Should I pay?

waribai

We recently had work completed in our house involving decorating and flooring. The whole process turned out to be extremely stressful.

The company's employee was rarely here for more than two hours per day, and did not attend on a number of occasions and hence the work turned from a 3 day to a 14 day project. Often, we would get a last minute text involving: i) funeral to attend ii) doctor's appointments iii) childcare issues. 

Once the work was completed, the rubbish was dumped outside and finally left for us to sort through, the sawdust bags left torn and unsealed and we had to dispose of these along with his personal effects and uneaten food packets all dumped in the same waste. So, we had the fun task of separating all of this. On more than one occasion the employee was also so exhausted he slept in the room he was working in and only woke up. when we checked in on him due to the silence upstairs. 

I think in the circumstances we should be given a partial deduction on the final invoice for the delay, stress, and poor service. This has been requested. 
 However, the company is demanding immediate payment as per their terms and conditions and then they say an investigation will then be carried out regarding the work 
My problem is the work was only completed last Saturday, they are already threatening legal action if we do not pay within 10 days as they say payment of the balance was due on the day of completion. But if we do pay, I am sure there will be no refund! 
They do take credit card payments. Should I just pay them and then take it up with the credit card company/ consumer ombudsman? Or should I just pay them and forget about it? I am inclined to the latter but it does seem to give them licence to continue their shoddy service and then just demand payment afterwards....!

jon81uk

Did you raise your concerns earlier? Try to get another employee who didn't fall asleep at work? What arrangements were agreed with regards to waste removal?

waribai

Hi,

Yes, we did raise concerns in the first 2 days both verbally and via email and we were told they could not get anyone else. They apologised and said there would be an investigation afterward. Unfortunately, waste removal was not discussed. As I say, if it's a case of pay up and move on then I will do it but it seems that once we pay they are fully satisfied but the customer still has a bad taste in the mouth...if that makes sense.

Alderbank

It sounds like the actual work was (eventually) completed to a satisfactory standard, which is some good news.

Look closely at your contract, especially about timings, to pinpoint where they have breached the contract. If there is nothing the law just expects them to complete it in a 'reasonable' time. Issues like short working days or sleeping on the job, although annoying, are more the employer's problem than yours. Building work is notorious for delays and recent times with materials shortages, covid isolation, etc., have been challenging. Try to identify any actual monetary losses such as taking time off work unnecessarily when nobody showed up.

The waste issue is disgraceful. The contract is sure to have a clause saying 'All waste to be removed from site'.

You don't dispute that they are due payment for most of the bill. You should pay the bill after deducting your costs of where they have not complied with the contract and include a clear statement explaining each of your deductions. There is expert advice on these forums to help you with the detail of that. I trust you have photos of the rubbish!

Paying the reduced amount with cc is OK but it is poor practice to deliberately pay more than you believe you owe then try to claim the excess straight back from the card company. The banks say that s75 should only be used as a last resort when you have no choice. You do have other choices.

waribai

Thanks for your detailed reply. Yes, unfortunately I only have a photo of the waste after I had cleared up a fair bit and foolishly never took photos of his personal waste and I don't want to start reconstructing photos!
Their Ts and Cs do also state that waste and debris is not their responsibility. At this stage I am inclined to pay up, possibly leave a bad trustpilot review which I'm sure will get lost in the 'amazing' work reviews. They can then carry on with their shoddy service!

macman

If the T&C's state that waste is not removed from site, then I fail to see that your complaint amounts to very much at all, and would have been best dealt with by speaking to the contractor at the time. 

TELLIT01

The work took longer than it was supposed to, or needed to, bu it seems it was done to an acceptable standard.  You state that the contract stated that waste would not be removed from site.  On that basis I'm not clear on what basis you believe you have grounds not to pay.

Leave an honest, warts and all, review of their work but that's about it.

pinkshoes

If the work has been done to an acceptable standard and the contract states they do not take waste away, then you need to pay them.

I would then certainly leave a factual review about the personal rubbish left on site, the worker falling asleep, the constant cancellations and only working a couple of hours a day etc...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

How did you engage their services? 

What information did they provide you regarding your right to cancel your contract via durable means (i.e a hard copy, email, messages, paper, excluding info on a website)? 

Grumpy_chap

waribai said:

We recently had work completed in our house involving decorating and flooring. The whole process turned out to be extremely stressful.

The company's employee was rarely here for more than two hours per day, and did not attend on a number of occasions and hence the work turned from a 3 day to a 14 day project. Often, we would get a last minute text involving: i) funeral to attend ii) doctor's appointments iii) childcare issues. 

Once the work was completed, the rubbish was dumped outside and finally left for us to sort through, the sawdust bags left torn and unsealed and we had to dispose of these along with his personal effects and uneaten food packets all dumped in the same waste. So, we had the fun task of separating all of this. On more than one occasion the employee was also so exhausted he slept in the room he was working in and only woke up. when we checked in on him due to the silence upstairs. 

I think in the circumstances we should be given a partial deduction on the final invoice for the delay, stress, and poor service. This has been requested. 
 However, the company is demanding immediate payment as per their terms and conditions and then they say an investigation will then be carried out regarding the work 
My problem is the work was only completed last Saturday, they are already threatening legal action if we do not pay within 10 days as they say payment of the balance was due on the day of completion. But if we do pay, I am sure there will be no refund! 
They do take credit card payments. Should I just pay them and then take it up with the credit card company/ consumer ombudsman? Or should I just pay them and forget about it? I am inclined to the latter but it does seem to give them licence to continue their shoddy service and then just demand payment afterwards....!

Are you treating this as a binary position?  Pay 100% or pay 0%?

Given that the work has been completed, presumably to your satisfaction, pay 0% would incur the wrath of the contractor.

macman

You have suffered no quantifiable losses. You are not entitled to any reduction in the bill for delay, stress, or alleged poor service. Try and make an S75 claim from your card provider on these grounds and they will just laugh at you.