Plumber invoice for unresolved issue

dank_2

Do I have any rights at all if a plumber has unsuccessfully resolved an issue, then sends me an invoice?

Plumber visited us three times as our pipes were/are making a noise:

1. Inspects and says he'll have to come back with a part (A).
2. Installs part, but the noise continues. Says to monitor it in the meantime and contact him if it doesn't disappear.
3. Come back and installs another part (B). Problem continues. He gives up.

I've now received an invoice for £260. I believe he's inflated the price of the parts - part A for £80 when the exact same thing is £25 online for example - and these parts haven't made any difference, so there was no need for them to be installed? I don't mind so much paying for his time.

Unfortunately, I didn't ask him for a quote at the outset because I used him previously and trusted him.

Any advice is appreciated.

Aylesbury_Duck

As always in these situations, it depends on what was agreed. The fact you don't have a quote suggests that the whole thing was a little vague.  It's reasonable for time to be spent diagnosing and trying to fix the problem.  A mark-up on prices is also reasonable, because he's got to travel and buy the parts, but it sounds like the mark-up might be excessive.

I suggest negotiation. Probably much more painless than "going legal", and you still need the problem fixed.  Going elsewhere will almost certainly end in much teeth-sucking and more expense undoing the absolutely terrible job the first guy did...

DullGreyGuy

As you bought the part from him you will have CRA rights if it fails/isnt fit for purpose etc. He has bought it from a shop as a commercial enterprise so has no CRA rights and would struggle much more to get any money back from wherever he bought it from. Add to that the cost of sourcing the part, collecting it, delivering it to you etc. Better look at the cost of the part in your local Screwfix or equiv rather than "online" which can include fake knock off products.

These sorts of things tend to be messy... you are normally paying on a T&M basis rather than a fixed fee to solve the problem. Most will say they believe A will fix it but get your agreement to this solution. It's challenging to then argue that you should have to pay for A having agreed to it. 

To win you'd have to demonstrate that they haven't reasonable skill but with some complaints, like noises, it can be very hard to diagnose the problem and can be a process of elimination. 

dank_2

Thanks to you both. I guess the only thing is to try and negotiate with him. I'll know better in future to get a quote before proceeding with any repairs.

DullGreyGuy

dank_2 said:

Thanks to you both. I guess the only thing is to try and negotiate with him. I'll know better in future to get a quote before proceeding with any repairs.

A quote technically isnt the answer... I can take my car to a garage saying I have a lot of blue smoke coming out the exhaust and they quote for changing the λ valve. I pay it, they change it, it doesn't fix it. They've done what they said and I agreed to it so my grounds for complaint are slim.

If you agree they will fix the problem, rather than change the valve for the price that's a different matter but very few will. Hence the comment being that agreeing to a solution rather than a solution will leave you exposed

tightauldgit

DullGreyGuy said:

dank_2 said:

Thanks to you both. I guess the only thing is to try and negotiate with him. I'll know better in future to get a quote before proceeding with any repairs.

A quote technically isnt the answer... I can take my car to a garage saying I have a lot of blue smoke coming out the exhaust and they quote for changing the λ valve. I pay it, they change it, it doesn't fix it. They've done what they said and I agreed to it so my grounds for complaint are slim.

If you agree they will fix the problem, rather than change the valve for the price that's a different matter but very few will. Hence the comment being that agreeing to a solution rather than a solution will leave you exposed

Yeah I agree on that one - I think often people believe they are paying to fix the problem rather than paying for the time and parts to do a specific piece of work which may or may not solve the problem. 

Of course the proposed solution still has to be reasonable and done with due care etc - if your theoretical garage proposed painting the car red to fix the exhaust then you'd definitely have a claim.

On the other hand, as a business person you do want your customers to be happy so I'd be reluctant to do a job, charge full whack and walk away saying 'i can't fix it, sorry' because that would leave a bad taste.