Plumber Charging Missed Call Out Fee Even Though I Was In The House?

Appliance_engineer

Of course you should pay the charge. You failed to answer the telephone call which the plumber called before leaving the premises, which he did to avoid you having to pay for a wasted visit. The plumber has charged a reasonable amount to cover his costs in attending. You are at fault and should pay the amount straight away.

Diamandis

Personally I think you should pay,  its not their fault your wife didn’t answer her phone.

Magnolian

I know there's two sides to this story, but we're sticking to not paying. Especially now after the aggressive messages we've received - we would have gladly had them back otherwise. The fact is I was purposely waiting for the plumber and looking out for him. He didn't use the very obvious doorbell and must have knocked weakly - I was in waiting for him to arrive. It's not a big house. He didn't try very hard and I'm not handing out £30 because of his lack of effort. They had our home number. Besides I took time off work to wait - should I invoice them for loss of earnings?

sheramber

we would have gladly had them back otherwise

I'd be very surprised if they would have come back.

macman

Magnolian said:

If the company does want to escalate to a small claims, will we still be able to refuse to pay? Does the court automatically decide in their favour, or do they have to prove their case?

Both sides state their case, provide relevant evidence and witnesses if relevant, then the judge decides. If you lose, he awards to the plaintiff, and you get a CCJ. if you win, the claim is dismissed. A civil claim is based on the balance of probabilities.
You can still refuse to pay, he can then abandon the action or instruct bailiffs.
But only a complete pedant is going to go down this route for £30.
What will happen in the real world is that he will inform the local 'plumbing community' that you are an awkward customer and you will be effectively blacklisted.

PHK

Magnolian said:

I know there's two sides to this story, but we're sticking to not paying. Especially now after the aggressive messages we've received - we would have gladly had them back otherwise. The fact is I was purposely waiting for the plumber and looking out for him. He didn't use the very obvious doorbell and must have knocked weakly - I was in waiting for him to arrive. It's not a big house. He didn't try very hard and I'm not handing out £30 because of his lack of effort. They had our home number. Besides I took time off work to wait - should I invoice them for loss of earnings?

Personally, I think your case is weak. You can't have been looking out as he was there long enough to knock and call your wife. 


They must have been given your wife's number or they wouldn't have called it. Who calls a home phone when no-one answered the door?

He pressed the doorbell, perhaps it doesn't work. He didn't see the door bell because it's an unusual shape. 

There was a car in the drive but that doesn't mean you're home, people have more than one car. 

This is just an example of what you'd face. 

You might well find he took a timed photo or photos  of the door and the van had GPS recording how long he was at the property (most commercial vehicles have trackers nowadays)

Appliance_engineer

In these cases where the occupant is at fault, they often try to blame the tradesperson just because they see themselves as hard done by.

In this case, the occupant failed to hear the knocking on the door, failed to answer the phone when the number was given to the tradesperson for that very purpose; he didn't need to call that number but he did due diligence and did.

The plumber did all that he could to make his presence known, and he endured costs in both time and money in attending, and those costs need to be met by the householder.

It's laughable that the OP says that they feel they should claim for having taken a day off work. Just laughable. Really. Some people just want to blame anybody but themselves for their own inadequacies.

You are the only person responsible for this. Pay the man and stop trying to deflect the blame.

HillStreetBlues

Appliance_engineer said:

In these cases where the occupant is at fault, they often try to blame the tradesperson just because they see themselves as hard done by.

In this case, the occupant failed to hear the knocking on the door, failed to answer the phone when the number was given to the tradesperson for that very purpose; he didn't need to call that number but he did due diligence and did.

The plumber did all that he could to make his presence known, and he endured costs in both time and money in attending, and those costs need to be met by the householder.

It's laughable that the OP says that they feel they should claim for having taken a day off work. Just laughable. Really. Some people just want to blame anybody but themselves for their own inadequacies.

You are the only person responsible for this. Pay the man and stop trying to deflect the blame.

Disagree, there was a doorbell that wasn't used.
Just knocking on the window or door is just stupidly if there is a doorbell visible.
It's so simply, ring doorbell first,  then wait a bit then follow with a knock if unanswered, it's not rocket science.

tedted

how do you know the doorbell wasn't rung

subjecttocontract

I've been in the same position as that plumber who has turned up within 10 minutes of the agreed time. I've rung the doorbell, knocked on the door, tapped on the window and got no answer. What is a caller supposed to do?.........and we never do return visits if we've had a wasted journey.

The OP is at fault in my opinion.