Washing Machine bill

Korkyb

Thanks for advice.

Unfortunately I did give him permission to "skip" the machine.

At the time of him telling me that the machine was cream crackered I asked him what I owed him & he told me £30 - At no time did he ever mention a call out charge.

I'm not even sure he was "called out" as when he came to my house he knew he was taking the machine away & so no work was done in the house at all.

I plan to pay him the £30 agreed & he can whistle for the rest.

p.s. Trying to send a cheque I've noticed that his invoice doesnt has any name to make a cheque payable to and at the bottom at says all repairs cash only!!!! - I dont think so :rotfl: His yellow pages advert certainly doesnt mention this.

I'm thinking about dropping him a wee letter telling him that my "legal advisor" is concerned about this aspect of his business (or can he specify cash only retrospectively)

Bossyboots

If I am being charitable, I would say that he has had his fingers burned before by accepting cheques that have then bounced or been stopped.

However, I am more inclined to surmise that he is trying to avoid declaring income. If you have a cheque guarantee card that covers the amount you are paying then he cannot suffer a loss on cheque and can have no reasonable reason for refusing it. I would send a cheque with your number on the back (technically he should write it on but he may not know that) or ask him to come and pick the cheque up (he can then put the number on the back himself). He will obviously have to come and pick up the cash so it will make no difference if he comes to pick up the cheque.

He may of course not find it easy to get to the bank (depending on where you live) to deposit cheques so cash is safer but I still think this may be a ruse to avoid tax although if he is using sequentially numbered invoices torn from a book, then he would not be able to do that anyway.

Korkyb

Yep I agree with you the most likely thing is that hes fiddling (the invoice is not numbered).

I'm happy to pay with cash face to face with a reciept but not otherwise.

lipidicman

So if we are being suspicious he has taken a salvagable machine, invented a cracked drum, stripped it for parts and sold them, added a spurious (and unmentioned) call out charge and doesn't want to declare this job to the taxman. Obviously I don't know any of this for sure, but next time you might be better off checking for spurs before you let someone take your equipment away!

Cagey

Looks like fair assumption to me.There a lot of cowboys about.
Word of mouth is the best way to find a reliable tradesman Hopefully your experiance will be a help in future & may also help others.
What was the original problem with the machine. Was it excessively noisy or tearing clothes ?.

Duke_of_Ankh

Hi,
How old was the machine "cos" if under 6 yrs old you have some redress from the retailer under the sale of goods act!

lipidicman

Might be a problem if you no longer have the machine though!