill for £101 pay £1 on a CC & £100 in cash/chq/BAC & you are covered for the whole amount not just the £1

southcoastrgi

Hoploz wrote: »

It's very unlikely any tradespeople would have the facility to collect cc payments. They might if they were part of a large firm, but not if they are just working on their own or a small ltd company.
Taking cc requires a merchant account which involves set up fees and ongoing costs, not to mention a fee per transaction, so as most people would be happy to pay them in other ways it wouldn't be worthwhile bothering to have all this set up.
Only if you had bought the materials directly would you have the protection.

Izettle, payleven, PayPal etc etc all do handheld terminals which work by Bluetooth for around £50 with no costs apart from a % charge on the amount taken anywhere from 3.75% down to 1.5% which then either gets added to the invoice or absorbed by the trade depending on the amount & how they work

SuzieSue

rosie383 wrote: »

It's not even the builder so much as the new boiler and CH system which we have just had installed. The heating engineer supplied and fitted everything, so he would have the relationship with the retailer, and not us. So am I right in thinking that if there were a problem, it wouldn't benefit us anyway to pay him by CC?

Most new boilers come with a manufacturer's guarantee for up to 10 years where the manufacturer will fix the boiler if it goes wrong. What is the make of the boiler?

Re the S78 cc protection. If you want to rely in this you really need to find out if the installer takes cc before you ask them to do the work (most won't).

However, I would not worry too much about it as it is becoming more and more difficult to claim on on this as there are so many new ways of accepting credit cards such as Paypal which invalidates the protection:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/PayPal-Section75

rosie383

Thank you for all the helpful advice. The boiler is a Worcester and does come with ten years' warranty.
I'm glad that I asked re the payments as you have all clarified it for me. I just didn't want to be in a situation in a couple of years where everyone told me I should have paid by credit card. But it's clear now. Thank you.

As for the integrity of the tradesmen and their work, we went on recommendations and have been very, very happy with all of the work done so far and the consideration they have shown.