Tradesman requesting money without invoice - AIBU to not want to pay?

I dunno. Did he come round to do the job or to quote to do the job? If he came round to do the job but you decided you didn't want him to do the job, they I'd have paid the callout and would not have been bothered with an invoice or receipt. If he was coming round to quote, well I cannot remember the last time I paid someone a callout charge to come out and quote. That would be my decision regardless of the sex of the person.

I do think these £30 to come and quote fees are a big problem. I refused to pay a plumber that came because following his visit he quoted for work that didn't need to be done. He was obviously clueless and probably wasn't a qualified plumber at all but assumed that me being a old woman wouldn't know any better. I think it was a con and it is not the first time a plumber has tried it on - the last one insisted I needed new taps and quoted accordingly when all that was required was a new washer!

I won't pay any tradesman without an invoice these days as I think there are too many tax dodgers raking it in, particularly in the building trade. It is illegal and I don't wish to be party to anything illegal.

He told you there would be a call-out charge. Fine. Pay it. When he gives you an invoice for it. If he refuses to give you an invoice, then you know exactly what sort of tradesman he is. The sort who commits tax and VAT fraud, that's what.

YANBU to pay without an invoice. He’s just annoyed that he got called out on his poor business practices. If you’d have paid now without an invoice, would he have then sent an invoice requesting it again? Or something similar? You’re right to the cautious.

well that's easy enough, you get a signed receipt. You don't need a printed one just write one and get them to sign it.

If I book tradies to do small jobs I always ask if I can pay by card or bank transfer. For such a small amount, no, I wouldn’t have asked for an invoice.

It's because doing an invoice is a pain in the arse for a trivial sum. Why do you need one? If it's going in his bank he will be taxed on it. His accountant/HMRC won't know whether there is an invoice or not so it makes no difference. You are just being a dick. Sorry.

On one hand when you go to the supermarket you pay before they give you the printout…

on the other he should have been able to provide an invoice even a hand written carbon copy one. Those books are still available at office stationary shops. He then gets a rubber stamp made with his banking details and the problem is solved.

but as the back office for a trades business, I don’t understand why he is charging to quote. We don’t. A lager company does but deducts it from any final invoice too.

Tbh I think YABU. It’s £30. He clearly stated that. You want him to go home and write an invoice he has to potentially chase for £30.

Anything under 50 I expect to pay there and then either in cash, or on Mobile.

I don't understand why people are expecting you to have paid for this service OP, nor do I understand why you agreed to pay a call out fee in the first place. If it's a problem with a wall, and it needs fixing, then you would normally call a builder, tell them what you have a problem with, and ask them if they would be happy to come and take a look at it. They come and have a look, tell you what needs doing to sort the problem, and how much it will cost. At that stage, I ask them to put it in an email so that I have a paper trail, and assuming I liked the person, and found the price reasonable, I would then employ him/her to do the job, having first done my due diligence to ensure that they were legit.

On the other hand, if you were looking for a surveyor, you should have known that no real surveyor would do a job for £30.00, and so should have done more research.

The whole thing sounds like you didn't really have a clue what you were doing, and in this day and age, you really do need to research anyone that you invite to your home to assess a job, as there are far too many conmen out there. As for your DH telling you you should have paid him, well he's just a mug!

I would have paid anyway.

You were being difficult- I think it’s terrible you didn’t pay him when he’s come over after a discussion and an agreed price was come to. He’s no doubt a one man band who is probably not good with invoicing / accounting stuff.

£30 for a call out is nothing. My ex was an electrician and his call out was £75. Don’t think he was ever asked for invoice for a call out

He’s clearly not wanting to pay tax or hold his
‘advice’ to account . Either way I pay my taxes and expect others to do the same .

Nope. I think you behaved appropriately. It's a bit of a hassle but if a client asked for an invoice, I'd email it immediately and then get them to pay. I'd say no credit terms and it would have payable immediately written on it.

And if they were doing it for cash... They don't have to put it through their books anyway 😂🤭.

This suggests he's not actually even a registered sole trader.

£30 seems to be considered a ‘trivial sum’ by some when a bloke does a small amount of work, but is a perfectly acceptable amount to pay a woman for any number of roles of a few hours work.