Kitchen fitter adding additional charges

freyamae

I have just had my kitchen fitted and flooring laid by a work colleagues husband who runs his own home improvement firm. Very foolishly on both parts the price agreed was verbal. Fast forward to the final invoice and a job that was quoted for £2500 was invoiced for £3377!!!

Followed has been much two and fro by email and him insisting that we had added the flooring after the price and it was only an estimate and we never asked for a quote amongst other nonsense. After highlighting various emails and texts that proved we had a. Asked for a quote and b. Flooring was mentioned on day one he was still insisting that I was wrong. I therefor used a citizens advice template letter to offer a full and final payment of the original price.

Low and behold we then receive a new invoice looking far more official and agreeing that the flooring was in the original price but still coming out at £3077 due to added on materials and what he calls other work completed. He still insists it was an estimate even though this was not stated until these invoices.

I have a good paper trail to prove several discrepancies but am unsure what we should do next? It's crazy, if he had given a final bill of a couple of hundred more I probably would have paid it but both invoices are nonsense and being essentially accused of lying I am reluctant to give him a penny over the £2500.

Can anyone give me some advice where I stand and opinions???

Thanks in advance

agrinnall

Assuming the work has been completed, pay the £2500 and let him take you to court for the rest - he probably won't, but if he does you're confident of your case then let the judge decide.

neilmcl

How good is your relationship with your work colleague, worth coming to some sort of compromise over?

Personally I'd stay clear of using family, friends or indeed friends of friends etc to do work, nearly always ends in complications.

Marktheshark

A complete new kitchen with flooring for £3k ?
Post his number, he is going to be very busy.

freyamae

Marktheshark wrote: »

A complete new kitchen with flooring for £3k ?
Post his number, he is going to be very busy.

No just the fitting of, we purchased the kitchen and flooring separately!

SouthUKMan

A verbal agreement is still a legally binding contract - only one with the difficulty of proving what was said by both parties.

The technical answer is that if you are 100% sure that you were given a quote (a specific non-negotiable amount for the complete job) and not an estimate (an educated guess with the proviso that the figure could go up, or indeed down, once the work has been completed) - then pay the £2,500. But be prepared for the fact that he might wish to bring a case in the small claims court (where a judge would decide on what was initially agreed between you and the fitter).

The more balanced answer is to encourage you to pause to consider the value of the work you have received and whether it is potentially worth risking friendships / colleague relationships over? I am not passing any judgement as I don't know the answer to either questions! However, if for example you secretly think that £2,500 was in fact a bit of a steal and you know that another fitter would have charged £3,500, and if you have a close knit friendship with the fitter's wife at work - then as neilmcl suggests, maybe it is worth trying to strike a compromise at £2,850 for example.

freyamae

Thanks for this, I have both email and texts requesting a quote so as far as I'm concerned that is what it is. To be honest although I like the wife I no longer work in the same building so would get over it. I plan on emailing him querying some of his extras and offering a compromise. Silly thing is I would have happily paid a couple of hundred more but after the original £877 over and the accusations I had never said things I knew to be true and his endless contradictions I really don't know if it's worth it.

sheramber

Did his reply say 'quote' or 'estimate' on it?

freyamae

sheramber wrote: »

Did his reply say 'quote' or 'estimate' on it?

Neither unfortunately, I know he never said estimate before the bill arrived but unfortunately I have nothing in writing.

shaun_from_Africa

freyamae wrote: »

Thanks for this, I have both email and texts requesting a quote so as far as I'm concerned that is what it is.

sheramber wrote: »

Did his reply say 'quote' or 'estimate' on it?

freyamae wrote: »

Neither unfortunately,

As you have proof of asking for a quotation for the work and the fitter responded by giving you a figure then like you, I would assume that the figure given was what you asked for which was a quote and not an estimate.
Hopefully, if it came to legal action then I would hope a sensible judge would look at it the same way.

comeandgo

Were the extras things that needed to be done that he would not have known about when he gave his quote? Be very careful on going to court over building works.