Free quote now being asked to pay

MrsG43

Hi all

i contacted a company for a quote to fix my shower, on their website it clearly states that their quotes are free and in the email I sent to them to arrange the quote I also asked for a free quote. 

However when the tradesman came to my home to do a quote he spent more time on his mobile phone trying to diagnose the problem and then asked if he could quickly try changing some cartridges which he had on him. I was told the cost for the cartridges was £12 and no where was I told I would have ti pay for the work. The cartridges didn’t fix the issue and the guy basically said I would need a completely new shower and he would send me a quote for that. 

A few weeks later I received a bill for over £250 for the time that the tradesmen spent at my house. 

Where do I stand on paying this please? I feel like I’ve been taken for a ride as a new shower is going to be just over £500 which I was going to go with the same company before I got this bill. 

I live in Scotland and any help will be much appreciated 

Risteard

Fault diagnosis and repair is a chargeable service. It seems unlikely that they would have agreed to come out to ascertain why your shower wasn't working is a non-chargeable quotation for repairs, but obviously it depends on what precisely was agreed. If they agreed to just "quote" for this after having diagnosed the fault then quite frankly they are mad and/or have poor business acumen.

pramsay13

Ask them why they have sent a bill when you asked for a free quote?

MrsG43

Risteard said:

Fault diagnosis and repair is a chargeable service. It seems unlikely that they would have agreed to come out to ascertain why your shower wasn't working is a non-chargeable quotation for repairs, but obviously it depends on what precisely was agreed. If they agreed to just "quote" for this after having diagnosed the fault then quite frankly they are mad and/or have poor business acumen.

I’ve used the company before for other things around the house and on their website it clearly states free quotes and when I emailed to make the appointment I asked for a free quote as to be honest I wasn’t sure I could afford to fix the shower unless it was under a certain amount, so basically just wanted to know roughly how much I was going to have to pay so that I could factor the cost into when I could afford to do the job. After receiving the bill I have emailed repeatedly asking why I’ve been given this bill when I was just asking for a free quote and they’ve not replied, just sent reminders for me to pay. To be honest the guy they sent didn’t have a clue and was just using Google to try and identify the problem (something I could of done myself) and in the end said he thinks I need a whole new shower which is roughly £500. I accepted this, knew I couldn’t afford to do that yet and said I’d get back in touch with them once I could for them to do the job. Now with this £250 bill for him to just say I need a new shower is half the price of a brand new unit and I definitely can’t afford £750.  

binao

How long was the guy at your house?

At some point it becomes reasonable  to make a charge / expect a charge.

Clive_Woody

binao said:

How long was the guy at your house?

At some point it becomes reasonable  to make a charge / expect a charge.

At that point it would seem reasonable to make the potential client that you have reached that point and what the subsequent charges will be.

Brie

£250 for a diagnosis seems high to me.  But it he actually did some work then perhaps some of that is jutsified.  A few minutes to look - so free.  Look and say "this will fix it!" and 15 minutes to fit - well yes a charge but £20 + parts?  £250 is a few hours work to me and that's assuming thing are done proper.

I had a boiler guy out and paid on the plus side of £250 the other day.  And discovered an issue the next day.  Someone else was sent out for free to sort it all.  Lovely.

binao

Clive_Woody said:

binao said:

How long was the guy at your house?

At some point it becomes reasonable  to make a charge / expect a charge.

At that point it would seem reasonable to make the potential client that you have reached that point and what the subsequent charges will be.

Most tradesmen prefer to be "doing" which is chargeable.

Many clients don't  know when "looking" has ended.

timbstoke

binao said:

Most tradesmen prefer to be "doing" which is chargeable.

Many clients don't  know when "looking" has ended.

Well then the onus is on the tradesman to tell them.

binao

timbstoke said:

binao said:

Most tradesmen prefer to be "doing" which is chargeable.

Many clients don't  know when "looking" has ended.

Well then the onus is on the tradesman to tell them.

And the onus is on the customer to "accept" when the tradesmen has clearly 
told them looking has ended.

greenface2

Quotes take up a lot of a tradesmans day . a decent tradesman wouldn't charge for a quote . unsure if the op has said how long they spent trying to fix it . it didn't fix it so unsure if I would expect to be paid . something similar happened to me recently .