Work done on house without my permission

bob_a_builder

I think  - "Can you come round and look at my guttering" is a phase which could easily be taken to mean - sort it out please 

grumbler

bob_a_builder said:

I think  - "Can you come round and look at my guttering" is a phase which could easily be taken to mean - sort it out please 

Do you mean 'sort it out at any cost you want without asking me first'?

twopenny

I'm thinking that they had to check that the downpipe wasn't faulty which would be their problem.

They would have had to send someone with tools and materials to check it and in doing so they had to clear it to establish that it was not a fault of their workmanship but was moss which would be your problem.

And why should they come for an investigation at their time and expense to tell you that it was something you had/hadn't done at no charge. There could have been a call out for that and you'd still be doing it yourself.

If they hadn't cleared it and we had had several days of deluge with your gutter overflowing  would you have been mad because they didn't do it while they were there.

Just going on how I would think in your place. I think you are using hindsight

I can see why you are irritated. I once got more work done on a car than I asked for at a price I could ill afford but the fact is the work was done and I owed them for that. I seethed for years about it but made darn sure that I was totally clear about what I was asking in the future.

Rosa_Damascena

I accept that money is tight for the OP but there is such a thing as a false economy. This morning it was discovered that one of my chimneys had been "fixed" years ago by a cowboy and was balanced very precariously on a rusted mount. There was the real danger of 2 tonnes of bricks coming down and the only reason it was discovered was because I was having my roof stripped, felted, battened and re-tiled by the professionals.

All work stopped until they spoke to me, which was wholly unnecessary. I dread to think how much removing it will cost but in my view it couldn't be left and I would have been quite happy if my builders had made an executive decision on my behalf. 

Norman_Castle

Its possible the only way to know what was blocking the guttering was to clear it. Should they do this for free? Would you have been willing to pay for an assesmentvof the problem?

fezster

I think businesses need to be clear on what their charges are. If there was a call out fee, this should have been explained.

Regardless of the outcome (a good one for the OP in this case), any work should have been authorised before they proceeded. In this case the charge was £75, but would those saying "just pay it" be saying the same if they had asked for £500? Or £1000? The amount is besides the point.

They're chancing it and assuming most people will just pay the £75. But this doesn't mean a contract exists or that any money is owed.

All of this hinges on the original conversation. If OP was vague in what they asked for or may have implied they wanted the problem fixing, that would change everything. 

Mistral001

The OP admits that if the company had asked for payment to fix the problem which was not caused by the original installation, then they would have gotten a neighbour to do it for free.   Maybe acting a little in bad faith with this company especially since your instructions were a bit vague?

TELLIT01

Catslovelycats said:

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.

You asked them to investigate the cause of a problem and there would be a cost involved in doing that.  Did you expect them to do that for nothing?  There is travelling time and cost, plus the actual time taken to investigate the cause.  They could easily have charge that amount to do precisely what you requested, leaving you with a bill an an unresolved problem.  They fixed the problem but you are trying to use that to get out of paying.

silvercar

1. you've used them before, so an established relationship
2. you called them out to "look at your guttering" which is vague enough that they could have reasonably implied that it included fixing it
3. if all you meant was tell me what is wrong but don't fix it, you should have been explicit on that. Maybe you should have asked them to check if there was a claim under the warranty.
4. a call out when you don't then use them for the work nearly always carries a charge. So we aren't talking about £75 loss to you, but whatever 75 less the call out would have been. So you are arguing a much smaller amount
5. good tradesmen are hard to find, so if you were happy with their work I would chalk this one up to experience and move on.

Next time, be around when the tradesmen call to avoid any misunderstanding and agree any call out or repair charges in advance. I always ask what the cost would be for just the callout or a callout and fix.

macman

Catslovelycats said:

They said the charge is for labour. Correct. Clearing the moss is not covered by the guarantee - understandably. But as I couldn't see the moss (it was inside the pipe as I've said) I called them out.

It doesn't matter if you could see it or not. Blocking with moss or anything else is not covered under warranty, unless it's been so badly assembled that there is an internal obstruction causing the moss to build up and block.
It would have taken them seconds to clear the blockage-would you rather they had come back later and quite justifiably charged you another £75 to put up the ladder and unblock it?
Ideally, they should have called you out of the house and said 'sorry guv/madam, it's blocked with moss, that's not covered under warranty so will incur a call-out charge of £75'. But they didn't. To even see the problem, they'd have had to remove the moss anyway.
£75 call out, travel to your address, two staff attending-all perfectly reasonable.