Been sent a bill by plumber but no work was done-would I still have to pay??!!

L121254

So I called a local reputable plumbing company to come out and give me a quote to fit a new radiation in my home. They came and gave me a FREE NO OBLIGATION. Quote.They emailed me a quote outlining the price and exactly what the price involved. What it involved was fitting a rad,fitting pipe work from an existing radiator to the new one and investigating cold spots in other radiators in the house.
On the day that one of the company's plumbers came out to fit the new radiator they realised that the radiator they were feeding the new one from would have to be raised up by around 6 inches. This existing radiator is in a tiled utility room and moving a radiator on that wall would make it look a mess with all the drilling new holes etc. On top of that the plumber told us that there would need to be more pipe work on show than we were originally told.
Me and my partner decided there and then not to go ahead with the work,one because it would ruin our tiling in the utility room and two we didn't like the idea of a load of unsightly copper pipes on show. The plumber who works for the company said its fine if we didn't want to go ahead and there would be no charge for his time. We did day we would use the company for boiler servicing and any repairs we may need in future and thought no more of it.
This morning I was sent an invoice for £60 saying this was for the visit the other day when "an engineer came out to visit however we didn't want to go ahead due to visible pipes which were stated in the quote"
This was some of the reason why we didn't want to go ahead but mainly because of the moving of an existing radiator and the mess it would make to our tiles,something we were not originally told or quoted for and it appears the guy who came round to price the job didn't realise this would need to be done either.
So are they within there rights to do this and do I have to pay it??? It says nothing on the quote about if work is cancelled I would have to pay anything.
Thanks in advance for any replies and for reading through a wordy,boring post 😀

Chanes

I would have thought if you signed nothing and the cost was not explained for a failed install you would owe nothing? Unless there is something in the T&Cs small print?

L121254

In the small print all I can see is that if they cause any damage to interior decoration then I would have to pay for that. They only told me on the day that it would cause damage to tiles and involve another radiator being moved around six inches. No mention in a quote of this and no mention on the initial visit because they didn't realise it would involve this bring done. I can't understand how I can be billed if I've had no work done due to them not knowing what the job would ACTUALLY involve!

L121254

Oh and one other thing,the quote was emailed to me and I never signed anything,don't know if that makes a difference 🤔

geewcee

Surely the position of the radiator should have been decided during the quote?? Completely their fault imo and you should pay nothing.

L121254

Exactly what I thought. If they had told me in the quote that an original radiator in my utility room would have to be moved to fit a new one I wouldn't have agreed to the work.
I'm basically being invoiced £60 for someone coming out for 10 minutes and me telling them no I'm not happy with that,it wasn't in the quote so no thanks

TheCyclingProgrammer

You really have two choices. Pay it or tell them you aren't going to pay it. It's up to them whether they want to pursue a small claim against you for £60.

glasgowdan

I'd imagine they get paid for around 10% of these invoices they send. You really have two choices; ignore it, or get in touch to tell them to wind their necks in. Up to you.

Sicard

You don't have to pay anything for radiation in your home. Nuclear fallout is free to everyone it affects.

Furts

Luke2611 wrote: »

So are they within there rights to do this and do I have to pay it??? It says nothing on the quote about if work is cancelled I would have to pay anything.
😀

Doozergirl, and others who work in the construction industry try valiantly to offer advice to consumers. It is not easy doing this because of the dumbing down, and loss of common sense with countless consumers.

In this post OP has not got his new radiator, nor his cold spot investigated and rectified.

Most people can accept that a radiator needs pipes to it, and these pipes may have to be visible. If a radiator is moved it is not rocket science to put a little grout in a couple of screw holes that have been revealed. If perfection is required, and this is fine by me, then OP should have some spare tiles carefully stored from re-tiling the room. Simply fit them where the screw holes are.

Should OP pay the £60? Nobody can say because nobody was a witness to what was agreed regarding how the work should be done. However if OP is so concerned about aesthetics and details why did he not confirm back this required details by email? This situation would not then have occurred.

I have highlighted OP's sentence above in despair. To wait until the plumber is in the utility room and then cancel the job using this logic beggars belief.

phil24_7

Furts. I value your input on this forum but I must disagree with you here.

From a strictly legal point of view they can make no charges that weren't agreed to.

No cancellation charge was mentioned before, none in the quote and the plumber on the day said there was no charge (all companies are vicariously liable for the employees actions and inactions). There needs to be an offer, consideration and acceptance, once this is done, any changes to this contract would form the basis of a new. The moving of a radiator and additional visible pipework could well mean the contract has been changed but regardless, no cancellation fee was ever part of the original contract.

I agree that most people will realise that a new rad needs pies, but they may also expect these to go into the subfloor like the rest of their rads (if this is how existing rads are fitted). Most people will also likely expect the currents rads to remain unaffected. Moving these may affect the aesthetics of a room or make it obvious if other rads are nearby...hell it may even upset someone's OCD and these cahnges should be highlighted by the professionals. It appears the pros didn't realise this until later causing a material change to the contract.

To be fair, I wouldn't want my existing rads moved (all are at the same height) and I wouldn't want visible pipes, but I would have instructed them to price up the changes to see if it was something I was happy with. If not I would have got the original quote adjusted so that they could sort out the cold spots etc without the new rad.