Work done on house without my permission

fezster

Putting emotion and morality aside, there are 2 things to consider:

1. Was there a "call out charge" communicated to OP before the firm came out?
2. Was this charge for work undertaken, and if so, was this agreed with OP?

Jeepers_Creepers

Allowing for the fact that this is a professional firm and not a one-man 'handyman' type outfit, the charge of £75 is probably not unreasonable for what they actually did - two folk up a ladder, possibly dismantling the downpipe, and cleaning it out.

So, imo, that part isn't unreasonable.

To call out the installers in order to check an issue, with the intention that - if it turns out to not be a 'warranty' job - you are going to tell them "Thanks for confirming what the problem is, bye now - I'll get my neighb to sort it for now't" is not reasonable.

Given these two, albeit conflicting, points, I would say that the honourable thing to do is to pay up, and thank them for a job well done.

Given that there is very very little that can actually go wrong with a gutter/downpipe installation (they are a simple series of pipes) the installers quite likely - on receiving your call - rolled their eyes and said "Uh-oh - wild goose chase here, with a customer with a high expectancy level..." and felt they were making a point by making it clear that they are NOT liable for naturally-occuring blockages that are of no cause by them.

Of course, they SHOULD have made it clear in advance that "Yes, of course we'll come out to check if it's an installation issue, but - if it isn't - we will have to charge a call-out fee, or will carry out a fix for X per hour."

So, guttering folk were a bit remiss, but still did what they should have, whereas customer would have been very naughty to have sent them packing without any payment.

Overall, then, an ok result. To begrudge paying them would be very churlish.

imo.

Rosa_Damascena

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Overall, then, an ok result. To begrudge paying them would be very churlish.

imo.

It would if the OP had the readies. If they genuinely don't have the money then I can understand the frustration about the possibility of not being able to pay for planned bills and it tips them into debt at a premium.

Jeepers_Creepers

Rosa_Damascena said:

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Overall, then, an ok result. To begrudge paying them would be very churlish.

imo.

It would if the OP had the readies. If they genuinely don't have the money then I can understand the frustration about the possibility of not being able to pay for planned bills and it tips them into debt at a premium.

Yeah, I guess.

But she managed to pay for the installation, seemingly, and I bet that was a lot more than £75. Her neighb would have done it for half the price... :-)

The company was remiss, yes - they didn't make their T&Cs clear. But - seemingly - the OP's intention was a tad dishonourable from the off...

twopenny

Not sure it was dishonourable, a bit naive maybe if genuine.

Could be they want to know what and where the problem was for free then get the neighbour to help for free or just hope the company would.

There are so many scenarios it's not possible to say.

But to have the problem solved there and then when a couple of weeks of downpours could have caused worse problems is something most of us would be grateful for and just suck it up.

I do wonder though if this is new guttering how it could accumulate so much moss that it would be washed off and down  a pipe sufficient to block it. Should the company have mentioned this before installation if the roof is so dense in moss?

greenface2

I will oome out with my mate . spend a bit of time travelling . off load ladders to see what the problem is . Moss in downpipe or gutter . now I'm here I will sort that . Min charge call out and get ladders off £75 Hope its fixed the problem . They could have billed you 75 without sorting it out , Then another 75 for another call to fix it . Why didn't your neighbour get up there before you called people from other jobs 

sevenhills

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Given that there is very very little that can actually go wrong with a gutter/downpipe installation (they are a simple series of pipes)

I am not sure what work was done and how long ago it was, but surely the work should include any cleaning of moss that is big enough to be dislodged and block the pipework.

That being said, the OP seems to be a little green if he wasn't aware that there would be a charge. He should have got his neighbour to look first, to see if it was faulty work.

Rosa_Damascena

greenface2 said:

I will oome out with my mate . spend a bit of time travelling . off load ladders to see what the problem is . Moss in downpipe or gutter . now I'm here I will sort that . Min charge call out and get ladders off £75 Hope its fixed the problem . They could have billed you 75 without sorting it out , Then another 75 for another call to fix it . Why didn't your neighbour get up there before you called people from other jobs 

Careful 

fezster

I don't think anyone is arguing that a tradesmen should not be able to charge for their time. However, it's the underhanded nature which annoys people like me. This is their trade - they do it day in and day out, and this is not the first time they've come across this scenario. Why not be upfront and explain the costs, if they apply?

Imagine going into a clothes shop and asking the assistant to measure you for sizing. You proceed to walk out without purchasing anything and go to another shop - they then say you owe them £75. Why should they not be allowed to charge for their time?

Doozergirl

fezster said:

I don't think anyone is arguing that a tradesmen should not be able to charge for their time. However, it's the underhanded nature which annoys people like me. This is their trade - they do it day in and day out, and this is not the first time they've come across this scenario. Why not be upfront and explain the costs, if they apply?

Imagine going into a clothes shop and asking the assistant to measure you for sizing. You proceed to walk out without purchasing anything and go to another shop - they then say you owe them £75. Why should they not be allowed to charge for their time?

That's not a good analogy.  The £75 charge wasn't for a measure up, it was for the solution. 

Tradespeople very much charge for their time.  Clothes shops sell a product which includes time.  This is the equivalent of sewing a button back on perhaps, not measuring up for a product that will ultimately pay back financially. It takes as long to check it as fix it.  

Regardless of the communication on both sides, people need to be able to take responsibility for their own maintenance, not rely on calling people out on a warranty to tell you that you've got a simple maintenance issue, especially when your plan is to get someone else to do the work.  Why not get the neighbour to look first?  That would have solved the problem for free. 

If I ask any of my trades to 'look at' something, there's an unwritten expectation that it's getting sorted, not just looked at, especially if it's a tiny thing.   People who replace guttering aren't a public service to unblock debris for us for free.  Imagine if we all did that.