Electrician charging for fault that he 'couldn't' fix that has subsequently been fixed.

EmilyH285

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

EmilyH285 said:

We knew the cost of the electrician, however were not told that there would be an additional cost for the extra person. The only work that required two people was removing the faulty wire (the first 30 mins of work). Connecting a single socket back into a circuit wouldn't take two people (you also couldn't fit two people into the space that they were working in!). 

Sorry what I meant was what aspect of the job required two people? Moving heavy objects? Sheer force to yank the cable free? 

If the cable really did need 2 people to pull it out you can't really expect 2 people to attend but one of them leave once the two man part is done.  

That said as above I think £45 p/h for the apprentice is unreasonable. 

Regarding the work being done to a satisfactory standard, typically it's proper to give the tradesman a chance to correct the issue, although if doing so would cause you significant inconvenience (or they was simply unable to) you do have the right to a price reduction. 

Sorry, I misunderstood!
They claimed that it would take two people to remove the cable, so that is why there were two of them originally. But they said they were unable to pull it out 
However, with a little bit of wiggling my partner managed to remove the cable on his own later that evening. They claimed they didn't want to force it so they didn't damage anything, however we didn't have to damage anything to remove it. We desperately needed it fixing so a small amount of damage that we were aware of would have been no problem, but they made out like it just couldn't be done.