Kitchen Company Charging Extra

lbrown125

Hi, I wondered if someone could please help me. I am in the process of getting my new kitchen fitted and the kitchen company has just presented me with a new bill after the quotation was agreed. This is due to extra electrical works carried out without my permission. Basically the electrician said the electric weren't safe and that new ones had to be installed, his actual words were 'these electrics are a joke but don't worry love we'll sort it'. Stupidly I thought that this was included in the original quotation as the kitchen company did a full visit. I didn't formally agree to any extra works and wasn't given a price. I have just received a bill for an extra £1,100 which obviously I was really shocked at. Can anyone let me know where I stand please? I am not trying to be difficult I just wasn't expecting this huge bill and would have thought that someone would have asked me before carrying out works that cost so much (25% extra costs than the original quotation for fitting). Thank you

ashe

What have they actually done?

brightontraveller

lbrown125 wrote: »

Hi, I wondered if someone could please help me. I am in the process of getting my new kitchen fitted and the kitchen company has just presented me with a new bill after the quotation was agreed. This is due to extra electrical works carried out without my permission. Basically the electrician said the electric weren't safe and that new ones had to be installed, his actual words were 'these electrics are a joke but don't worry love we'll sort it'. Stupidly I thought that this was included in the original quotation as the kitchen company did a full visit. I didn't formally agree to any extra works and wasn't given a price. I have just received a bill for an extra £1,100 which obviously I was really shocked at. Can anyone let me know where I stand please? I am not trying to be difficult I just wasn't expecting this huge bill and would have thought that someone would have asked me before carrying out works that cost so much (25% extra costs than the original quotation for fitting). Thank you

Check T and C,s with respect its irrelevant what they have done ~It means nothing if you didn’t request, sign for ,agree too it etc Check T and C,s some low life kitchen firms add or should I say attempt to add clause that extra works can be carried out etc without authorisation of client or there representative ( contract wouldn't stand up too any legal scrutiny though ),

[FONT=&quot]Politely ask them to remove works which you didn’t request etc and do only the works you both contractually agreed too if this means removing and making good under terms of original contract is there responsibility all well and good.... [/FONT]

Doozergirl

Knowing what they've done would be helpful, but electricians don't often know until they've started stripping things back. They can't see behind the walls and so I wouldn't expect a measurement survey to highlight problems.

Electrical work has to be legal and an electrician can't carry out work if what it connects from isn't legal. It isn't certifiable. In all honesty, I'm not surprised as I'd say that 9/10 jobs our electrician ends up with some extra kind of remedial work, even if it's just updating the consumer unit. New regs for those were only introduced at the beginning of 2016.

Do you have a contract? Your quotation will contain a certain amount of work, if unforeseen electrical work is found, it won't have been quoted for. Admittedly it would be helpful for you to know what was done and given an idea of how much it might cost!

Richard_Overton_2911

Doozergirl wrote: »

Knowing what they've done would be helpful, but electricians don't often know until they've started stripping things back. They can't see behind the walls and so I wouldn't expect a measurement survey to highlight problems.

Electrical work has to be legal and an electrician can't carry out work if what it connects from isn't legal. It isn't certifiable. In all honesty, I'm not surprised as I'd say that 9/10 jobs our electrician ends up with some extra kind of remedial work, even if it's just updating the consumer unit. New regs for those were only introduced at the beginning of 2016.

Do you have a contract? Your quotation will contain a certain amount of work, if unforeseen electrical work is found, it won't have been quoted for. Admittedly it would be helpful for you to know what was done and given an idea of how much it might cost!

The company should have notified the client the moment the sparky found the issues.Then give them a quote or estimate based on what work was going to be carried out.

You don't just do the work and then present an invoice. Cowboys do that not genuine ,honest traders.

Apart from something like the cooker cable size ,I can't think what extra work would be needed that couldn't have been seen before the work commenced. The consumer unit would be there for all to see prior to work commencing.

Be interesting to know what work they actually carried out and may be a case of a subcontractor charging £500 for extra work and the rest of the bill is the kitchen companies profit.

lbrown125

Hi, they have charged for 2 x new MCBS for electrical board (£90 each). 10mm pipe bonded to hot water replaced with cold water £45. New sockets (10 @£66 each). New ring main £235. Thanks for your help

Ant555

lbrown125 wrote: »

New sockets (10 @£66 each)

Are these the solid gold ones that Donald Trump has in his penthouse?

shaun_from_Africa

lbrown125 wrote: »

Hi, they have charged for 2 x new MCBS for electrical board (£90 each). 10mm pipe bonded to hot water replaced with cold water £45. New sockets (10 @£66 each). New ring main £235. Thanks for your help

New MCB's cost somewhere in the region of £3 to £4 each and even good quality white wall sockets are only a few £s each. Metal ones are a bit more but still well under a tenner each.
Even if the figures they have quoted are inclusive of chasing out the walls for new cables and making cut outs for the new sockets, it looks like they are trying to take you for a mug.

Risteard

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

New MCB's cost somewhere in the region of £3 to £4 each

Not necessarily. Sourcing defunct circuit breakers (they haven't been called MCBs since the 16th Edition) can be considerably expensive where even possible.

photome

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

New MCB's cost somewhere in the region of £3 to £4 each and even good quality white wall sockets are only a few £s each. Metal ones are a bit more but still well under a tenner each.
Even if the figures they have quoted are inclusive of chasing out the walls for new cables and making cut outs for the new sockets, it looks like they are trying to take you for a mug.

metal ones can be more than £10 if they are double sockets , but nothing like £66

Just had my kitchen done and the fitter didnt quote me for sockets as wasnt sure how many we wanted until he stripped out, ended up paying for 8 ( one was a few quid more than £10 which included usb sockets) paid him an extra £60 in total

OP you have been ripped off on the face of it . have you paid him or are you still arguing

Doozergirl

Nobody knows the context of these new sockets, whether it constituted a partial rewire or fitted replacements. What one can assume is that the guy isn't just selling the sockets like Screwfix and delivering them to the door still in their packaging so there's little point in getting horrofied whilst trying to account for the retail price of sockets without any labour.

The OP has employed a 'kitchen company' so I'm guessing that he is a subcontractor there's a mark up. How much depends on who the OP employed. If he has just been brought in to do the job and isn't project managing it then he probably just feels that his job is to get the work done and bill the company.

I suspect a lack of communication rather than a cowboy. Whoevwr suggested that they put eveeything back to how it was is a silly comment. If it wasn't compliant then the OP would have no working kitchen. The conversation over what was done and why needs to take place and a sensible conclusion drawn for everyone.