Unfair admin fees help

Cyber007

Just wondering if I'm right in thinking these fees are ridiculous and who is complain to after them....

Contacted local building control for retrospective planning on Windows we'd put in.

Filled out online form emailed it on and paid but never heard contacted by inspectors to arrange a date to inspect.
We never chased it as we are in process of evicting tenant as she wouldn't let anyone in anyway to do maintenance etc.

Never the less the house is now sold subject to contract and the purchaser intends on changing the windows anyway.

I contacted the buildings control asking for a refund as I'd not used their service.

We originally paid £128.63..... They offered us 'We can refund £44.63 back to your card. This is the original payment of £128.63 less £70.00 administration fee'

Awesome maths there, that aside that's one hell of a admin cost given there's nothing anywhere about it on their form or website nor is it a reasonable amount given that it's over half of the original cost, never mind that they never called, emailed contacted us in any way shape or form....

Just wanted second opinion and what ombudsmen we'd contact regarding this.

Thanks in advance.

powerful_Rogue

What are the time frames?

stuartJo1989

Also, you don't appear to be a consumer here ("we are in process of evicting tenant") so wouldn't have any Consumer Rights. It would be a business to business (b2b) contract.

SouthUKMan

I don't think it is necessarily unreasonable that you have been charged an admin fee.

You asked a local authority to start a formal process. The fact that the process didn't conclude because you've moved on in life isn't the council's fault. Regardless of whether an inspector came out or not, the chances are that some time will already have been allocated to your application.

That said, you might be able to prove the fee is unjust if you can demonstrate that an unreasonable period of time had elapsed between you submitting the application and you asking for the refund. I wouldn't hold your breath though.

At the end of the day, you started the process, and then you cancelled it. In the meantime the council's invested staff time (at a cost) to meet your requests along the way. This staff time is of course paid for by the council tax payer, so personally I'm glad they're not allowing people a free ride at peoples' expense.

shaun_from_Africa

It's worth remembering that the admin fee of £70 will be inclusive of VAT so in reality, the council will be receiving about £58.

£58 wouldn't go too far once you take staff wages and general running costs of the offices into account.

Cyber007

Please don't misunderstand here.

I asked them for a service which they did not perform. Despite being given from January 2017 until October 2017 to perform the requested task.

Had this been as others have mentioned a b2b contract, then surely they are in breach of thier commitments?

I don't think that giving them 6months + is a unreasonable amount of time for them to complete the requested task.

There was never any communication from them at all and they had implied before we paid for the service that they could get the inspection done within a few days.

So to re-iterate, I paid for a service, never had ANY communication from them, waited from January until October for them to do the paid for task which they never performed. There was no indication from them that they had actually done anything with regards to our request and there was no mention of any administration penalties in the event of them NOT doing the requested work.

How are we at fault here? Or have I misunderstood? I have no issues paying a reasonable amount to cover the transfer of the balance and 30minutes admin for the paperwork etc.... but I DO NOT accept that after we "initiated the work" and they "did not" perform the requested task or even contact us at all regarding the matter, we somehow should be responsible for their department underperforming or not doing the jobs they are given...

Does anybody body any useful information on who to contact to complain here. Opinions are fine but they aren't really helpful. If this was an issue with a utility company I'd just contact the relevant ombudsman or governing body, who do you contact when it's the council at fault?

meer53

You never contacted them to arrange a date for them to inspect. Can't see how they are at fault here really, you've cancelled the request by asking for a refund as far as they're concerned, what do their terms say about cancelling ?

NeilCr

Cyber007 wrote: »

Please don't misunderstand here.

I asked them for a service which they did not perform. Despite being given from January 2017 until October 2017 to perform the requested task.

Had this been as others have mentioned a b2b contract, then surely they are in breach of thier commitments?

I don't think that giving them 6months + is a unreasonable amount of time for them to complete the requested task.

There was never any communication from them at all and they had implied before we paid for the service that they could get the inspection done within a few days.

So to re-iterate, I paid for a service, never had ANY communication from them, waited from January until October for them to do the paid for task which they never performed. There was no indication from them that they had actually done anything with regards to our request and there was no mention of any administration penalties in the event of them NOT doing the requested work.

How are we at fault here? Or have I misunderstood? I have no issues paying a reasonable amount to cover the transfer of the balance and 30minutes admin for the paperwork etc.... but I DO NOT accept that after we "initiated the work" and they "did not" perform the requested task or even contact us at all regarding the matter, we somehow should be responsible for their department underperforming or not doing the jobs they are given...

Does anybody body any useful information on who to contact to complain here. Opinions are fine but they aren't really helpful. If this was an issue with a utility company I'd just contact the relevant ombudsman or governing body, who do you contact when it's the council at fault?

https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/make-a-complaint

Easy to google

You’ll need to go through the council’s complaints system first. It should be on their website

stuartJo1989

You also mentioned that the tenant wouldn't allow anyone in to do maintenance either? Sounds like YOUR TENANT was also partially to blame in that they refused entry.

Between that and you not contacting the buildings control (OR not contacting them until November 2017 when, instead of authorising the work, you asked to cancel the contract) I can't really see how buildings control are to blame here...

If you want to post up the council/buildings control then we can look through the Ts and Cs for you

Aside from that, it is not unreasonable for a company to charge a fee if a contract is breached. I personally think that £70 is fair, but then again you are disputing who is at fault and as such if the buildings control are at fault then the fee ISN'T fair for you!

So yea, what I'm trying to say is that this may require you to:

1. Complain to the council as previously suggested

2. Pay the fee and then take them to small claims court armed with your evidence that THEY breached the contract and/or the fees/losses cannot be evidenced.

3. (Optional) Hire a lawyer to go through everything with you, particularly if you are a business (estate agent/landlord etc).

Manxman_in_exile

I would have thought:


1. complain to the council as per their published complaint procedure and


2, once that is exhausted, if you are still dissatisfied, escalate to the ombudsman.


You don't want to make a claim until you have done this.

harrys_dad

Cyber007 wrote: »

Please don't misunderstand here.


Does anybody body any useful information on who to contact to complain here. Opinions are fine but they aren't really helpful. If this was an issue with a utility company I'd just contact the relevant ombudsman or governing body, who do you contact when it's the council at fault?

This is a public forum and all you are going to get is "opinions", albeit some of them are very informed. If you want more than "opinions" then pay to see a solicitor.