Appliance service - unauthorised work

10_Forward

I had my hot tub serviced a few weeks ago. During the service, the engineer said that one of the pumps was showing signs of wear, and he could change it as is was still under a 5 year warranty. Naturally I said yes. A couple of days later I received a telephone call from the company telling me there had been a mistake, and my model only had a 2 year warranty, and therefore I would have to pay the full cost (several hundred pounds). This was a bit of a shock to say the least. During the call, the company admitted it was "partly their fault", and perhaps we could meet half way; this is still hundreds of pounds. Rightly or wrongly I said this could be an answer. A few days later I received an invoice for the full amount. Does anyone know what my legal standing on this is? The way I see it there are 3 courses of action:

1. I am liable for the full amount.

2. I am not liable at all.

3. The company can re-install my old pump (if they still have it) and remove their now worthless pump.

Had I been aware of the cost, I would have held off changing the pump and tried to source my own - there was still life left in the old one.

I've tried contacting Trading Standards, but it coincided with the coronavirus shut-down so I am unlikely to receive an answer any time soon. First World problems!

Aylesbury_Duck

Not quite "unauthorised work" because you agreed to it, more a case of being unintentionally misled.

In your position I'd negotiate with the company and remind them of their offer to halve the cost.  It may just be an administrative error that you've been invoiced for the full amount.  After all, if the pump was likely to fail soon anyway, you would have had to pay the full price for supply and fit, so if you get it for half of that, you've done well.  Your bargaining position is that if they won't honour that original offer, you will ask them to return and re-fit your old pump.  That will cost them, probably more than the half-price offer, so I suspect they'll honour the original offer.

If you push for it free of charge, they could of course insist on coming back and putting your old pump back, which won't look a good deal when it fails in six months time and you have to pay double for it.

unholyangel

No you're not liable. You never agreed to provide any consideration so there was never a binding contract. The company have basically been negligent and are now trying to make you liable for their negligence. 


Even if there had been a contract, the trader would have been required to provide certain information to you in a durable medium before you were bound by the contract - part of that informatio is the total price and no change can be made to that information without the consumers express agreement (before or after entering the contract).