Incorrectly charged now threatened with small claim courts

bhavesh27

mattyprice4004 said:

bhavesh27 said:

steampowered said:

They say that they have recorded the call of you agreeing to the hourly rate.

That's easy then: ask them to provide the recording.

Does it matter if they have recorded verbal communication? Just like I heard them saying or understood it was fixed rate job, their colleague noted wrong email address which I have them correctly in the same call. What I mean to say is written quotation should have been sent with cancellation policy. They say in their recorded call I agreed to hourly rate. Whereas I am disputing as I did not hear that even though it was said.

How is the part highlighted in bold their fault? What you choose to listen to isn't their problem. 
I could just claim not to hear all sorts in recorded calls if so. 
What matters is what was said, not what you heard. What was said? 

What I heard is ofcose not their fault. I hired them based on what I heard. At the same time as a consumer I should have been provided an estimate/quotation of the job, their T&C and cancellation policy. If I had this then I would have not hired them. Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

born_again

bhavesh27 said:Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

How do you prove a verbal phone call?

Sandtree

bhavesh27 said:

mattyprice4004 said:

bhavesh27 said:

steampowered said:

They say that they have recorded the call of you agreeing to the hourly rate.

That's easy then: ask them to provide the recording.

Does it matter if they have recorded verbal communication? Just like I heard them saying or understood it was fixed rate job, their colleague noted wrong email address which I have them correctly in the same call. What I mean to say is written quotation should have been sent with cancellation policy. They say in their recorded call I agreed to hourly rate. Whereas I am disputing as I did not hear that even though it was said.

How is the part highlighted in bold their fault? What you choose to listen to isn't their problem. 
I could just claim not to hear all sorts in recorded calls if so. 
What matters is what was said, not what you heard. What was said? 

What I heard is ofcose not their fault. I hired them based on what I heard. At the same time as a consumer I should have been provided an estimate/quotation of the job, their T&C and cancellation policy. If I had this then I would have not hired them. Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

Again... if you feel you had to have a written quote before the job is done why did you allow them to spend 8 hours in your home? Were you intending from the outset to avoid the bill by saying no quote = no payment?

born_again said:

bhavesh27 said:Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

How do you prove a verbal phone call?

The OP states that the call was recorded, so you play the tape or have it transcribed

bhavesh27

Sandtree said:

bhavesh27 said:

mattyprice4004 said:

bhavesh27 said:

steampowered said:

They say that they have recorded the call of you agreeing to the hourly rate.

That's easy then: ask them to provide the recording.

Does it matter if they have recorded verbal communication? Just like I heard them saying or understood it was fixed rate job, their colleague noted wrong email address which I have them correctly in the same call. What I mean to say is written quotation should have been sent with cancellation policy. They say in their recorded call I agreed to hourly rate. Whereas I am disputing as I did not hear that even though it was said.

How is the part highlighted in bold their fault? What you choose to listen to isn't their problem. 
I could just claim not to hear all sorts in recorded calls if so. 
What matters is what was said, not what you heard. What was said? 

What I heard is ofcose not their fault. I hired them based on what I heard. At the same time as a consumer I should have been provided an estimate/quotation of the job, their T&C and cancellation policy. If I had this then I would have not hired them. Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

Again... if you feel you had to have a written quote before the job is done why did you allow them to spend 8 hours in your home? Were you intending from the outset to avoid the bill by saying no quote = no payment?

born_again said:

bhavesh27 said:Does a verbal phone call has more strength in the court?

How do you prove a verbal phone call?

The OP states that the call was recorded, so you play the tape or have it transcribed

I allowed them because I was under the impression it was a fixed price job. However that does not change the fact that other professional company came in and found the leak in 90 mins. Will my argument stand in front of the court judge? My main issue is they abused their hourly rate policy by staying there for such long time and still did not find anything which raised a question of their competencies to do the job. I did not get what I hired them for.

Sandtree

bhavesh27 said:
 Will my argument stand in front of the court judge? My main issue is they abused their hourly rate policy by staying there for such long time and still did not find anything which raised a question of their competencies to do the job. I did not get what I hired them for.

Going to court is always going to be a bit of a roll of the dice, hence in part why the appeals process exists. 

Personally, I find it difficult that based on the scenario that you owe them nothing at all. With these things there is always an element of luck... we had some drain people out who after a couple of hours declared the problem unfixable by them within the scope of our insurance policy. We called out a different company and they happened to park in the wrong place but parking there they spotted water escaping from a manhole cover. They tried to fix but couldnt (paid them the call out charge). Insurer based team came back out again and cleared the problem without an issue. Had the other chap not parked in the wrong place its likely neither would have found the problem.

Certainly not saying they are due all 8 hours but there is clearly scope for a compromise between 0 and 8 unless you can point to evidence that the fixed fee is only payable on success (which certainly isnt the norm for fixed priced work)