Advice re: electrical repair charge

girlinabox

Hello everyone,

I am just after a little advice please.

Some months ago I was attempting to change a needle on my sewing machine when I accidentally took too many bits apart; at the time I was in the middle of a house move (silly I know) and once settled in my new home I attempted to put the bits back together when I realised that I was missing two tiny screws which hold the needle holder in position. I contacted the shop where I purchased my machine from as this seemed the reasonable thing to do. I was told that due to them charging a bit of labour the price would be "no more than £30" - which seemed ridiculous considering the work involved, but I agreed to this and told them that I would bring the machine in - which I duly did. At the shop no further discussions took place about the repair or my machine, only that they would require £15 as a cash deposit up front, and that somebody would call me on the Tuesday once they'd got it into the workshop (it was a Friday before a bank holiday). No call came until the Thursday, and the conversation went something like this "Your machine is ready to collect and it will be £80 (can't remember the exact figure but it was roughly this amount)" - I was obviously not happy and asked why they were trying to charge this new amount, I was informed that they had to "test the machine and run it off" and that they'd also found some faults with it! I argued that I had not given them the authorisation to proceed with any additional work on the machine or incur any further costs. I was told that unless I paid the amount they stated the machine would remain with them...

...obviously upset and frustrated; I was told to send an email to their "info@" email address if I had any issues. Now I had other things going on in my life (very demanding job) and didn't email them straight away. Then I received a letter from them in the post advising that if I did not come and pay for the machine and collect it, they would destroy/get rid of it (or words to that effect). I will copy and paste the important bits from the email correspondence I have entered into with them but now feel like I've hit a brick wall as they just will not budge. I don't have a lot of money but it isn't just about that - it's the feeling forced into paying to something I never agreed to. Had I been informed the costs would exceed £30 I'd have collected the machine and hung on until I felt I had the spare funds to go ahead.

I apologise if this is really long winded; I don't normally seek advice about things such as this as I don't want to create a fuss but just a little advice would be helpful for me here. Thank you for your patience, emails will be below.

Kind regards

girlinabox

Dear Sirs,

I received your letter regarding my sewing machine which you still have in your possession 6 months after me bringing it in for minor repair. I note that your letter once again makes threats to either keep my machine or get rid of it despite you having no legal entitlement to do so.

I brought my machine into your shop to have 2 very small screws replaced which I had unfortunately lost during moving house. I was informed on TWO occasions that the cost of this job would be a maximum of £30. I agreed to this despite it being a high amount because at that time I just wanted the machine working again. I took my machine into you on Friday before the bank holiday. I paid you £15 in cash (written on the back of my repair receipt) and you told me that somebody would call me from the workshops on Tuesday after they'd had a look at it. I received a call on the Thursday advising that you had carried out the work however the cost would now be around £70 - double the price quoted. I advised that this was not agreed to by me and I would never have agreed to that much, whether you felt you needed to test run the machine afterwards or not. I made it plainly clear that all I wanted was the missing screws replacing. You told me over the telephone that unless I paid the amount you were now quoting, you would 'keep the machine until I am able to do so'.

I am now writing to you to request that you return to the original agreement of £30 otherwise you leave me no option but to contact trading standards and the ombudsman.

_______________________________________________

I'm sorry you feel disappointed with our service.



I have spoken to our engineers regarding your machine and the work done.



The bobbin case required repair, as did the hook and the feed dog. These are all consistant with the fact that you broke the needle
and took the machine apart when you tried to repair it yourself.

The needle screws were missing and also the thread guide screw. These were replaced.



Your machine was then fully tested and 'run-off' and a stitch sample produced so that you could see the machine was sewing correctly

for all stitches.



Our repair prices are FROM £30 + vat. These prices are clearly displayed on the counter at the shop. As there were more faults than you
reported when you brought it in, the engineer had to rectify these before he could replace the screws on the needle bar and the thread guide.



Customers have a choice of having the repair done, or having an estimate. If you had asked for an estimate, this would have been reported prior to the work being done.



Our prices are very fair and you were only charged for a single repair and the final testing of the sewing stitch, even though more repairs were done. The Sewing Machine Trade Association recommended repair charges for your machine are £99 plus parts. If you had taken it directly to Janome, their costs would have been £79 + parts + vat.



We will keep your machine until you are ready to collect it.


_________________________________________________

We don’t seem to be getting any further with this I’d like to further clarify the facts of this issue.

When I brought my machine into you I explained that I had lost 2 screws from the machine when I moved house (I'b been in process of changing a needle when I moved and the screws were lost out of the bottom drawer in transit) and was told the repair would be "No more than £30" – I envisaged this being a very small job. I was asked to pay a 50% deposit which I did - £15 is written on my receipt.

I believe it is usual practice to take a machine in for a service or a repair at the price quoted, and if any other repairs need doing, the repair shop would communicate this to the customer first before going ahead and carrying out any additional repairs. You didn’t give me any opportunity to decide myself whether I wanted to go ahead with the more expensive repairs or not.

The cost of this repair is around a third – a quarter of the value of replacing this machine like for like and I would like to have had the opportunity to weigh up whether this was a cost effective repair or not.

My mum has been a professional dressmaker for years and has had several machines that have been in for repair. She has never had anything like this happen where the repair shop hasn’t communicated with her beforehand about what the actual cost of repair would be beforehand.

I am not challenging the fact that the repair cost £70 to be done but the fact that you went ahead and did ‘additional’ repairs without asking my permission first. This is a large expense that I didn’t agree to.

Would you expect to take your car in to a garage for an mot, they discover an oil leak, repair it and bill you, without them discussing the cost and obtaining your prior authorisation to proceed beforehand? I think not. This is no different. This is called informed choice, and every customer is entitled to, and deserves this right.

I purchased my sewing machine from your shop in Rochdale as you came highly recommended from my course tutor at Oldham college where I learned dressmaking and crafts. I in turn recommended your shop to other students in my class. I certainly did not anticipate this level of service, and I cannot imagine this happening elsewhere. The fact remains that I was not informed of any additional costs, I was not given the opportunity to either agree, seek competitive quotes elsewhere or decline the repairs.

____________________________________________________

I'm not sure what else it is you want us to explain to you regards this situation apart from the response we have offered below (see email - please note the highlighted areas).


Seems the mis-understanding is at the point of delivery and the 'deposit' paid' and the advise offered of possible costs. In either case the prices are clearly advertised on our counter. The deposit paid is a standard charge that we make that goes towards the cost of diagnosing the machine. Once we have checked the machine IF we do not have instructions to provide an estimate, we go-ahead with the work, you did not ask for an estimate so the work was carried out.



Please let me know when you would like to collect the machine, thank you.

unholyangel

Information to be provided before making an on-premises contract

9.—(1) Before the consumer is bound by an on-premises contract, the trader must give or make available to the consumer the information described in Schedule 1 in a clear and comprehensible manner, if that information is not already apparent from the context.

(4) A change to any of that information, made before entering into the contract or later, is not effective unless expressly agreed between the consumer and the trader.

Part of the information that must be given (from schedule 1) is:

(c)the total price of the goods or services inclusive of taxes, or where the nature of the goods or services is such that the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is to be calculated;

Then of course you have the basics of contract formation - the terms of the acceptance must match the terms of the offer exactly. Each party can only be bound by the obligations they agreed to accept at the time of entering into the contract (ie you only agreed to pay £30) - they cannot unilaterally alter or vary the terms of the contract or the price to be paid. In other words, they should have come back to you and said the repair isnt possible due to xyz also being damaged, the price for this will be £80 (or whatever it is). If they couldnt tell you the exact price then they shouldve said something like £10 for parts and £12 an hour labour and we estimate it should take approximately x hours.


Of course this is all presuming you are a consumer (rather than a trader), but as above, any prices they are quoting should be inclusive of taxes - none of this "prices from £30 + vat" stuff.

bris

Do you have the agreed price in writing?