Work done on house without my permission

Catslovelycats

I asked a local guttering firm to "look at" my guttering because there was a problem with leakage. It turned out there was moss in the down guttering. The company emailed me to tell me they had cleared it and wanted me to pay them £75 for doing it.
I never asked them to fix the problem, just look at it.
They are now sending me emails chasing me for payment and I got home to a phone message but nobody was in the office when I called back.
Am I right I am not obliged to pay? Van anyone direct me to anything online as I can't find anything helpful.
They didn't check with me first and didn't replace any guttering - otherwise I'd pay for the materials. The £75 is simply for labour. Labour that I didn't ask or give permission for them to do.
Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks

Niv

What would you have done if they reported that the gutters were blocked with moss and did nothing more? I do also wonder if they they had in their mind that they were coming around for a quote if complex or to rectify if straight forward and that communication has broken down somewhere.

Martin_the_Unjust

£75 sounds a very reasonable price and, if they have cured the problem, pay up and book them in to come and do the same again annually.

Jeepers_Creepers

I'd pay.

Whilst making it clear you are disappointed that they went ahead without permission (if that was truly the understanding).

Tbh, by the time they'd discovered what the cause was, they'd likely done half the work - and you wouldn't have given them anything for this?

Catslovelycats

I would have asked my neighbour to help me clear it for free. He has the 'tools'. Money is tight and if they'd phoned to say the cost I would have said no. I made it clear the job was to "look at" guttering. They have interpreted that as fixing it. I am surprised they didn't consider checking with me first.

grumbler

I guess the moss was in the gutter, at the entrance of the downpipe.

I also guess that they cleaned the adjoining run of gutter too.

According to Checatrade the cost of cleaning 5m is £20 (+ callout?).

I'd ask them what they have actually done for £75 and how this amount was calculated.

That said, if you have such a nice neighbour, why did you not ask him to have a look in the first place?

Niv

Catslovelycats said:

I would have asked my neighbour to help me clear it for free. He has the 'tools'. Money is tight and if they'd phoned to say the cost I would have said no. I made it clear the job was to "look at" guttering. They have interpreted that as fixing it. I am surprised they didn't consider checking with me first.

If you have neighbours that would be willing to help I would suggest that you get them to look for you next time before you call a tradesman. If it were me (which I appreciate we are not the same person), if I had asked a tradesman to take a look at an issue with my guttering and it was something they could fix right away and they didn't I would be asking them why they didn't fix it while they were up there. 

Catslovelycats

The guttering is under guarantee. That is why I called them out first. They installed it. 

maisie_cat

Catslovelycats said:

The guttering is under guarantee. That is why I called them out first. They installed it. 

I suspect most people will think £75 is reasonable and it is possible that they believed that you would rather they fixed it than argue over £75, or indeed thought you were asking them to sort it. Getting up to gutters and clearing is not the most enjoyable job, if fact it's a horrible job so by all means don't pay them, just don't call them again.

Niv

Catslovelycats said:

The guttering is under guarantee. That is why I called them out first. They installed it. 

But what's the guarantee for? Basic maintenance would be your responsibility and you would ordinarily be expected to have done that before calling someone out under their guarantee.

A thought has occurred to me - are they charging you for clearing the guttering or are they charging you for you calling them out under their guarantee for something that was not covered by the guarantee? 

Catslovelycats

The guarantee is for faults. I couldn't see the moss as it was inside the vertical guttering not sitting on the horizontal (if that makes sense!). They said the charge is for labour.