Neighbour issues - hedge problems!

[ijustdontknowanymore]

I apologise in advance for what will probably be the most boring post of all time! Soo, long story short ..... Moved into our new house around 6 months ago, next door neighbours are very friendly and welcoming, and will often stop to chat over the fence etc. We hear a lot about the older gentleman who owned the house before us, and how the garden used to be immaculate and the pride of the street etc. To start with this was fine, but eventually it seemed that every time we spoke the fact that the garden used to be so wonderful was brought up, and by implication was no longer up to standard. I'm not a keen gardener by any means, but it's been kept (relatively) tidy, grass mown, occasionally weeds pulled, patio brushed etc, since we moved in. We're renovating so everything inside the house is very much the priority at the moment but the outside is fine by most standards.

So, the crux of the issue. At the bottom of our garden is a conifer hedge, which had grown to well over 8 feet by the time we'd moved in. I arranged for someone to come and cut it, and while it wasn't a pristine job, it was far better with 3ft off the height. The next door neighbour's gardener had also quoted for the work, and was over £200 more expensive which I really couldn't afford.

Following the hedge cut, NDN complained every time I was in the garden about what an 'awful' job had been done, how it was a real bodge, etc. He caught me off guard one day and asked if I wanted his gardener to sort it out - I was rushing and non-committedly said 'yes,maybe'. So she comes over that day and says it will take around four hours at £15 an hour, which I agreed to thinking it would help neighbourly relations given that NDN is obviously quite put out by the newly trimmed hedge. (I really didn't think it was that bad, nor did my keen gardener parents). Fast forward to today and she comes over with an invoice for £190!!! Saying it took much longer than expected to rectify the previous hedge cutter's shoddy work! I was away when the work was carried out so can't verify how long it took, but basically feel like I've been shafted. I wouldn't mind an extra couple of hours but feel this is extortionate, but am also in a catch 22 because I don't want to sour relations with the NDNs by disputing it. So more of a WWYD really? Pay or say it's unreasonable?

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

As above per Bertha Cheque for £60 in an evelope posted to the address on the invoice.

Add to Bertha's notes that you are puzzled as to why gardener would address the rear of the hedge, which had not been spoken about and for which there is no access from your garden

[DoreenLethal]

I looked at it and to be honest I was so taken aback I didn't really respond, just asked how she wanted to be paid :-(

So pay her the £60 and if she asks say you have taken advice from other gardeners and not only should you have not pestered you, you should have quoted properly or done the work for the quoted price. And give her no more than the quote! Not £75, not the full invoice, the £60 quote.

[TheSpottedZebra]

It does sound a bit like your neighbour, for whatever reason, wanted the rear of the hedge to be cut. And stumped you with the ridiculously inflated bill.

[WittyPutDown]

Berthas suggested note is perfect. Wait a few days before you send it along with the £60 cheque.

There is no need to speak to anyone.

[Shurelyshomemistake]

Your neighbour is at fault here i suspect. And gardener is complicit. What an absolute fucking cheek. I would be absolutely furious.

I would just set out really clearly what this means financially to you:"thank you for your work. It is 3 times what I agreed. If I pay this it means I cannot affoelrd DCs school dinners for the next six weeks, or afford to put petrol in my car".

[DietCockBreak]

Don't pay the extra, that's fucking outrageous! So unprofessional. You need to contact her and say you agreed to £60 and that's what you're paying. Any additional work wasn't required or authorised and you're not paying for it. Get it over with - it's like ripping a plaster off, honestly just get on with it. And don't give her a penny over £60.

Take photos of the hedge now as well.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

"Thank you everyone - I know I am being pathetic."

Everyone can be a bit pathetic sometimes, ijustdontknow, so don't beat yourself up over that, but if you let the pair con you now, it will taint your enjoyment of your new home and it will be something you beat yourself up about for some time to come.

So write her a note. No confrontation, no hassle. Simply say something like:
"Dear Unprofessional Gardener,
Further to your quote of 4 hours work at £15 per hour, to tidy my hedge at the above address, and your subsequent invoice for an unagreed 12 hours and 40 minutes of work to do this job, I am writing to inform you that this is not acceptable.
Having already had the hedge cut this year by another contractor, I would never have agreed to a further £190 worth of work at this stage and did not contract you to do this.
Furthermore, while I do understand that a professional might (when quoting) misjudge the time required to complete a job by a small margin, say 10 or 20%, in my opinion a misjudgement of this magnitude is not professional, and is wholly unacceptable.
In view of this I will pay the £60 that you quoted (for four hours work) and, as a gesture of goodwill, will accept that it would not have been wholly unprofessional to misjudge the required time by up to 10 or 20% and will therefore pay for the additional 40 minutes.
Please find enclosed a cheque for £70, in full and final payment, for the work carried out by you on my garden hedge on the weekend of (date)"

Post it by recorded delivery (if necessary ask your neighbour for her address), then forget it.

If she turns up at your door, smile sweetly and say "Let's deal with this in writing. Pop it in a letter, please."

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Crosspost. Or Berthas note is more to the point.


(but do sent one, don't let them taint your enjoyment of your new home)

[imnotreally]

If cancel the cheque..

[imnotreally]

I'd. Not if.

[MiddleClassProblem]

[brummiesue]

Please god grow some balls and refuse to pay this!!

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

Op if it's any consolation I paid a tree surgeon to cut my tree cos
My neighbors complained -£190 !

You are not alone - and I kind of hate and resent them now

Fuck your neighbour and do what everyone has advised and do not pay in full

[IMissGrannyW]

What does "YMMV" mean? Squirrels used it on the last page.

This wasn't as dull a thread as you thought, OP. And like everyone on here, except Queen, I think you're ok to be having a wobble.

I think your get-out is down the the fact that the NDN granted gardener access to an area the gardener couldn't access from your garden. And I think you need to reference that in the letter.
There are some good examples of letters to send up thread. But I'd put in somewhere something about
....As you said you had spent considerable time trimming an area you could not access from my garden, I believe that the person responsible for authorizing and paying for this work is the person who gave you that access. I did not and do not authorise this work, and did not want or need it done.

Good luck, OP. We're all with you in spirit!

[alfagirl73]

OP PLEASE do not pay this! You contracted (verbally) for 4 hours work at £15 per hour. That is all you are legally obliged to pay. It's that simple.

Any additional hours/work undertaken should have been agreed with you BEFORE she carried it out. Under contract law, if you carry out work without agreeing the terms of the contract first, you are not entitled to be paid for that work. You agreed a number of hours at a specific rate. She has not only done work beyond that, but excessively so. That additional work was not part of the agreement. What she should have done was contact you when she realised she could not complete the work in the time stated, and request your further consent and agreement in relation to the additional work - in other words, amending the contract. She did not do that, so frankly, that's her lookout.

Pay for what you agreed and NOTHING MORE. I have my suspicions about your NDN and the intent behind this arrangement but that aside, just pay what was agreed and tell the gardener that there is no legally enforceable contract for the rest of the work and therefore you won't be paying it.

[BurningBridges]

OP originally said "WWYD?", we've answered " only pay what you agreed".

I think that's about the end of it then surely? We're all saying the same thing over and over again whereas in fact the OP wants to pay, and no where has she said she doesn't intend to pay in full.

[Rachel0Greep]

I agree with dropping in a note and the original payment that you agreed to.
Think of it this way, why give a toss about what the neighbour and the 'gardener' think about you? They obviously see an opportunity to pull a fast one. So let them whistle!

[ilovelamp82]

If you aren't strong enough to stop them taking advantage of you then maybe you should ask your dh if he will handle it.

Don't tell them you can't afford it. (You're making it your fault) Tell them you didn't authorise it. (Correctly ensuring they know that it's their fault)

[ProfYaffle]

From the CAB website:

"If you have a quote

The trader can’t charge more than they’ve quoted, unless there’s a good reason - like:

• they let you know they’d need to do extra work, and you agreed to pay more because of it
  
• it was obvious that the price in the quote was a mistake - there isn’t a definition of this but it generally means that most people would see this mistake
  They can’t charge you more if their costs have gone up since they did the quote.
  
  If they made a mistake
  
  So long as it wasn’t obvious to you when you got the quote, you have a legal right to get the work done for the price in the quote.
  
  What to do
  
  If they can’t give you a good reason for raising the price, tell them that you’ll only pay what was quoted. It’s a good idea to put this in writing so you have a record.
  
  Don’t let them push you into paying more.
  
  If you’re not sure what to do, contact the consumer helpline (or Consumerline in Northern Ireland) - a trained adviser can give you advice over the phone or by email.
  If you can’t come to an agreement
  
  If you have an estimate
  
  If you were given an estimate and the final bill is a lot more than what you were expecting, you can dispute it.
  
  The final price should be ‘reasonable’. The law doesn’t say what counts as reasonable, so you’ll have to agree it between you. You should consider:
  
  the estimate you agreed to
  any changes, and why they happened
  anything that happened that was beyond the control of the trader, like bad weather or the cost of materials going up
  If you need help to decide, you could:
  
  ask another trader for an estimate for the same work
  find out if the trader’s a member of a trade association and contact them for advice
  get an expert opinion, though you’ll probably have to pay for it
  What to do
  
  Let them know:
  
  that you’re unhappy with the price
  what you think would be reasonable - make it clear that this is what you will pay
  It’s a good idea to put this in writing so you have a record.
  
  You’ll probably have to negotiate with them, but remember that what you pay should be reasonable. Don’t let them push you into paying more."
  
  Their consumer helpline is 03454 04 05 06. They're very good, give them a call.

[scootinFun]

I really likeAdish's suggestion. I see that you don't want a face to face confrontation. In that case write a letter that clearly states that you are only prepared to pay sixty pounds as per the original estimate for work, and that you didn't authorise any work to the back of the hedge - to which you have no access. I would add the size of the hedge and the fact that you had paid to get it trimmed previously. Please don't pay more than sixty pounds or they will try to take advantage of you in the future. Oh, and the next time your neighbour carps on about how nice the garden looked with the previous owner you can mutter something about how he probably didn't waste all his gardening funds trimming the backs of hedges :)

[Rachel0Greep]

What have you got to lose by NOT paying? Hopefully a nosy neighbour out of your hair. Are you afraid he will badmouth you? What are the chances that other neighbours know exactly what he is like anyway? If need be, say your husband will deal with it, and let them whistle for the money they are trying to grab.

[NightWanderer]

Honestly OP I can't see what you've done wrong here. You agreed to some work being done and agreed on a price. The gardener is the one who should be ashamed of themselves. Don't beat yourself up over this. I agree that you should write a polite but firm note and pop it in with a cheque for 60 pounds and post it to the invoice address.

[GlitteryFluff]

Please don't pay anymore than £60 op.
You said you've only been there 6 months. If you stay there for another 10 years by then the whole street would be taking advantage of you. Start now how you mean to go on. Show them you're not somebody who gets walked over. Write a letter if it's easier and enclose the £60 cheque. Nothing more. If you pay the ridiculous amount you're going to have issues like this for the entire time you live there, each time it'll make it harder to assert yourself. You're not in the wrong.

[LadyGardener2]

I'm still dying to see a photo of this hedge! How much did it cost to be trimmed originally?
Op I am exactly the same as you, in not wanting any confrontation, difference being that if this happened tome I couldn't pay the extra as I'm skint, so would HAVE to dispute it. (well actually I'd have made sure before they started they knew I cannot afford more than the quote, I always do this with the mechanic)