Hourly labour rate changed

Tontogary

I am hoping you could help me here, please.
I have tried to search for this, but no luck.

I am working away from home, and the wife needed some taps fixing, she called a plumber, who told her the hourly rate was £40, which she was happy with.

The plumber turned up, with an apprentice, and did the work.

She has just got the bill, and has been charged £50 an hour, and when questioning it, was told the extra £10 an hour was for the apprentice, who she said did not do any work.

Should she have to pay the extra? She never asked for an apprentice.

Gary

Risteard

You need to think of it in terms of man hours as opposed to merely hours. So it wouldn't seem unreasonable I don't think. I doubt the Apprentice didn't do anything, although the limited amount that they were able to help is reflected in the fact that they were charged out at a quarter of the price.

That said, I am not a lawyer.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I would question it. I have no objection for paying for the time of an apprentice if one turns up and is part of the job, but the electrician should have accounted for that in the price he gave you in the first place, either by giving you the "with an apprentice" price or simply charging the one higher price so his apprentice's wages are covered.

That said, consider how much hassle you want over a tenner. I would at the very least object on principle but I don't know how much of a fight I'd want to make of it. I'd probably end up just paying and informing them that they've lost any future business.

onomatopoeia99

If she was quoted an hourly rate of £40, then £40 is what should be charged. Not £40 plus something else he decided to add after providing a quote.

The plumber is taking the Michael.

Risteard

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

If she was quoted an hourly rate of £40, then £40 is what should be charged. Not £40 plus something else he decided to add after providing a quote.

The plumber is taking the Michael.

The quote was for one person per hour. Assuming this job lasted an hour or more then it would be logical to assume that the bill has probably been reduced by having the second (cheap) person there. Man-hours and hours are not the same thing. But we don't really have enough details (even to know what precisely was agreed).

Tontogary

Risteard wrote: »

The quote was for one person per hour. Assuming this job lasted an hour or more then it would be logical to assume that the bill has probably been reduced by having the second (cheap) person there. Man-hours and hours are not the same thing. But we don't really have enough details (even to know what precisely was agreed).

Then surely by the same reasoning, if you take your car to a garage to be fixed and they say labour is £40 an hour, you would be happy to get charged £80 an hour because 2 mechanics worked on it?
If the apprentice did assist and shorten the job, then they then are free to do more work, on a further appointment in the day, thereby earning more money.

The job was a number of hours, so as well as principle, it does add up.

Tontogary

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

I would question it. I have no objection for paying for the time of an apprentice if one turns up and is part of the job, but the electrician should have accounted for that in the price he gave you in the first place, either by giving you the "with an apprentice" price or simply charging the one higher price so his apprentice's wages are covered.

That said, consider how much hassle you want over a tenner. I would at the very least object on principle but I don't know how much of a fight I'd want to make of it. I'd probably end up just paying and informing them that they've lost any future business.

Thank you for the advice.
You are right it is more a matter of principle, the contact was over the phone, and she was told the price per hour for the job, no apprentice was mentioned.
The work was for 5 hours, so it is a little more than a tenner, but won't break the bank. She was happy with the work, and was considering asking for a quote to refit a bathroom, obviously a much larger job, and the Plummer knew this, so I think we will pay the bill and tell them they won't be needing to quote for the job, and the reason why.

Grenage

Five hours to change a tap!?

shaun_from_Africa

Is the plumber on Checkatrade or any of the similar sites?

If so, I would suggest leaving a factually worded comment on there saying exactly what happened.
He may decide that a £50 refund is worth more than a poor review and asks you to consider amending it.

shaun_from_Africa

Grenage wrote: »

Five hours to change a tap!?

The OP refers to "some taps" so there may well have been a few.

southcoastrgi

I’d love to know what took 5 hrs at a cost of £250